Once again this year, iTunes will have the latest performances from all American Idol contestants!  Soon after their on air performances, the songs will be available for you to download in iTunes.

To make it even better, this year they shouldn’t be protected which means they’ll play on the iPod, Zune or anything else that plays .acc files.

Look for the music either a few hours after the show, or the very next morning. Remember, they can’t let you download the songs until the show has aired in all time zones.

Do some American Idol contestants have a better shot at winning?  Does the extra TV exposure at the beginning of the season really hep a contestant? It’s hard to say for sure, but we have barely gotten below 100 contestants and we can rattle off a handful already.

• Bikini Girl
• Oil Rig Boy
• Blind Guy
• Annoying Laugh Girl
• Hippy Chick
• Guy Who’s Wife Died
• Crazy Comedian

Ok, maybe not first and last names yet, but we know them if we see them.  And there are dozes of more contestants that we haven’t even been exposed to for more than a few seconds.  I just realized tonight that there is a girl from Minneapolis, MN on Idol and doing really well.  I think her name is Casey Carlson.

Do you think that seeing American Idol contestants more often early on in the show sway your vote when the public voting opens?