I’ve gotten hooked on “American Idol.”

I know, I know, I wish one of y’all would just walk up and slap me right now. Bad thing is, I can’t figure out why. I didn’t watch one episode of it first three seasons it was on, and it didn’t bother me in least. I thought people were crazy for putting so much emphasis on Ruben, Clay, and Fantasia. I mean, if you multiplied any one of them by a thousand you still wouldn’t have someone worthy enough to help Elvis get dressed for a show. But, despite all that, I’m hooked.

It started innocently enough. A few months ago, I was in front of TV one night with my daughter Alison, and she mentioned that “American Idol” was about to come on. I was going to get up and go do something else, but she asked me to stay and watch it with her. And that’s how it all got started.

The show was broadcast out of Las Vegas or St. Louis or somewhere, and thousands of people had shown up to audition. The auditions themselves were pretty simple - contestants walked in and sang in front of three judges, Randy, Paula, and Simon, who collectively decided whether or not to pass them on to next round. When first contestant came out, my curiosity perked up a little.

She was a tad on healthy side, no, let‘s be honest, she didn’t look like too many Butterfinger bars had ever escaped her grasp. What made it even worse was that she had this black dress on with things that looked like octopus tentacles hanging off bottom. I could tell that judges wanted to laugh out loud, and when she started singing, man oh man, a truck full of hogs running into a crate filled with ducks would’ve sounded better. She was simply horrible. And right at that moment, I became hooked, and then I figured out why....

The recording industry claims to have lost 25% of it’s revenues since computer, so called thieves, have been using peer-to-peer file-sharing networks to obtain free music downloads.

The two latest file-sharing companies to be targeted by these copyright lawsuits are Grokster Ltd, known for its Grokster file-sharing software and StreamCast Networks Inc. from which Morpheus free music downloading software is distributed.

Unlike Napster, Grokster and Morpheus put a spin on popular file-sharing phenomenon. Instead of indexing shared files like Napster did, these file-sharing products enables it’s network members to build their own indexes – thus allowing others within network to download free music and movie files.

While some musicians are protesting they are being cheated by these illegal free music downloads – others are speaking out backing how music, movies, pictures and copy are being shared over Internet.

Some music lovers actually use file-sharing networks to check out an artists latest release before paying up to $18 for a CD that may only have one good song on it. You still will have those that will never make a purchase and continue to take advantage of free music download networks.

Many file-sharing network users have said that using these networks is good for music industry. File-sharing can bring listeners to smaller, independent bands that they may not otherwise hear on radio or in mainstream.