Sympathy for the Devil

I just read how the RIAA has sent out more warrants (subpoenas, whatever they call them today) to a bunch of college students demanding money for downloading music. They are demanding $5000 for copyright infringement. I thought extortion was illegal? Sounds like extortion to me, pay up or else. Probably isn't though, big companies don't seem to have to play by the sames rules as the rest of us.
I must say that on legal and probably ethical grounds the Entertainment industry ( I am including the movie and music industry as entertainment) is probably right, but I have the hardest time sympathizing with an industry whose main belief seems to be that once you have their money, never ever give it back.
Consider this: how many people out their have ever gone to a movie based on the commercials that have played? I can't count the times i have done that, i can't count the number of times I have gone to see a comedy and the funniest part of the movie was already in the commercial. Or how many times a movie has been represented as a comedy then I've watched and found nothing funny in it. lord of war is a great example, the commercials portrayed it as a comedy, I didn't laugh once. Or how about Striptease? I saw four different commercials that portrayed the movie as a comedy, a family story, an action movie, and as a drama. It was none of them. In fact, the only reason most people I know went to see that movie was the chance to see Demi Moore naked. The title was the only honest thing I saw, because it was a tease to get you to fork over your hard earned dollars. True, diffident people like different things but there is a universal commonality. You can't trust the movie critics, they watch movies as a profession, they analyze, study the formula, pay attention to allot of things that are irrelevant to me. I just want to set back and relax for a couple of hours and get lost in a story. Go see a bad movie and try to get your money back. Try it. I am still kicking myself for going to see the Village. I lost my money and two hours of my life that I can never get back.
the music industry is just as bad. Ever heard a song on the radio and bought the CD based on that song and then find out that what you liked about that song is the only one like it on the whole CD. Theatre of Pain by Motley Crue is a great example. I knew a good many people (who hadn't heard of Motley Crue) who heard home sweet home and ran out to buy the CD only to find that that was the only slow song on the CD.
Granted, ethically they are right, but I think I am also right in wanting to see what I am getting for my money before that money vanishes into the dark pit of the industry. The entertainment industry as a whole will say and do anything to separate you from your money, so I am not sure if I can have any sympathy for the Devil.