Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies
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Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies
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Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies
#2Somewhat related, I'm confused every time iOS says "Processing Payment" when I download a free app.
Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies
#3Well, because of the way Apple licenses films from studios, you never really own them.
Presumably when Apple adds a film to iTunes for customers to buy they know how long they'll be keeping it on their servers for people to access it. It'll be part of the license. Unless Apple can guarantee that the film will be available after that time (eg Apple negotiated a non-revokable extension that they'll legally bound to take) then it doesn't seem entirely unreasonable that they should have to communicate the time limit to the user. Eg add some fine print that says "This film will be available in your Apple account until 2031, and may be available after that date" or something.
Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies
#4Somewhat related, I'm confused every time iOS says "Processing Payment" when I download a free app.
It does seem particularly odd, especially given the attention to detail they are famous for.
I can’t imagine someone really sat down and decided the messaging made sense for free apps.
Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies
#5you never really own them
Controversial take, but does "buying" explicitly mean owning? You never really "own" a movie you buy on blu-ray either—you own the atoms, but not the content which is merely licensed to you as it is with a legal download. The difference between downloads and physical media is actually less characterised by ownership and more by perpetuity of access.
The key benefit of blu-ray is that perpetual, legal access is limited only by your preparedness to maintain functioning equipment.
A legally downloaded, encrypted movie file also relies on your preparedness to maintain functioning equipment—but that equipment can also betray you.
Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies
#6I've seen the phrase "Own it in {HD/BluRay/4K}" so many times and always cringe. You're just owning a limited license (extremely limited, in the case of digital goods) to watch.
The average HN user can spot the difference and say "of course you don't own it, and in case of streaming, you only have access for as long as the service is around", but that's not what the average consumer sees. "Buy" and "own" have very strong meanings and repurposing those for marketing purposes to mean "limited lease" is bending the truth to the point of breaking.
But of course, "lease it for a limited time, to watch on a limited set of devices, in a geographically limited region" doesn't sound so valuable as "buy and own it".
Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies
#7Somewhat related, I'm confused every time iOS says "Processing Payment" when I download a free app.
My suspicion is that they explicitly call this a payment for legal reasons.
Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies
#8Somewhat related, I'm confused every time iOS says "Processing Payment" when I download a free app.
It does seem particularly odd, especially given the attention to detail they are famous for. I can’t imagine someone really sat down and decided the messaging made sense for free apps.
It's the sort of thing that gets fixed quickly when a Steve Jobs-type character sees it and has the clout to get it fixed without debate. When Jobs says it's a problem, you have to be pretty damn sure if you want to disagree. The problem with Apple today is that there's no singular vision like that.
Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies
#9Well, because of the way Apple licenses films from studios, you never really own them. Presumably when Apple adds a film to iTunes for customers to buy they know how long they'll be keeping it on their servers for people to access it. It'll be part of the license. Unless Apple can guarantee that the film will be available after that time (eg Apple negotiated a non-revokable extension that they'll legally bound to tak…
If the customer purchased/bought the movie then Apple should offer a way to download the movie (in the case that Apple removes it from their catalogue). This would ensure customer has the ability to keep their purchase. When I buy something whether ebooks, movies, music then I do not expect it to be removed from access at a later date unless an option for me to store the item is offered.
Re: Apple is sued for telling you that you're “buying” movies
#10Well, because of the way Apple licenses films from studios, you never really own them. Presumably when Apple adds a film to iTunes for customers to buy they know how long they'll be keeping it on their servers for people to access it. It'll be part of the license. Unless Apple can guarantee that the film will be available after that time (eg Apple negotiated a non-revokable extension that they'll legally bound to tak…
If the customer purchased/bought the movie then Apple should offer a way to download the movie (in the case that Apple removes it from their catalogue). This would ensure customer has the ability to keep their purchase. When I buy something whether ebooks, movies, music then I do not expect it to be removed from access at a later date unless an option for me to store the item is offered.
Apple has the ability to delete media and apps from Apple devices. Offering a download would only work if it's not non-DRM (so not revokable), not tied to a specific device (you should be able to play your film on any device you own), and ideally not even tied to an account (you shouldn't lose your purchases if Apple close your account). Really it would need to be in an open format that works on non-Apple devices too.