My Case for Torrents.

So here’s the thing. I download torrents. I mean, I’m pretty sure that everybody has done this at some point but after reading a comment thread the other day where people were basically condeming every person that has ever downloaded a torrent straight to the 11th ring of Hell (the one where you are forced to listed to that horrible Friday song on repeat at full volume FOR ETERNITY) I wanted to say something. Problem is, I can’t remember where I saw it so instead I’m going to justify myself to all of you who probably do it too. Because I’m pretty sure most of my readers are soleless geeks.

The main point that people were making is the fact that you are “pulling money out of the pockets” that create the content. Now, they were specifically mentioning actors and I was like yeah, because poor Charlie Sheen was only making 1.5 million dollars per episode. I bet he is really feelin’ it in the pocket book. Poor guy…

Granted they don’t all make that much but even those cute little brats from The Suite Life of Zack and Cody make $20,000 each per episode. So at 28 eisoded in the second season they each earned $560,000. This doesn’t include endorsement deals, books, ETC!

And don’t even get me started on what movie stars make. It’s obscene. Seriously.

ANYWAY! I’m not as concerened about the actors as I am about all “the little people” that work on set, catering, wardrobe, you get the idea. I do think that THEY are the ones that people should be more concerned about.

Lets veer off that tangent and back to the topic.

My main arguement is this: I DO pay for all these shows. We pay for cable, including HBO and all that jazz. We pay for movies that we really love (plus the outrageous ticket prices to see them in the theatres usually once a week) and know we will watch over and over, pay for Netflix, pay for Hulu+ we pay and pay and pay. And it’s awesome that most major networks offer some kind of online viewing option and that’s great if you happen to have an internet connection available. But what if you don’t?

Once you remove the internet equation your choices become limited. You can rent Movies from iTunes for $5.00 each or you can pay $3.00 PER TV EPISODE to buy them. Or you can pay for the DVD or Bluray and hope it comes with a digital copy (again, we do this with movies we love) but other than that, on a phone or tablet you really don’t have any other options.

So I download them.

Honestly, it seems really silly to pay $5.00 to iTunes JUST to watch something on the go. Especially when the same movie is available from RedBox for $1.00 to watch at home. The pricing is ridiculous. If you want me to pay for it don’t try to stab me in the pocketbook with a dull knife in the process.

If there was a service out there that let me download a season of a show for $10.00 or LESS I’d consider it but even that is pushing it. $50.00+ is STUPID. BE REALISTIC.

Just for the record, I ONLY download TV and Movies. I got a Nook for Mother’s Day and I’ve paid for every single book I’ve read. I just can’t get behind NOT paying at LEAST once for something. With TV shows and movies, I’ve either paid via cable subscription or in a theater so I don’t feel bad not paying a SECOND time. Same thing applies to music. I buy all of it.

So what do you think? Do you break the bank just to catch up on your favorite TV show? What do you think would be a “fair” price to rent movies or TV shows to watch on a mobile devise?