A SOPA/PIPA Rant

So I’d really like to get this out there because I feel like a rant. I pay for music on iTunes and subscribe to Spotify. I pay for Hulu. I pay for Netflix. I pay Amazon for a plethora of things ranging from books to laundry detergent. With that in mind, I’d like to point out that all of these things that I pay for, these things that SOPA and PIPA are supposed to help protect, ARE A GIANT PAIN IN MY ASS.

I have no issues with iTunes itself, nor Spotify, except when music companies have some stupid policy that prevents me from accessing the music I want. I’m also increasingly more intolerant of paying $1.29 for a popular song when other songs on the album are $0.99. I have yet to come across a reasonable explanation for this. Spotify is generally pretty good until a song that I really want to listen to is unavailable and conveniently $1.29 on iTunes. Barf.

Then there’s Hulu. I subscribe to this thing and still get bombarded with ads. I pay you money. You are making money off of me even if I watch NOTHING every month. When I log in to watch one or two shows, I have to sit through several back to back advertisements. Why? You’ve already made your money off of me. These advertisements regularly screw up my viewing experience and force me to reload the video, thus making me sit through even MORE advertisements for crap I don’t want. I actually rage-tweeted about this a while back and received a response about how the advertisements helped keep the costs of membership low. My ass.

Netflix, while making a few mistakes with their pricing and such, is generally low ass-pain. However, they’re still cursed by the circle-jerk we call Hollywood. Movies that people want to see don’t make it on there until they’ve had every possible chance to squeeze money out of you. If you want to rent a DVD that’s cool until you’re forced to sit through several advertisements.

This Amazon thing is pretty nifty until you buy movies from it. Like my issue with Netflix, the last DVD I purchased had 7 ads that I couldn’t skip through. Why am I paying for this again? Not Amazon’s fault at all, but I’m less inclined to purchase DVDs these days.

I also purchase software like Photoshop which is incredibly overpriced but one of the best tools for the job. If you can offer it to me for $300 because I’m a student and charge everyone else $700, there’s something wrong. I understand that there are costs associated with software development, and I’m not suggesting that software be sold at cost. I’m only suggesting that software companies stop obviously scalping everyone.

Listen up: PIPA and SOPA aren’t going to punish pirates at all. Instead, these acts are going drive piracy deeper underground and continue to punish people like me who are are trying like hell to play by the rules and constantly wondering why. I genuinely feel for people who are getting stolen from every time someone downloads something illegally, but people should really be focused on some of the reasons WHY people download content illegally instead of trying to make it harder for people to do so. One person shits their pants and we all have to wear diapers…seriously.

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