DJariya

I posted this in the Apple thread, but I think it's worth bringing up as a separate topic.

This was brought to my attention by an online movie vlogger named Robert Meyer Burnett on his Twitter:

Apparently some guy "purchased" movies from Apple/iTunes and eventually the content provider decided to pull them, so Apple pulled them from his purchased library.




He was obviously very upset, but Apple says they can't do anything about it as they no longer have the rights to the content. Apple offered to compensate him with rentals, but he just wanted his movies back.

I'm wondering if this could potentially apply to other VOD providers like Vudu and if say WB decides to pull The Matrix and you've owned it for several years, would you lose it?

I don't know if this is an isolated incident or not, but I happened to see this. For those who've gone full fledged into streaming and VOD, this type of activity would be horrible for them if this were to happen.

If say FOX and WB decided to end their relationship with Vudu at some point...not saying it will happen. But, could you potentially lose your FOX and WB titles from your purchased Vudu library? It doesn't sound that far fetched.

In regards to digital streaming and "purchasing" titles, you technically don't own the movie. You own the rights to view the title as many times as you want as long as the content provider keeps it.

I'm sure some of you who've dumped all your BD's and DVD's will try to downplay this as an isolated incident and no way it could happen, but I don't think this is as far fetched as it sounds. It could potentially happen when you think about it.

Defiant

There's always the risk, of course. I remember around the time Amazon removed and refunded copies of 1984 from people's Kindle's because of some rights issue, I read a story that had looked into this and found someone had lost access to some video they had bought (a childrens movie, maybe?).

That said, I've bought amazon video and digital content that is no longer available for sale on Amazon and can still access it. Same with Vudu. And I seem to remember that one of the people from vudu said that any purchase will be permanent.

Though I think the bigger concern is if the company went out of business.

davidh777

It's definitely a cause for concern, but titles that are no longer available for purchase are still in my library (like Aladdin). I will say that I have a lot of titles in my collections across various services, and it's not out of the question that something could've disappeared without my noticing.

That Apple "solution" sounds like bullshit, especially considering that one purchase costs about the same as a few rentals.

funkyryno

This has been a concern of mine since I started my digital collection. I imagine I wouldn't even notice if a few movies disappeared.

andicus

This would infuriate me.

If I paid for them, and they were no longer available, I would expect a full refund, not some BS rental coupon.

This won't happen to me, as I'll stick with physical media. Sure, it can go bad, but I've not had it happen, yet. Well, maybe one CD, but in about 30 years of owning digital media, that's not too bad at all.

Shannon Nutt

Our snarky friends at VUDU responded to this and said, "Any content you own on Vudu is yours forever." Shots fired, Apple.

Groucho

Do we have any proof this actually occured?

davidh777

Who needs proof? The truth doesn't matter in Tr--oh, sorry.

DJariya

Of course some social media person will say that. But they don't know what the digital media rights deals are for the content and such.

TheBigDave

That's funny, because I actually lost a title at Vudu.

I bought the movie Triangle (2010). This was back when they offered SD (480p), HD (720p) and HDX (1080p). The movie was only available in HD (720p), so that's the version I bought.

A couple years ago, Vudu decided to remove the HD option and only offer SD & HDX. So now when I try to play the movie, it tries to access the HDX video which doesn't exist. I get an error that says "Failed to get playback information".

The movie is still in my library. So I guess I technically still own it. But I just can't play it.

After a bunch of people complained on the Vudu Forum, they acknowledged the problem and gave full refunds.

Decker

I have in the past bought a Foo Fighters video compilation from iTunes (bought in the days prior to You Tube, when I would on occasions buy a music video). A few years later it disappeared and I don't show that I own it with my few purchases on my iTunes account.

Not exactly the same thing, but I believe it could happen.

Red Hood

This has happened before on Comixology. Several years ago, they released a Thor book before release date by mistake and after they noticed, they took it off the catalog of anyone who had purchased it until it was release date. That showed me that these digital providers have all the power of the content over the user/customer.

davidh777

Hmm, I did pre-order a Disney Christmas book at Comixology once, and it disappeared before it ever came out. I assume that they're like their parent Amazon and only charge upon release, but I guess I should see if it's in my account.

Trevor

oh yeah, I should check on that too.

Defiant

I've found the article I mentioned:

https://gizmodo.com/amazon-can-take-...hen-1484152908

It's the only example I'm aware of with regard to Amazon.

I will note that *finding* movies that are no longer sold but are in your library can be difficult on both vudu and Amazon. With vudu, you have to go through your library to find it, and with Amazon, it'll some times be searchable and sometimes you need to go through your library.

Why So Blu?

No.

Defiant

So an update on the story I mentioned. It turned out it was a glitch.

https://www.dealnews.com/features/Am...ip/949866.html

Noonan

The original story was about a purchase on iTunes, not Amazon.

Defiant

The story that *I* posted about a couple of times in this thread.

JoeyOhhhh

I imagine as digital becomes bigger, these types of situations will become more commonplace.

I cannot see providers pulling things out of people's libraries unless there is some sort of litigation involved forcing them to remove it completely - in which case I think they should compensate customers as a act of good will.

E Unit

There will possibly be litigation/arbitration - but don’t hold your breath on keeping whatever they pull. The little itty bitty fine print will always say studios have the right to do with what they want with their properties. It’s all laughable really, people thinking they’d really be able to keep the digital stuff forever. Forbes picked up this story as well. I’m very glad I haven’t shunned physical media completely. If it’s available on physical media, especially UHD, I’ll buy that every time. Sure, I’ll pop in the digital code and watch it that way, but I’ll use discs when watching it in my theater at home.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnarc.../#81a27475f747

big e

As digital becomes more popular, I would hope situations like this get worked out before they turn into a problem. If this became commonplace, I think there would be a lot of backlash against these companies and it would be a stupid business move. One solution would be to allow the user to download the movie to a home server/external media, but the studios probably wouldn't like that. There would also have to be a industry standard file format, so the video file could play in multiple video players without glitches.

E Unit

Download options would never happen. The whole point of streaming is so that studios can fully control their movies, even with a standard file format - which also will never happen because Apple would never conform to anyone else's programming like that.

davidh777

Download options already exist. If I want to watch a movie on the plane, I can download it to my ipad through a Vudu, iTunes, or whatever app. I'm not saying it's a practical solution for backing up one's whole collection (especially for TV seasons), and it has to be through the app so they maintain control, but it does work. You can do it for Netflix and Prime steaming stuff too.

JoeyOhhhh

I won't say digital is in its infancy, but certainly not as big as it will be; that is why I think this will become more commonplace and that's when a solution will be found. I wouldn't be surprised now that Forbes picks this up if Apple is either more forthcoming or make the customer whole somehow.

Netflix, Amazon and iTunes already give you the option to download (Amazon video app and Netflix apps do, although you are locked into their original content, and I assume purchases you've made on amazon).

Granted the different file formats are a problem and you are locked into using their platforms for playback.