No problem, I thought. I'll just download another copy. As I reached for my cell, I remembered that I'd recently wiped and reloaded it due to problems with hackers. I'd only replaced essential apps, meaning I had no Amazon or iTunes app to turn to for the download. Still no problem, I thought. I figured I'd just Google it and download a random copy. Ha, ha. The laugh was on me.
In the late 1990s, I'd come home from school, jump online, find something fun to watch, and start the download while I made a snack and did homework. What a simple thing. Search, find, click. Okay, so download speeds approached snail's pace, but I had A LOT of homework to plow through before I got to treat myself.
Last week, I discovered how far we've left the simple beauty of the 1990s Internet behind. My Internet speed now seems blindly fast in comparison. Very quickly, Google, then Bing, then Webcrawler returned search results of everything X-Files related except episodes to download. A couple of places offered the ability to stream it, but I wanted the file to have and to hold, forever and ever, 'til death or another file corruption do us part. I did not want to put up with jumpy, start and stop playback on my 4G. I did not want to dedicate my phone to a 45 minute episode. I wanted to quickly find one file, download it to my SD card and pop that SD card into my tablet, which I no longer get online with due to hackers. One file.
What I found included episode guides, screenshots from favorite episodes, actor bios, fan fiction, three websites of bogus episode links that actually served ads, an offer for a free month of Hulu streaming, and a guide on how to download a plethora of Amazon apps to access the one freaking file I wanted to download.
That was when it hit me that the Internet's growth wasn't necessarily a good thing. There are too many apps for that - whatever that is. We've taken a good thing and made it bad. What worked simply, we overcomplicated. Now, I purchased the episode once, and was not opposed to doing so again - given a simple, direct method. Let me navigate to a website, click a link, and, poof, download that sucker. Nope. Nothing doing. If I wanted my single episode, I either had to install between one and three HUGE apps, sucking up more of my time, data, and cell phone memory, or I had to pay a monthly fee to stream it or download to watch later - which also required an app. I could:
- Download and install iTunes, purchase a replacement, then download my file.
- Download and install Amazon, its sub-store for entertainment, plus its video app, purchase a replacement, then download my file.
- Install YouTube to subscribe to YouTube Red, a paid monthly service, for the privilege of downloading an episode to watch later, after renting the episode.
- Install the Hulu app, purchase a subscription and stream the episode.
- Install a P2P app and pirate the episode (which I did not want to do).
Now, I tried to play along. However, Google sucks. Google Play picked
this time to act up. It would reach the end of a huge download (and on 4G that regularly drops down to 3G every download seems huge) and restart it. To complicate things further, Google Services refused to acknowledge that I just updated it days ago to get Snapchat to work again after my wipe and reload. It too, wanted to update. Rather than download .apks 'til the cows came home, I washed my hands of the affair.
Recall that I had about an hour's worth of downtime to enjoy. I blew most of it learning that today's Internet is doomed with overcomplication. I read Jason Hope, and hope his predictions of the Internet of Things prove correct, however, if the development of IoT follows the path of the development of the Internet, no sooner than it really takes off, it will overcomplicate itself and frustrate its users to the point of desertion.
I never did get my X-Files fix. Rather than the research inspiration and adventurous minds of Mulder and Scully, I viewed a couple of classic episodes of Dark Shadows already on my SD card. I traded aliens for ghosts. I'd still like to replace my corrupted .mp4 file, but only if someone can point me to a website that lets me directly download a legal copy of the episode only. My Paypal awaits the return of the simple Internet. Until then, my middle finger goes up to the entertainment industry for making it way too complicated to enjoy entertainment, but thanks for providing me with inspiration and fodder for my first blog entry. No wonder people still pirate you.
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| Carlie Lawson writes about tech, mobile and online video, entertainment, sports and fashion. She wrote for JollyJo.tv and Movitly for a combined seven years. A former newspaper journalist, she now mostly ghost writes for her clients via her company, Powell Lawson Creatives. Invalid Inputs is her first independent, formal blog. She earned BAs in Journalism and Film & Video Studies from the University of Oklahoma. She also earned her Master of Regional & City Planning at OU. She has also worked as a model since she was 17. |
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