Apple Once Again Removes Select Movies from... (1 Viewer)

[Joshua Clinard]

Apple has pulled the ability for users to donwload or stream select movies that they have purchased. Movies include Gone Girl, Birdman, If I Stay, and others. When will iTunes become a legitimate digital movie provider, and offer guaranteed movie streams for the life of the user, like Vudu? My guess is never. Be careful, if you purchase a movie from iTunes, make sure you download it immediately, and make sure your hard drive never crashes. You may not be able to download it again later.

This is reason #1 why I use Vudu instead of Itunes.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

Vudu has removed movies from people's libraries too - the longer version of Bedknobs and Broomsticks for one, and Maleficent in 3D is another. I don't think this kind of thing is going to be limited to a single storefront or provider. These kinds of changes seem driven by the studios/license holders, and I think it's highly likely that they'll continue to happen across all platforms.

The fine print for digital copies state that you're purchasing a license to view a film which may be revoked at any time.

 

[Tony Bensley]

This is just one reason why I much prefer physical media, where the retaining of titles is governed by the life of the disc, rather than the life of a licensing agreement.

I'm not saying that I'll never purchase an online download. Frankly, there are 3 episodes of THE MUNSTERS with original music that I would have purchased awhile back, except being outside the U.S, I'm unable to access the U.S. Amazon digital downloads, and Amazon Canada isn't yet set up (Will they ever be?) for this service!

However, the ever looming threat of losing titles already purchased only serves to discourage any thought of going this route, even if I were able to do so.

CHEERS!

 

[Mark-P]

Just because Apple has discontinued new sales of these items, does not mean that you no longer have access to them. Go to your "purchased" tab in the iTunes store and you will find all your purchased movies that can still be downloaded.

Strike that. I just realized that my Blu-rays of Gone Girl and Birman came with iTunes digital copies and by checking my iTunes history I see that I redeemed those codes, and yes you are correct those two films are no longer in my "purchased items" directory. So Apple definitely has some restoring to do.

 

[Sam Posten]

Investigating this, suspect it's a glitch. Watch this thread:
http://forums.macrumors.com/threads...some-peoples-libraries.1986638/#post-23211635

Love your sky is falling responses tho, when we've seen this happen on Uv just as much if not more

 

[Robert Crawford]

I hope we're all above the whole silly UV versus iTunes argument. Not a very productive topic of discussion.

 

[[email protected]]

Vudu has removed movies from people's libraries too - the longer version of Bedknobs and Broomsticks for one, and Maleficent in 3D is another. I don't think this kind of thing is going to be limited to a single storefront or provider. These kinds of changes seem driven by the studios/license holders, and I think it's highly likely that they'll continue to happen across all platforms.

The fine print for digital copies state that you're purchasing a license to view a film which may be revoked at any time.

I think those are Disney films. Only UV states you will never lose your rights I believe.

 

[TJPC]

I think those are Disney films. Only UV states you will never lose your rights I believe.

Wouldn't it be nice if there was some sort of storage method for movies on say a disc, which could be kept on say a book shelf and put in some sort of machine connected to say a television for viewing whenever you wanted to?
That way a movie on an ephemeral thing like a website or computer hard drive subject to virus attack or the whims of a site administrator would not be a problem!

 

[Wayne_j]

After missing earlier today Gone Girl and Birdman are now back in my iTunes library.

 

[Mark-P]

After missing earlier today Gone Girl and Birdman are now back in my iTunes library.

Yep. Showing up on iTunes again. What do know about that, just a temporary glitch and everyone freaks out!

 

[[email protected]]

Wouldn't it be nice if there was some sort of storage method for movies on say a disc, which could be kept on say a book shelf and put in some sort of machine connected to say a television for viewing whenever you wanted to?
That way a movie on an ephemeral thing like a website or computer hard drive subject to virus attack or the whims of a site administrator would not be a problem!

LOL.....I agree. An argument can be made for both ways though.

 

[Sam Posten]

. Only UV states you will never lose your rights I believe.

At risk of ramping up the VS. mentality boy I'd sure like to see that clause if true. I'd be very surprised to see anything like that where Apple has less than favored nation status from the studios, and that "belief" sounds like fan-hope rather than anything concrete built into EULAs. If you can find it please share!

 

[Cranston37+]

In my experience, if a title is pulled for sale on either Vudu or iTunes, a purchased copy has always remained in my library. Right now there are a few titles like "True Lies" and "The Abyss" you can no longer buy, but I still have mine.

As the digital market matures and more and more people have made purchases, I think it becomes less likely the studios would risk alienating consumers by removing a title they purchased. Can you imagine the backlash if millions of people who bought, say, "Deadpool," had it taken away?

That happened a few years ago on iTunes when "The Lion King" was put back in the vault. Disney promptly apologized and gave the movie back to whoever bought it. With this now growing into a billion dollar business, it's just not worth it for the studios to jeopardize a lucrative new market. It's not 100% safe obviously, but I don't stay awake nights worried about my UV or iTunes purchases.

 

[[email protected]]

At risk of ramping up the VS. mentality boy I'd sure like to see that clause if true. I'd be very surprised to see anything like that where Apple has less than favored nation status from the studios, and that "belief" sounds like fan-hope rather than anything concrete built into EULAs. If you can find it please share!

Found this with a quick search:
[1.6.1] How long do my UltraViolet Rights last?
The right to an UltraViolet movie is perpetual and remains in your Library unless you delete it. UltraViolet rights never expire. Once you download a movie you can play it as many times as you like.

I have no interest in reading all of the terms of service stuff but all of this kind of stuff is written by lawyers and I have no doubt they have covered their butts.

http://www.uvdemystified.com/uvfaq.html

 

[Sam Posten]

Sure. You have rights as long as they are not taken away with all these services.
Similar language here:
https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201272

BUT:

Notwithstanding any other provision of this Agreement, iTunes and its licensors reserve the right to change, suspend, remove, or disable access to any iTunes Products, content, or other materials that are offered by the Service without notice. In no event will iTunes be liable for making these changes. iTunes may also impose limits on the use of or access to certain features or portions of the Service, in any case and without notice or liability. Removal of content from the Service will not affect products that you have already acquired from the Service.

http://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/us/terms.html

So Apple CAN remove any content they want for any reason! BAD APPLE BAD. =)

And UV/DECE has similar language here:

THE WEBSITE, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY AND ALL CONTENT, FUNCTIONS, USER INTERFACES, AND MATERIALS THEREOF OR OTHERWISE AVAILABLE ON OR THROUGH THE WEBSITE, ARE PROVIDED "AS IS", "AS AVAILABLE", AND, TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW, WITHOUT ANY PROMISES OR WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, (a) ANY WARRANTY FOR INFORMATION, DATA, DATA PROCESSING SERVICES, UPTIME OR UNINTERRUPTED ACCESS, (b) ANY WARRANTIES CONCERNING THE AVAILABILITY, ACCURACY, USEFULNESS, CORRECTNESS, PRECISION, THOROUGHNESS, COMPLETENESS OR CONTENT OF INFORMATION, (c) ANY WARRANTIES OF TITLE, NON-INFRINGEMENT, SATISFACTORY QUALITY, MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, (d) THAT USE OF THE WEBSITE WILL BE SECURE, UNINTERRUPTED OR ERROR-FREE, (e) THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED IN A TIMELY MANNER OR AT ALL, (f) THAT ANY OF THE FEATURES OR FUNCTIONALITY ASSOCIATED WITH THE WEBSITE WILL BE AVAILABLE AT ANY GIVEN TIME OR FOR ANY DURATION, OR (g) THAT YOUR USE OF THE WEBSITE WILL BE FREE FROM LOSS, CORRUPTION, ATTACK, VIRUSES, INTERFERENCE, HACKING, OR OTHER SECURITY INTRUSION. DECE, ITS AFFILIATES, MEMBERS, CONTRACTORS, LICENSORS, AND EACH OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OFFICERS, DIRECTORS, EMPLOYEES, AGENTS, AND REPRESENTATIVES (COLLECTIVELY, THE "DECE ENTITIES") HEREBY DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS AND IMPLIED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAW.

IANAL but based on that reading they can both pull content if they have to, up to and including the whole shebang if they go broke.

 

[David Norman]

As stated many times. "Buying" a digital copy via one of these services is no more than a long term rental at best.

It's at their discretion and you can't re-sell something you don't own.

 

[Sam Posten]

And you can't give them to your heirs either. This is not news

 

[seanrt]

That user

Found this with a quick search:
[1.6.1] How long do my UltraViolet Rights last?
The right to an UltraViolet movie is perpetual and remains in your Library unless you delete it. UltraViolet rights never expire. Once you download a movie you can play it as many times as you like.

I have no interest in reading all of the terms of service stuff but all of this kind of stuff is written by lawyers and I have no doubt they have covered their butts.

http://www.uvdemystified.com/uvfaq.html

That agreement seems more to be referencing if you download an UltraViolet purchase to a device you will always have access unless you delete it. It does not seem to imply the cloud library.

 

[Joshua Clinard]

You can easily transfer your UV collection to an heir. Just give them your username and password, and they can merge it into their account. You can't transfer individual titles, but you can transfer your whole library. You could do the same with iTunes, but they wouldn't be able to merge the titles, they would have to maintain two separate libraries.

 

[Sam Posten]

If you are smart enough to think ahead, yes you can do that with Vudu features.

But not legally. Giving your account info to another person, even a relative is against TOS.

• impersonate or misrepresent yourself or your connection to any other entity or person;
• resell or redistribute the Website to anyone else either permanently or temporarily;