Apple Pulls Some Disney and Pixar Titles From iTunes Store and iTunes in the Cloud [Updated]

[xxBURT0Nxx]

I have no problem with Apple pulling the product from sale. My complaint is over removing the product from the purchase history so that existing purchasers cannot redownload.

This is likely a licensing issue where it expired or disney wants to change the terms, and the content will be back up when a resolution is reached.

In the mean time, apple can't keep the content on the store for you to download, they have to remove it because there is no licensing agreement to distribute it.

Plus, the terms very clearly state that content may or may not be available for download at any given time, and apple is not responsible for content that disappears.

Sure it may suck for a few people who deleted the content and now are left without access to it, but a large number of people are complaining about something that has entirely no affect on them whatsoever. If you don't want to run into this problem, don't rely on apple to provide you with the download forever. Store it yourself either locally, on a backup or external drive, or in the cloud.

 

[roland.g]

I have no problem with Apple pulling the product from sale. My complaint is over removing the product from the purchase history so that existing purchasers cannot redownload.

It is only available to re-download as long as it continues to be available for sale. I don't like this either but that is the deal Apple signs with the studios (and that is only the ones who make their titles available for Cloud download which not all do) as that is the only way the studios will allow the in the Cloud feature on their titles. And as a consequence, Apple inserts specific language into the TOS to inform consumers of this situation. The iTunes store has always been a download model, and that is the primary acquisition method. As the Apple TV 2 and 3 went non-internal storage, and the proliferation of iOS devices on both high speed LTE networks as well as higher speed broadband availability and ubiquity, the iTunes in the Cloud service became an added feature first to Music and then expanded to some but not all Video as a convenience feature to give you access on a device without having to be connected to your "home storage". I would never personally tie up bandwidth watching a movie I own at home on my Apple TV by watching it from the Cloud when I can stream it from my Mac. However, when I travel I may choose to stream a title into my iPad that I did not think to sync prior to leaving for my trip for both storage concerns and for thought.

 

[bencjedi]

That is a remarkably ****** thing to do by Disney. Particularly without warning or with an offer of a refund. Makes me more grateful that I download my stuff to iTunes and strip the DRM from them.

Its stuff like this that make people leary of going digital. *sigh*

How can I strip the DRM out of my iTunes purchases? I'd like to do that too.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

There's only one problem with this - Apple TV customers 'purchase' movies directly from their Apple TV with no capability to download the content. I understand the legalese and how Disney is trying to get away with it in an overbearing effort to control the market and get more $$$, but this IS like stealing the content from Apple TV users because they do not have the capability to download the content permanently. What message does this send to Apple TV users? "Please, don't ever 'purchase' movies from your Apple TV (even though we're going to allow you to do so). It is unwise to purchase content from your Apple TV because the content providers can prevent you from viewing the content at any time"

Again, I understand that Disney wants to 'vault' these titles to prevent any new customers from purchasing them (I think the whole vault business is absurd and greedy to begin with), but there should be a mechanism for people that previously purchased the content EXCLUSIVELY FROM AN APPLE TV to view it later - they should not revoke the capability to view the content for Apple TV owners because they don't have a way to download the content.

Mark my words, this is a huge problem and I do think there is credible cause for a legal battle. I think it is disgraceful that Disney would stoop so low.

If anything, maybe you could sue disney, but apple clearly covered themselves from instances like this in the terms you agreed to.

and you are reaching to claim that apple tv owners have no way to permanently download the content. They may not be able to permanently download it to the appleTV, but they can access iTunes from any computer, iPad, iPhone and download purchased content where it can be stored locally.

 

[mdorais]

The case cannot be made that purchased digital content in the cloud will replace physical media. While it SHOULD be the case and the way of the future as long as you will never actually own the content and a company can always take it from you at will then it's a pipe dream at best.

I wonder if those who buy from iTunes will take a stand and stop supporting this.

 

[keifer.street]

If anything, maybe you could sue disney, but apple clearly covered themselves from instances like this in the terms you agreed to.

and you are reaching to claim that apple tv owners have no way to permanently download the content. They may not be able to permanently download it to the appleTV, but they can access iTunes from any computer, iPad, iPhone and download purchased content where it can be stored locally.

But what if someone doesn't own a computer, iPad, or iPhone? What if all they bought was an Apple TV as a companion for their HDTV? However unlikely that may be, it is a possibility for consumers out there. This is why I think there is credible grounds for a legal battle.

 

[roland.g]

i've had hundreds of DVDs and blu rays and it takes A LOT of effort to break them

We recently had a home break in and among the things that were stolen was our iMac, backed up luckily, and some DVDs and Blu-Rays. Oddly enough they stole all the Blu-Rays which wasn't surprising and all the TV series, boxed sets, and kids animation movies, leaving all the other regular movies. They specifically targeted the disney/pixar/dreamworks/etc titles, not leaving a single "kids" movie. But they left over 200 other DVDs.

 

[Bishope1999]

Because DVD's and blu-ray's are "obsolete" and anyone with an optical drive is an "edge" case.

But in this case this is something Apple has actively encouraged by removal of optical drives and encouraging people to download media via itunes.

lol...... They should give people the option, but they just want them to move to cloud storage.

And if you break that disk, will Best Buy give you a new one?

No?

Then there's no difference here.




Your downloaded version still works, so what have you lost? The ability to RE-download it if you lose it which is something no DVD or Blu-Ray disk ever offered.

No, they won't replace them, but you have to be pretty careless to break the Blu-ray disc. If you actually brake the disc, you can buy a new one. Here it seems that you lost your right to see the movie and possibly your money, you also don't have a way to purchase that same copy.

 

[MonkeySee....]

I really real want to get on board with iTunes and use it to it potential but when they/content providers can pull stuff when ever they want that doesn't bode well for me.

Sort it out. I know I don't own the copy but i have paid for the right to watch it whenever I want.

 

[tdiaz]

Back in the era of VHS and LaserDisc, Disney would release these titles for as little as a few days and then pull them from the catalogs driving up prices.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

The case cannot be made that purchased digital content in the cloud will replace physical media. While it SHOULD be the case and the way of the future as long as you will never actually own the content and a company can always take it from you at will then it's a pipe dream at best.

I wonder if those who buy from iTunes will take a stand and stop supporting this.

cloud will take over physical media, it's just a matter of time.

you don't own physical media any more than you own a download.

You also have the option to, you know, keep a download locally, which nobody can "take away from you" Nobody forces you to not download and keep a copy of the content you paid for.

 

[alent1234]

The case cannot be made that purchased digital content in the cloud will replace physical media. While it SHOULD be the case and the way of the future as long as you will never actually own the content and a company can always take it from you at will then it's a pipe dream at best.

I wonder if those who buy from iTunes will take a stand and stop supporting this.

most of my itunes stuff is filler like $10 for cloudy with a chance of meatballs for my kids. but now i'll probably think twice about buying cheap movies as well.

i was wary of buying from vudu and other ultraviolet partners, but not anymore. now itunes scares me more than UV

----------

cloud will take over physical media, it's just a matter of time.

you don't own physical media any more than you own a download.

You also have the option to, you know, keep a download locally, which nobody can "take away from you" Nobody forces you to not download and keep a copy of the content you paid for.

$20 blu ray vs $20 cloud version which you have to buy a hard drive to download to and worry about backing up

yeah OK

 

[kaltsasa]

This is likely a licensing issue where it expired or disney wants to change the terms, and the content will be back up when a resolution is reached.

In the mean time, apple can't keep the content on the store for you to download, they have to remove it because there is no licensing agreement to distribute it.

Plus, the terms very clearly state that content may or may not be available for download at any given time, and apple is not responsible for content that disappears.

Sure it may suck for a few people who deleted the content and now are left without access to it, but a large number of people are complaining about something that has entirely no affect on them whatsoever. If you don't want to run into this problem, don't rely on apple to provide you with the download forever. Store it yourself either locally, on a backup or external drive, or in the cloud.

I tend to agree and don't generally trust "cloud" services to store all my purchases but Apple certainly doesn't go out of their way to tell you that your iTunes purchases may or may not be available at any given time.

Apple does state on the iCloud page

With iCloud, all the music, movies, TV shows, and other iTunes content you’ve purchased are always available to download to your devices.

Not some, not most, all the content you've purchased are always available to download.

There's not even a footnote on the iCloud page to suggest anything different. While I may be aware of the intricacies of modern digital media licensing (fueling my distrust of it), many aren't, my mother certainly isn't.

Burying the "we might yank your ****" on page 128 of the terms of service but we are going to advertise that's totally not the case might cover Apple's ass legally, but it certainly doesn't do much to endear them to even their most loyal of fanboi, me.

 

[roland.g]

cloud will take over physical media, it's just a matter of time.

you don't own physical media any more than you own a download.

You also have the option to, you know, keep a download locally, which nobody can "take away from you" Nobody forces you to not download and keep a copy of the content you paid for.

I have three copies of every download.

1. My media drive.

2. My media drive backup.

3. My offsite media drive backup which includes all my stuff, not just media.

and a 4th, iTunes in the Cloud which I don't consider a backup copy, only a convenience copy.

All all these copies take up substantially less space than a box, drawer, or other piece of furniture housing hundreds of discs.

 

[hvfsl]

How can I strip the DRM out of my iTunes purchases? I'd like to do that too.

You need iTunes 10 on a computer (PC or Mac) to do it plus a copy of Requiem (the program which does the DRM removal). It doesn't strip out the metadata, so Apple can find out who originally bought it if you decide to 'share' the files with others.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

But what if someone doesn't own a computer, iPad, or iPhone? What if all they bought was an Apple TV as a companion for their HDTV? However unlikely that may be, it is a possibility for consumers out there. This is why I think there is credible grounds for a legal battle.

i really doubt someone would have an HDTV and high speed internet access without having some sort of computer, tablet, phone, etc.

Maybe a handful of people bought an apple tv and got internet access to accompany it, but seriously, hardly anybody is in that situation. Maybe literally a handful of people.

I mean, go buy a cheap computer to backup your downloads to. if you can afford to have an HDTV, appleTV, and highspeed internet I don't really see why you couldn't afford a cheap $200-$300 computer.

 

[Nermal]

It is only available to re-download as long as it continues to be available for sale.

That's not the case for all content (although admittedly it might be for all movies); I have a game that's no longer sold, but it's still in my purchase history and can be redownloaded. Therefore the technical capability is there, and it's very disappointing that it wasn't used in this case.

 

[K4LK]

As someone with a large media library, this kind of thing scares me. There's never any warning, and the idea of downloading all of the stuff I've purchased is cost prohibitive to download onto external hard drives. Not to mention I'd need to mirror that as a backup.

I too have a large library. It resides on a 2TB external hard drive. Time Machine keeps it backed up. I download everything purchased.

 

[wpalomine]

Very disconcerting. After hearing this, I immediately checked my iTunes movie purchases to see if I am missing any movies. All my movies are intact (still need to check amazon)

This sets a precedence for pulling purchased digital content from respective stores. I have thousands of purchased songs between Amazon and iTunes. And even more songs ripped from my CD collection, which were uploaded via iTunes Match.

Like most, I was under the impression that I had a secure and reliable online media locker. No need for hundreds of GBs of hard drive space to store my digital media, and syncing between devices. It is unsettling that access to can be pulled without notice. I am now contemplating on not renewing my iTunes Match and downloading all my media for local storage.

Some might say this is an over reaction, but I would like to think this is what any sensible person would do to protect their purchases.

 

[cclloyd]

This is why people should be afraid of purchasing content from the iTunes or Amazon digital video stores. Nothing beats a 1080p physical disk that you can keep on a shelf that the content owner can't remove from your library.

And if you do Blu ray then the bitrate is around 15x higher. (~3mbps comapred to 50mbps on blu ray) so infinetely better video quality.

 

[xxBURT0Nxx]

That's not the case for all content (although admittedly it might be for all movies); I have a game that's no longer sold, but it's still in my purchase history and can be redownloaded. Therefore the technical capability is there, and it's very disappointing that it wasn't used in this case.

how do you know that the terms would allow this capability to be used? It's a lot easier to dictate the terms of a store that people are going to develop applications for and want to come to you to sell. It's another thing entirely to convince music/movie/tv studios to let you sell their content on your store under your terms.

They have a lot more pull in dictating those terms than joe who wants to develop apps for your platform. Joe needs you to distribute so he will probably agree to just about anything, while you are the one who needs the movie/tv/music studios.

 

[Nermal]

how do you know that the terms would allow this capability to be used?

It's disappointing, whether the terms allow it or not (presumably "not" in this case).

 

[Small White Car]

i've had hundreds of DVDs and blu rays and it takes A LOT of effort to break them

And I have every movie I've bought on iTunes downloaded and backed up.

Hard to break that too.

 

[Deacon-Blues]

Just last night I was telling my wife I was going to download Beauty and the Beast because the only copy I have is on video tape, and I don't have a video tape player. I guess I waited one day too long.

This is why I always immediately back up everything I buy off iTunes onto a backup hard drive.

 

[kirsiemarie]

Happened a while ago

I noticed this a few weeks ago. I wanted to play the Pixar Birds short, and it wouldn't download or play. Sad.