Is Auto-Tuning Cheating?

"Snap yo' fingers!" sings T-Pain as plucky synths punctuate the rhythm of his hit single "Buy U A Drank." "You can do it all by yourself—"

T-Pain might want to consider changing that last line about self-sufficiency. He, of all people, should recognize that even a multi-platinum R&B star needs a little help from his friends. His best buddy these days is the Auto-Tune program, a plug-in created by Antares Audio Technologies that cleans up any out-of-tune vocals on the track so that no bad note ever has to make it out of the recording studio.