If you have had any contact whatsoever with what is considered to be 'mainstream music' , then you have probably heard it. A recording artist is struggling as hard as he can to sing on key, and when he can't, a computer takes over and adjusts the timbre of his voice so it is somehow magically on key, although it sounds horribly distorted. Yes, I know that mainstream music is full of similar fads and gimmicks, but I am wondering how long we are going to have to endure this. Even lip-syncing is better than this, because at least that means that somebody, somewhere still knows how to actually sing on key.
The way I see it, if an artist is using Autotune, she is advertising the fact that she is incapable of singing on key. That's right, as far as I am concerned, they CAN NOT SING. The computer is singing. In fact, I'm surprised that the programmers who wrote the thing haven't been getting the royalties for the music performed with it. Stephen Hawking could probably sing with Autotune.
Sarah Palin's concession speech was put to music with Autotune (one of the few good uses that it has been put to).
Does anybody actually want to listen to bad singing made worse by bizarre computer generated sound effects? Does anybody actually buy their music? Does anybody care that these people are deliberately advertising the fact that the have absolutely no singing ability? How long is it going to be before there is an 'Autotune Mr. Microphone' where anybody can sing off key? If that happens, how long would it take for 'ICanHazCheezburger?" to be filled with videos of cats Autotuning R&B standards?