About two weeks ago, I got rid of my Dish Network service and replaced it with Cablevision. I did this for two reasons; For one thing, I wanted to be able to watch New York channels rather then overseas ones – but the real reason I switched to Cablevision was because I wanted a cable modem so I could finally take the HOV Lane on the Information Superhighway. Since the first day I logged on at speeds that made me want to hit myself for not getting a cable modem sooner – I immediately began searching for things that I wanted, but were always unable to download with a dial-up account – and in doing so – I truly discovered how amazing the Internet really is.

If I could describe the Internet in one word – I would use the word, “everything” – because that is just what the Internet is – everything. From research for a school paper, to a live chat room – to an unedited and commercial free video movie file of the Star Wars Holiday Special that I watched as a child – you name it – its there.

I remember the first time I logged onto the Internet. It was around late-1996 and I was working at The Brooklyn Baron. I was amazed at how much of the world was at my fingertips. It was as if I could go anywhere and see anything that I could think of without ever leaving my desk – and that was when I had AOL. Now that I have a cable modem – the sky is the limit.

I have to admit that from the night I came home and plugged the cable modem into my laptop for the first time – I have replaced my usual nightly rituals with sitting at my kitchen table downloading anything I can possibly think of from P2P Servers like KaZaA, which enable members to share music and video just as Napster did. In fact, in the last week alone, I have downloaded every single episode of Justice League, South Park, The Osbournes, and Greg The Bunny – along with every song that I could pull out of my memory. And just now, I grabbed a list of songs from a tape of that I had made off the radio in 1998 to my laptop, entered their names – and downloaded the entire contents of the cassette in less the fifteen minutes.

I realize that there are people who would find my new hobby appalling – but I say blame technology – blame evolution – blame advancement.

Once something is discovered, tested, and put in the public domain – it immediately becomes new and exciting, then out of control – and then unstoppable. There is no way that anyone can prevent people from using, creating, downloading, or collecting mp3s or Video Movie Files. In fact, downloading these types of files has become so mainstream and so entrenched that right now as I write this – there are 1,690,806 users on the KaZaA Network sharing music and movies – try and stop that.

Granted that there are those people who are losing money as a result of downloadable music and movies – but so did the people who spent their entire lives and careers manufacturing Betamax machines, 8-Track tape decks – and record players. For those sorry few, the new technology that was invented – namely VCRs, audio cassette tapes and CDs – literally put them out of business because their product, which at one time made them a fortune – became obsolete. And judging by the success and popularity of P2P sites like Napster, Morpehus and KaZaA – it appears that the future of music is here – and it’s only a click away – on the Internet – along with everything.

But besides what you can download, the Internet is like having an entire library, research facility, and college university in your hands. I can’t tell you how many times I have looked up something that I needed to research, or was interested in learning more about – and found exactly what I was looking for seconds after I typed it. More then that, whenever I am writing a column and need lyrics to a song I want to close it with – I know that all I have to do is do a Google search for the lyrics – and I will find it.

What completely amazes me is that there are still some people that either rarely log onto the Internet – or have never logged on at all. How could people actually exist in today’s society Internet free? How many dot-com commercials do you see everyday? How many items do you purchase that now have an Internet website on the label – and when will these people realize that the longer they wait to log on – the sooner they will become the hitchhikers who will never be picked up on the Information Superhighway – because everyone will be going too fast.

And if everyone is going this fast now – imagine what the Internet will be like five years from now, ten years from now – twenty years from now. If we can watch videos, download music, have a video conversation – and play games with opponents on the other side of the planet now – what will we be able to do then?

Everything.

God Bless the Internet.