The deception of “buying” digital movies • Hacker News Board

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#181

Post by mattl » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 3:00 PM UTC

scarface74 wrote: post #136

adrianN wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You could even imagine an automated system where you buy a song for some two cents and then sell it back after you're done listening to it for a one cent. You could have users make their collections available on a market place and pay them some fraction of the profits you make.

Music bought on iTunes hasn’t had DRM since 2009

Depends where you’re based. Japan had DRM on iTunes for some time and also DRM-free songs on iTunes were a paid upgrade globally for a while too.

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#182

Post by vel0city » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 3:01 PM UTC

indymike wrote: post #61

There needs to be a very large lawsuit or two about this. Claiming you can buy something, and then renting it, even if the rental is 20 years is fraud.

I buy a concert ticket. Does this mean I can go see that artist everywhere they perform forever now?

No. I bought a revokable, limited access right to see a particular performance.

Should we not use the term "buy" here as well?

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#183

Post by iamacyborg » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 3:01 PM UTC

rthomas6 wrote: post #176

iamacyborg wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I buy blurays, rip them and then store them on a NAS to play back via Plex. Much, much better quality than any stream from Netflix et al.

I thought about doing this, but I was worried about codec compatibility issues with Dolby Vision and Atmos, and DTS:whatever. Everything I've read says you need to buy an Nvidia Shield to do it right. This is probably even closer to ideal than my setup, but in the end I decided it's not worth the effort/cost vs just putting the disc in the player.

I mean, I still have all the discs too, obviously. I’ve not noticed any codec errors with my tv which is running the Android OS.

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#184

Post by ticviking » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 3:03 PM UTC

netsharc wrote: post #73

josh_fyi wrote: post #10

Has anyone tried a legal challenge to the word "buy"? It seems like a straightforward case of misrepresentation.

There's probably wording in the agreement (linked next to the checkbox we automatically tick before clicking the button) that says you're buying a license to watch the movie as long as the movie is available on the platform. There are other definitions of buy a movie, e.g. buy the IP so you're allowed to make sequels.

The point of such a lawsuit would be to establish that a reasonable person thought they were “buying” it in the same way as a DVD, and the idea that it was time limited or could be unilaterally revoked was deceptively hidden.

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#185

Post by thom_ » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 3:03 PM UTC

If you pay a twice the rental cost and watch the movie a dozen times, that’s your moneys worth. Nobody wants to hold onto a DVD for 20 years to rewatch an old movie again and again and again and pass it onto their grandkids. This is just ridiculous, streaming movies is absolutely the future. The days of 50tb drive arrays with every Hollywood movie are over not because of a new world order but because the time trade off and all that effort just isn't worth the $4 to sit and enjoy the movie in one of your finite days on Earth

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#186

Post by D13Fd » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 3:04 PM UTC

I've always understood this and it doesn't bother me, at least for iTunes/Apple movies.

Yes, you get less than a DVD/Blu-Ray in that the media could potentially disappear.

But you also get more. It works on your computer, your phone, your iPad, and instantly on every TV in your house that has a streaming device. It works when you travel. You can download every movie you "own" to every device you have, almost instantly, as many times as you want. You don't have to worry about storing, losing, or damaging the disc. You can start a movie on your laptop, pause, and automatically pick right up where you left off on your phone or iPad or TV. You don't have to go to a store, or order a disc online and wait. You don't have to pay for shipping. With Apple, and least, you don't even have to buy new media when new technologies appear - every video I've ever purchased has been upgraded to HD, and then to 4K and HDR when they became available, all for free. And with Apple at least, "Family Sharing" lets all of your family members stream or download the movie to their devices as well.

Yes, it's possible that Apple or Amazon could take away movies that you own. But the public outcry would be massive. And I've been "owning" videos from Apple for 10+ years without issue, so I feel pretty comfortable with it at this point.

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#187

Post by ezfe » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 3:05 PM UTC

JohnTHaller wrote: post #78

CharlesW wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes. A bunch of non-Apple devices have an Apple TV app now¹, and you can also play movies to any device that supports AirPlay 2¹. ¹ https://www.apple.com/apple-tv-app/devices/

That's still Apple hardware/software. If you can't play it outside of the locked down Apple ecosystem which is checking your license, then you don't own it.

> If you can't play it outside of the locked down Apple ecosystem which is checking your license, then you don't own it.

The DRM does not require being online to verify once it's been set up

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#188

Post by ezfe » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 3:06 PM UTC

rthomas6 wrote: post #55

ezfe wrote: post #2

The iTunes Store continues to be the only reputable place to buy movies, mainly because they allow downloads (except 4K...but I digress). In the past, redownloading movies wasn't even permitted. You download it and save it somewhere yourself. You can still do that to avoid any issues in the future, but I suspect the few incidents that have affected the iTunes Store are unlikely to re-occur. Why? For exactly the reaso…

>The iTunes Store continues to be the only reputable place to buy movies Best Buy, Target, Walmart, and Goodwill work pretty well for me.

I obviously meant for digital movies, even if I forgot that detail

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#189

Post by detaro » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 3:07 PM UTC

astorsnk wrote: post #180

AlecSchueler wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe iTunes wasn't a good example but it has happened to me with other services. I live in the Netherlands where I bought a subscription for the Formula 1 TV service. Last year I was in the UK visiting family and was unable to watch races there, despite havng already paid for them, as the geo restrictions were different.

>> Last year I was in the UK visiting family and was unable to watch races there, despite havng already paid for them, as the geo restrictions were different. Yep, thank sucks. You can thank brexit for that. AFAIK services offered in one EU country have to work throughout the EU (so if you were in Germany it would have worked). This meant that on holiday (coming from UK to Spain) a few years back I was able to watch…

> AFAIK services offered in one EU country have to work throughout the EU

Streaming services are a bit of a special case: they can have different access in different places, but the location that counts is the users home location. So e.g. a national sports league can license exclusive rights to different streaming services in different countries, and in your home country there is only one choice, but if you sign up with them and then travel, you still can access it, even though the "exclusive" contract for that country is with someone else.

Re: The deception of “buying” digital movies

#190

Post by benabus » Tue, Oct 04, 2022, 3:07 PM UTC

KingFelix wrote: post #161

stewx wrote: post #7

One under-appreciated limitation on digital movies is geographic restrictions. You buy a bunch of iTunes movies in Canada, then move to the USA, and you no longer have the right to watch them anymore due to licensing. Another significant issue with digital movies and games is the inability to resell the content once you're done with it. You can sell your DVDs at a yard sale or on eBay but not your iTunes movies. IMO,…

Final space was also interesting. Another show that got the chopping block for tax purposes. They were removed from AMazon, even if you purchased the seasons! Piracy returns?

Came here to say this. I thought "Now that it's not streaming, I've at least got a copy on Amazon Prime!" Nope. Not anymore. And definitely can't get Season 3 any longer. Complete bullshit.