We’re talking about cell phones, especially the photo-taking kind, which are as numerous at concerts these days as Bic lighters were during the last three decades. Fans greet U2’s arrival to the stage by holding up the phones and snapping pictures of the band. Bono has been known to even grab a phone from an audience member, snap his own picture and then hand it back (presumably to the phone’s rightful owner).

Springsteen, on the other hand, tells his audiences as soon as he hits the stage that he won’t put up with cell phones. The Boss then asks audience members to turn their phones off before he begins, threatening to “sweep through the auditorium with a chain saw” if he hears a phone ring.

However, aside from Springsteen’s threats, cell phones are fast becoming an integral part of the concert scene. Fans can call friends at home and give them a taste of what they’re missing. Or they can call their own numbers and record a little unauthorized music on their answering machines.

Now Verizon Wireless has hooked up with Clear Channel to give its customers a sampling of some of the hottest music on the road today. The two companies recently announced the V Cast Encore Channel, where Verizon Wireless V Cast customers can listen and watch recent recordings of their faves performing. And, best of all, it’s free.

V Cast, which launched earlier this year, is a dedicated channel offering music videos on demand. The plan calls for making a few songs from a performance available in the days shortly after the concert. The songs will play on the V Cast channel for a week before being rotated out of the lineup to make way for newer performances.

Some of the artists whose performances will be coming to a Verizon phone near you include Fall Out Boy, Steven Curtis Chapman, Velvet Revolver, Breaking Benjamin, and Terri Clark.

“Our relationship with Clear Channel Entertainment Properties brings a broad range of popular artists to our wireless multimedia service,” Verizon VP and chief marketing officer John Stratton said in a statement announcing the service. “Clear Channel’s unparalleled artist relationships will allow our V Cast customers to see and listen to concert performances from artists they love, regardless of whether their tastes are pop or alternative, country or hip-hop.”

It didn’t take long for the final Star Wars movie to reach the Net.

Bootleg copies of Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge Of The Sith appeared on a file-sharing network six hours before it premiered in theaters. However, one week after the premiere, federal authorities announced they had shut down the peer-to-peer network the film was being traded on.

The Elite Torrents network had more than 133,000 members trading about 17,800 movies and software programs during the past four months. The latest Star Wars flick was downloaded approximately 10,000 times during the first 24 hours it was on the network.

The action is being called the first criminal enforcement against people using BitTorrent technology. Unlike P2P networks like Fasttrack or Gnutella, BitTorrent-based P2Ps are built around the concept of having users download fragments of the same file from several computers at once. Because you’re receiving both the beginning, middle and end of a file from several locations simultaneously, the download time is quicker than traditional P2P networks.

Those who accessed the EliteTorrents.org Web site shortly after the feds moved in were greeted with a message warning them about copyright infringement penalties.

The message also said: “This site has been permanently shut down by the Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Individuals involved in the operation and use of the Elite Torrents network are under investigation for criminal copyright laws.”

Of course, those people involved with Elite Torrents’ operation have only the federal government and the movie industry to worry about. After all, George Lucas could have sent Darth Vader after them.

Or even worse, Jar Jar Binks.