Disappearing movies

[LV426]

Sigh. I thought I would watch one of my favourite French movies today - Betty Blue. Iconic French movie.

I bought it in 2013. Handed over my hard-earned cash. But it's now been deleted from the iTunes Store, so I can't watch it.

This always seems to happen with my favourite films. It's extremely annoying.

Apple shouldn't "sell" films if they can be arbitrarily removed. It's ridiculous.

 

[MarkC426]

Not good.
I download every purchase from iTunes for this reason.

Worth sending an email to Apple though, they may refund you.

 

[Realityck]

Sigh. I thought I would watch one of my favourite French movies today - Betty Blue. Iconic French movie.

I bought it in 2013. Handed over my hard-earned cash. But it's now been deleted from the iTunes Store, so I can't watch it.

This always seems to happen with my favourite films. It's extremely annoying.

Apple shouldn't "sell" films if they can be arbitrarily removed. It's ridiculous.

Contact Apple, they might credit you if it been removed

 

[-Gonzo-]

Have you actually looked in your library rather than using search?
I’ve got a few things that have been removed from sale but are still available to watch in my library.

 

[LV426]

Have you actually looked in your library rather than using search?
I’ve got a few things that have been removed from sale but are still available to watch in my library.

Yes. I've trawled my library. It has gone.

 

[LV426]

Contact Apple, they might credit you if it been removed

I'm not going to do that. The last time this happened they just washed their hands and said it's no longer on the store. End of story. Naturally, that wound me up quite a bit, and I had a heated "discussion" with the Apple representative before he terminated the conversation.

Has anyone tested this out in the courts, I wonder? Normally, if you buy something that is not fit for purpose you are entitled to your money back. The store is currently not fit for purpose, Apple.

 

[-Gonzo-]

I'm not going to do that. The last time this happened they just washed their hands and said it's no longer on the store. End of story. Naturally, that wound me up quite a bit, and I had a heated "discussion" with the Apple representative before he terminated the conversation.

Has anyone tested this out in the courts, I wonder? Normally, if you buy something that is not fit for purpose you are entitled to your money back. The store is currently not fit for purpose, Apple.

Problem is that sort of thing is covered in their T’s & C’s which you agreed to when you created your AppleID and accepted the terms of using the iTunes Store.
I’m not saying it’s right, just that legally I’m not so sure you’d get anywhere.
The same applies across all digital platforms, not just Apple.
Apple at least does give you the option of downloading upon purchase in a max of HD but not everyone does that.

Here’s an article you may find of interest

Have you ever read the terms and conditions when you buy a digital movie? – Film Stories

When you buy a movie from the likes of Amazon or Apple, you agree to thousands of words of legalese - and we've been reading it.

www.filmstories.co.uk

 

[priitv8]

I think that legalese has been dictated by studios - the rights' owners.
Like us, also Apple or Amazon never get to own those movies.
They only intermediate the transfer of viewing rights from studios to us, in a convenient way.

 

[LV426]

Problem is that sort of thing is covered in their T’s & C’s which you agreed to when you created your AppleID and accepted the terms of using the iTunes Store.
I’m not saying it’s right, just that legally I’m not so sure you’d get anywhere.
The same applies across all digital platforms, not just Apple.
Apple at least does give you the option of downloading upon purchase in a max of HD but not everyone does that.

Here’s an article you may find of interest

Have you ever read the terms and conditions when you buy a digital movie? – Film Stories

When you buy a movie from the likes of Amazon or Apple, you agree to thousands of words of legalese - and we've been reading it.

www.filmstories.co.uk

Thanks. Very interesting article.

To the extent possible, Apple will warn you in advance of any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.

Well, they didn’t warn me that their Service would stop dishing out Betty Blue this year! Or Lilya 4 Ever a few years back.

I hope the court case makes them change their use of the word “buy”.

 

[TiggrToo]

Thanks. Very interesting article.

To the extent possible, Apple will warn you in advance of any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.

Well, they didn’t warn me that their Service would stop dishing out Betty Blue this year! Or Lilya 4 Ever a few years back.

I hope the court case makes them change their use of the word “buy”.

It's made clear when you "purchase" a movie or TV series that you're purchasing a non-exclusive license to download and/or stream the item in question. And such license can be removed at any time.

This is why the recommendation is to always ensure you've downloaded the item(s) in question.

This is not just movies - this has being going on for years with Kindle books as well.

Not saying this is fair, mind. I personally feel it's grossly unfair and it's why I've never purchased any movies etc. that don't have at least a physical disk.

And I utterly despise DRM - and feel it does far more harm than good.

 

[-Gonzo-]

Thanks. Very interesting article.

To the extent possible, Apple will warn you in advance of any modification, suspension or discontinuance of the Service.

Well, they didn’t warn me that their Service would stop dishing out Betty Blue this year! Or Lilya 4 Ever a few years back.

I hope the court case makes them change their use of the word “buy”.

As far as the service goes you haven’t lost access to the service so nothing for Apple to warn you about.
Digital ownership is more complicated than it needs to be but iTunes is just a digital storefront which upon purchase your digital license resides with the studio/distributor who put it in the store. Apple just hosts that content all the while the distributor makes it available.

Have you looked back at your purchase history?
If you have an iPhone or iPad open the iTunes Store app and select More at the bottom then select purchased, do any of those movies show up in the list?
Another possibility have you looked under your AppleID to see if they’ve somehow been put in your hidden purchases library?

 

[LV426]

As far as the service goes you haven’t lost access to the service so nothing for Apple to warn you about.
Digital ownership is more complicated than it needs to be but iTunes is just a digital storefront which upon purchase your digital license resides with the studio/distributor who put it in the store. Apple just hosts that content all the while the distributor makes it available.

Have you looked back at your purchase history?
If you have an iPhone or iPad open the iTunes Store app and select More at the bottom then select purchased, do any of those movies show up in the list?
Another possibility have you looked under your AppleID to see if they’ve somehow been put in your hidden purchases library?

I have looked at my purchased on iPhone/iPad, and the movies that are gone do not show up there. Nor are they available for purchase any more. I keep all my iTunes receipt emails as proof of purchase.

I have about 500 purchased iTunes movies, and several are now gone. Whilst a 1% disappearance rate may not sound like a big deal, it's very annoying when it does happen.

My contention is that if a service suddenly fails to deliver everything I expect, that is a failure and - at the very least - warrants a warning that one should download the movie somewhere to keep a permanent record.

 

[MarkC426]

I have noticed in the past, a film I bought a long time ago doesn't show on my iPad (icloud content), but is on my Mac, because I downloaded it.
Also if I search for it in the store, it shows the price again, rather than the download icon.

 

[priitv8]

My contention is that if a service suddenly fails to deliver everything I expect, that is a failure and - at the very least - warrants a warning that one should download the movie somewhere to keep a permanent record.

TV app (used to be iTunes) on a personal computer is the only place, where you can download a backup copy to your own storage. Not the 4K version, though. Only SD/720p/1080p and only SDR and without Atmos.

 

[LV426]

I have noticed in the past, a film I bought a long time ago doesn't show on my iPad (icloud content), but is on my Mac, because I downloaded it.
Also if I search for it in the store, it shows the price again, rather than the download icon.

Yes, that has happened to me a few times as well. I suspect that the content owner remove the movie from sale - bingo, your purchase has gone - then they, or another distributor, make it available for purchase again. You’ve lost your money and you have to “buy“ it again to watch it. Tell me how that’s good for the customer!

 

[jwolf6589]

It's made clear when you "purchase" a movie or TV series that you're purchasing a non-exclusive license to download and/or stream the item in question. And such license can be removed at any time.

This is why the recommendation is to always ensure you've downloaded the item(s) in question.

This is not just movies - this has being going on for years with Kindle books as well.

Not saying this is fair, mind. I personally feel it's grossly unfair and it's why I've never purchased any movies etc. that don't have at least a physical disk.

And I utterly despise DRM - and feel it does far more harm than good.

Kindle books? What about Apple Books? As best I can tell I keep books that have been deleted from the store.

 

[Ximenez_Kin]

Sigh. I thought I would watch one of my favourite French movies today - Betty Blue. Iconic French movie.

I bought it in 2013. Handed over my hard-earned cash. But it's now been deleted from the iTunes Store, so I can't watch it.

This always seems to happen with my favourite films. It's extremely annoying.

Apple shouldn't "sell" films if they can be arbitrarily removed. It's ridiculous.

I have the exact same problem. I bought it years ago for another device, but I have a backup of this file on a portable hard drive and it's not been deleted.

I just tried to reopen it on my newer MacBook Pro and it asked me to authorise this computer to play purchases made with my Apple ID (which I don't get for other purchases). When I did that, I got a notice (see attachment). I tried reopening it on VLC and it failed. So I thought I had 7 GB of dead files. But actually Videos let me play it in the end!

The film won't sync on iCloud, however. It doesn't appear in my purchase history either, as far as I can see. Really odd. Sorry you can't watch your purchase. Wonder why it was pulled from the store?

 

[JoeShades]

I have a few things no longer available to buy but I can still watch

 

[LV426]

Yay! "Possession (1981)" is the latest movie I purchased but has disappeared from my iTunes library. Creepy but quite good horror movie. Sadly, not to be watched tonight, courtesy of Apple's strange use of the word "purchased".

 

[WebHead]

I believe this issue morally (if not legally) justifies removing the DRM to make personal backups. Otherwise you're better off just pirating.

 

[MarkC426]

You can still backup your media.
All my iTunes content is downloaded to a drive on my Mac and cloned externally.

 

[LV426]

You can still backup your media.
All my iTunes content is downloaded to a drive on my Mac and cloned externally.

Your 4K movies aren’t. Also, some people buy straight from Apple TV, without the means (or inconvenience) to plug in a hard drive.

 

[MarkC426]

I only buy SD content.

 

[-Gonzo-]

I only buy SD content.

Why would you restrict yourself to SD when more often than not SD costs the same as HD/4K.
When you buy SD that’s all you get, with HD you at least get an upgrade to 4K when it becomes available, you get iTunes Extras and have access to the SD stream if it’s a data issue.

 

[Ethosik]

I think something else might be going on. I can no longer find Farscape: The Peacekeeper Wars on the iTunes Store yet I still have it in my purchased items. I also have some TV Shows that no longer show up in the store.