Recently OU announced that it would be limiting the use of and access to peer-to-peer networks over Internet connections provided by the university.

These programs, like Kazaa and Limewire, work by allowing users to share files across the Web and are mostly used to traffic music, videos and computer software, much of which is illegally obtained and shared.

While some have claimed that they offer the ability to legally share files, the fact remains that peer-to-peer networks are vastly used to obtain free versions of otherwise non-free things.

The illegal copying and sharing of copyrighted materials is blight upon our creative population and has gotten so out of hand that companies like music labels are suing people all over the country in an attempt to curb Internet piracy. This piracy has been a detrimental factor when it comes to making a profit.

Peer-to-peer sharing offer things like convenience, speed and an utter lack of having to pay for anything. The fact remains, however, that much of what it is used for is completely illegal, and by using peer-to-peer programs to share our pirated products, we are discouraging artists from producing new works because, let’s face it, most of them do it for the money.

But, my friends, what people seem to be missing is that there are tons of completely legal options out there that offer the chance to obtain your favorite media products easily, efficiently, and if not for free, at a very reasonable price.

So you can’t get your free music from Limewire anymore? Why not try Pandora, the music genome project?

Pandora is a free radio outlet that can play any style of music, allows users to make their own radio channels, and then narrows the music down to specific tastes until it only plays music a particular listener likes. Pandora even has an iPhone application now.

Speaking of Apple, why not get an iTunes account? Sure you have to pay a bit for each song, but all in all, it’s a pretty good deal, and you don’t even have to leave your room.

So you can’t get your free movies from Kazaa anymore? Why not log onto Hulu?

This Web site is at the head of its field when it comes to online television. Hulu has everything from the latest episodes of Family Guy to a movie about giant spiders taking over the Earth shot with a handheld camera and an obvious budget of about $4. And all of this can be viewed for the price of watching a few commercials.

But if commercials are just too much for you, you can always hop on board the Netflix train.

Netflix, which just made a deal with Sony and is soon to be hosted on a PlayStation 3 near you, is one of the largest movie rental companies in the world, and it doesn’t even own a single store.

You can have movies delivered directly to your mailbox, or if your mailbox is as far away as mine is, they also stream movies and television shows through portals like the Xbox market place.

Need a new antivirus program or that latest computer game? Most of these can now be bought directly from the manufacturer’s Web site and downloaded directly to your computer.

There are countless of options open to us, and with the closing of the peer-to-peer door, we should take the opportunity to start using one of the many new and legal ways to obtain our favorite media.

By doing so we not only help breed new industries, but we help support our favorite artists and media producers. So uninstall your peer-to-peer programs and try out one of the many other options.

Or you could just start torrenting.