Kansas City, Mo. ? Continuing its crackdown on music piracy, the recording industry this week filed 493 lawsuits against people it accuses of illegal file sharing, including 44 in Missouri and Kansas.

That brings the total to 2,947 file sharers who have been sued nationwide, including two identified as Kansas University students.

Jonathan Lamy, a spokesman for the Recording Industry Association of America, said that 486 of the suits had resulted in settlements, most of which amounted to about $3,000 each.

Cary Sherman, president of the association, the trade group for the country’s biggest recording labels, said: “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 online and at retail, can flourish.”

Sherman said the association and its member companies were “eager and willing” to settle the lawsuits.

“We will continue to go the extra mile and seek to resolve these cases in a fair and reasonable manner,” Sherman said. “That’s in the best interests of everyone involved.”

Two of the lawsuits included in this latest round of litigation were filed in federal court in Kansas City, Kan., and named 43 unidentified “John Does.”

A third lawsuit was filed in federal court in Kansas City and named Carolyn Munnelly, a Springfield resident.

Typically, the recording industry sues “John Does” and then issues subpoenas to the defendants’ Internet service providers to learn their identities. It then sends letters to the defendants offering to settle the suit out of court. If the defendants do not respond to the written complaint or if they decline to settle, the industry typically sues them again, this time by name.

The lawsuits filed this week accuse the defendants of downloading copyright recordings by such recording artists as Ludacris, Bon Jovi, the Dave Matthews Band, Ice Cube and Whitney Houston.

The suits seek injunctions barring the defendants from downloading copyright songs, as well as unspecified damages. They also ask for court orders directing the defendants to destroy copies of illegally downloaded material.

Munnelly, reached at her home, said she was caught off guard by the lawsuit because she thought the songs involved had been removed from her computer “a long time ago.”

“I’m not ever on the computer, ever,” she said. “So I’m really upset they used my name.”

Munnelly acknowledged, however, that she has three college-age children.

“They said it was done a long time ago when they thought it was legal,” she said. “They hadn’t resold anything.”

Munnelly said she did not respond to a letter she received from the industry but had since offered to settle. She said she was awaiting a response.

Of the most recent defendants sued in Kansas and Missouri, Munnelly is alleged to have downloaded the most songs, nearly 600. The John Doe defendants, by contrast, are alleged to have downloaded anywhere from five to 11 songs each.

The plaintiffs include some of the biggest names in the recording industry, among them Capitol Records Inc., Warner Bros. Records Inc., Elektra Entertainment Group Inc., Atlantic Recording Corp. and Sony Music Entertainment Inc.

The latest wave of lawsuits comes after the recording industry sued 477 computer users last month. Lamy said this was the fifth round of litigation the industry has instigated since January.