LOS ANGELES, May 24 (Xinhuanet) -- Tightening the screw on illegal music downloads, the US music industry said Monday it had sued 493more people for illegal downloading and exchanging copyrighted songs over the Internet.

    The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) has so far filed lawsuits against a total of 2,947 individuals since last September as it is intensifying the fight against music piracy that has taken a toll on the industry.

    The RIAA, which represents the five largest recording companies,has already settled 486 of those cases, with an average penalty of 3,000 US dollars for each case.

    But despite the lawsuits, there are still a large number of people using peer-to-peer networks to copy and exchange music, movies and other files directly from each others' hard drives.

    As many as 9.5 million Internet users were logged on to peer-to-peer networks in April, up from 7.4 million simultaneous users in September 2003, according to research figures.

    The RIAA does not yet know the identities of those it targeted in its latest round of lawsuits but plans to discover them through court-issued subpoenas.

    "Our continuing objective is to send a message of deterrence, protect the rights of property owners, and foster an environment where the legitimate marketplace, both on-line and at retail, can flourish," RIAA President Cary Sherman said in a statement.

    Largely thanks to the RIAA's relentless legal crusade against on-line music piracy, CD sales in the United States have begun to pick up after a three-year slide, while legal music sales are becoming more and more popular.

    Apple Computer Inc. said last month it sold 70 million songs through its iTunes service in its first year. Enditem