Internet users consumed more bandwidth than ever last year, driven by the growing popularity of peer-to-peer networks and heightened demand for video files.

Burgeoning demand also prompted internet carriers to upgrade their network capacity to handle the upswing in traffic, a new report indicates.

INTERVIEW Since the "dark days" of the late 1990’s, the music industry has wrestled with illegal peer-to-peer file sharing, often seeming to be diametrically opposed to the very idea of digital music that lacked rigid restrictions.

Over time, technology improved and new legal alternatives began to spring up and are today continuing to gain popularity. As record labels warm up to the idea of legitimate online music stores, questions about what pricing models are most appropriate for customers and what constitutes fair use remain unanswered.

A growing number of people are sharing the digital music on MP3 players and other music devices using freely available software and Skype, a free Internet phone service.

The enthusiasts are borrowing heavily from another personal broadcasting phenomenon called podcasting, in which digital recordings are posted on a Web site for download to a variety of music players, including desktop PCs and portable gadgets like Apple Computer's wildly popular iPod. "Skypecasters," as they call themselves, use Skype's peer-to-peer telephone network to distribute recordings over the Internet directly to each other for free.

As an engineering student at Carleton University in Ottawa, Sajeeth Cherian came up with a technology that could transform television. 

Drawing on headline syndication technology used for blogs, he created a program called Videora, which scours the Internet for specific video content and downloads it automatically.

Michael Geist, law professor at the University of Ottawa, has written a brilliant rebuttal to the Canadian Recording Industry Association's claim that P2P piracy is costing the Canadian music industry billions. Geist shows quite clearly how the CRIA has exaggerated their losses, exaggerated the effects seen by Canadian artists, and misplaced the blame on file-sharing.

Last week, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios v. Grokster, a case that has important implications for the future of online innovation.

Grokster makes software that enables Internet users to share computer files on peer-to-peer networks. The technology has been used to distribute many kinds of content, including copyrighted digital music.

Several student residents were surprised to find their Internet connections turned off after an Information Technology network technician shut off their ports for using too much bandwidth.

The students weren?t told why their ports had been shut down until March 31, although most of the ports were turned off shortly after spring break.

The phenomenal success of the iPod, of peer-to-peer systems like Napster and its descendants, and of social networking site like Friendster that let users communicate with each other and with small like-minded communities offers hope that such a model could prove popular, experts say.

Ever wondered who reads all those millions of weblogs that are supposedly revolutionizing the media world? Well, here?s another question to get you thinking: Who will listen to the audioblogs known as podcasts that will supposedly revolutionize the world of radio?

The MP3 has revolutionised the way we purchase music. Something similar is happening in the movie world right now. Video-on-demand is about to hit the mainstream. But are we really there yet?

It?s eight o?clock on a Friday evening. You?ve come home after a hard week and are sitting in an comfy armchair, remote in hand. The opening credits of The Bourne Supremacy roll down your widescreen telly. Sound and image quality are brilliant. And the best thing: to watch it you have to go out into the cold to your local Blockbuster, or browse through hundreds of films only to discover that the one you wanted is rented out. No, you only started to download the film from the internet ten minutes ago. And you haven?t even broken the law. This is by no means a scenario of the distant future. This is finally, if slowly, becoming reality.

LOS ANGELES ? Recording industry executive Andy Gershon sees opportunity in the online file-sharing networks that most of his rivals decry as havens for music pirates.

As president of V2 Records, home to such established acts as The White Stripes and Moby, Gershon mines such Internet distribution channels for new fans and revenues.

?The cat is so far out of the bag and so far gone that it?s pointless to keep fighting it,? Gershon said. ?I might as well make as many people fans of our music, whether they illegally download it or not.?