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iTunes Extras lost on some movies???

A

AeroBar

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 21, 2009
740
13
Hello,

I've never had a bad experience with Apple customer service before but I had a succession of woefully inadequate reps on live chat unable to answer, and in some cases unable to understand, a very simple question.

Four of my iTunes movies are missing their iTunes Extras. They were bought when Extras had to be downloaded. Apparently at some point the distributors altered the Extra content and were allowed to class them as a new product so even though I can stream the movies on AppleTV I no longer have the Extras. I had a back up of the originals but that hard drive was damaged before Christmas. In fact an Apple Sales rep advised me to buy my new AppleTV saying I wouldn't need back ups of the films anymore because it was all streaming.

Customer service could do nothing but they also told me that distributors can alter and even remove iTunes Extras whenever they want. And now that Extras are streaming only there is nothing that a customer can do to protect their purchases.

This isn't an "Apple sucks" rant. I love Apple and iTunes.

But is this true? Are iTunes customers without any guarantee that they can actually keep a part of what they buy? Have I made a mistake choosing an AppleTV over a smart Blu Ray player?

Has this happened to anyone else?

Regards
 
Sounds like you should call a speak with an AppleCare representative, trying to text-chat with them doesn't sound like it's work out so well for you -- something's getting lost in the translation...
 
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Apple switched from the downloadable format for extras to streaming extras a few years ago. The downloadable extras never worked on the "black box" Apple TV models, i.e. you could only view them in iTunes. The new streaming extras work on both.

Personally, I didn't really keep records, but I think most or all of my movies that used to have the downloadable extras have been converted to the new format. But yes, it does happen that studios add a new version of an existing movie to the store that has new extras, or sometimes a movie changes ownership (i.e. another studio gets the distribution rights and perhaps adds new extras). In both cases the existing owners of the old version will not get access to the new extras.
 
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benjitek said:
Sounds like you should call a speak with an AppleCare representative, trying to text-chat with them doesn't sound like it's work out so well for you -- something's getting lost in the translation...
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply.

I didn't think of AppleCare.

I have never encountered a problems that couldn't be fixed with a search or a post here. And I had never needed to use AppleCare on any other in the past, so I didn't buy when I got the AppleTV before Christmas because money was tight at the moment. The sales rep said I had up to six months after the purchase to get AppleCare.

Do you know if this is true?
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Rigby said:
Apple switched from the downloadable format for extras to streaming extras a few years ago. The downloadable extras never worked on the "black box" Apple TV models, i.e. you could only view them in iTunes. The new streaming extras work on both.

Personally, I didn't really keep records, but I think most or all of my movies that used to have the downloadable extras have been converted to the new format. But yes, it does happen that studios add a new version of an existing movie to the store that has new extras, or sometimes a movie changes ownership (i.e. another studio gets the distribution rights and perhaps adds new extras). In both cases the existing owners of the old version will not get access to the new extras.
Click to expand...

Thanks for answering.

I should have mentioned above that I have other movies in my iTunes account and the Extras are fine.In fact Warner Bros. have added videos to one of the Extras and on another movie gave actually gave Extras where there was previously none.

And I do understand what you say above about a changing ownership, etc. but that shouldn't put the customer at a loss. At the very least we should be guaranteed that we can keep what we have already paid for. Otherwise what is the point of movies on iTunes? People who buy DVD or BluRay often encounter a similar problem when a new version of a movie is released but they don't choose to upgrade at least the distributor is going to come around to the extras features disc out of the set.
 
The damaged external drive (I get windows saying it is a "locked volume") where I stored my iTunes back ups (containing my missing Extras) also hold the back ups of a few iPhoto libraries.

The hard drive will not mount most times and Disk Utility could not repair. When it does mount I can open folders but not any files like images or video. or the iPhoto libraries.

I have been able to copy most of the content onto another drive but the iTunes back up folder and two of the iPhoto back ups* will not copy. (* I've tried iPhoto Library Manager to duplicate or copy the libraries but the process gets stuck very early on).

I got Disk Drill from the Mac App Store and after a scanning it offers me two sections to recover - the correctly named files and folders that I have already copied from the drive and a folder containing thousands of items the app has renamed (a lot of which seem to be photos that I trashed over the years) - the app does not show the iTunes and iPhoto back ups that I mentioned above so I cannot tell if the recovery app cannot access those or if they are included in the thousands of files the app is renaming.

I can only find very expensive data recovery apps and the ones I could afford I can't tell if they are good enough to recover the back ups I need as the free trials are too limited.

Can you guys point me in the direction of some good but cheap (free is better) software that could do the trick? Or explain what a locked volume is?

Cheers
 
To make matters even worse the same thing can happen to the whole movie. If iTunes were to lose the rights to that film, then you would not be able to stream that movie (or to download a copy). I choose to always download any movies bought through itunes and i keep two backups of these.
 
AeroBar said:
Thanks for the reply.
I didn't think of AppleCare... ...The sales rep said I had up to six months after the purchase to get AppleCare...
Click to expand...

Google is your friend -- doesn't sound like the "rep" knew the product well, or you misunderstood.
 
From A Buick 8 said:
To make matters even worse the same thing can happen to the whole movie. If iTunes were to lose the rights to that film, then you would not be able to stream that movie (or to download a copy). I choose to always download any movies bought through itunes and i keep two backups of these.
Click to expand...
People keep saying this, but has that actually ever happened? As far as I'm aware, every single movie that I own that has been removed from the store is still available for me to stream and download. You just cannot purchase them new anymore. It's really not much different than a DVD going out of print, i.e. existing owners are not affected.
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AeroBar said:
I should have mentioned above that I have other movies in my iTunes account and the Extras are fine.In fact Warner Bros. have added videos to one of the Extras and on another movie gave actually gave Extras where there was previously none.
Click to expand...
That has been my experience as well. Out of interest: Which movies were the ones that lost extras?
 
This must be extremely annoying and concerning. I find myself really annoyed because "they" have changed the artwork on a few of the movies I own this week, away from the classic covers I love to some shoddy new version - suppose this is a risk you take when you go digital :(
 
Hermes Monster said:
This must be extremely annoying and concerning. I find myself really annoyed because "they" have changed the artwork on a few of the movies I own this week, away from the classic covers I love to some shoddy new version - suppose this is a risk you take when you go digital :(
Click to expand...
I know you can chage the artwork of the movies you have downloaded in iTunes, but i am not sure if they change back or not.

I have recently moved all of my iTunes bought movies over to PLEX and i know i can chose the artwork there.
 
Rigby said:
People keep saying this, but has that actually ever happened?
Click to expand...
Can't say for movies but it's definitely happened with Music and the AppStore.
I've had paid for apps that have been removed and no longer available to re-download.
And I know of at least one Album that was pulled by the rights holder which some have complained they no longer have access to their purchase.
 
Rigby said:
People keep saying this, but has that actually ever happened? As far as I'm aware, every single movie that I own that has been removed from the store is still available for me to stream and download. You just cannot purchase them new anymore. It's really not much different than a DVD going out of print, i.e. existing owners are not affected.
Click to expand...

It famously happened with Disney movies a few years back. Luckily the dispute got resolved.

https://www.macrumors.com/2013/10/2...es-from-itunes-store-and-itunes-in-the-cloud/
 
AeroBar said:
Hello,

I've never had a bad experience with Apple customer service before but I had a succession of woefully inadequate reps on live chat unable to answer, and in some cases unable to understand, a very simple question.
Click to expand...

Actually it sounds like they totally understood the question. You just don't like the answer. If you haven't been reading the terms as they have been altered and posted, and haven't been backing up your data, neither is Apple's fault.
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AeroBar said:
Thanks for the reply.

I didn't think of AppleCare.
Click to expand...

Its not an Apple Care question. they can't change terms and conditions of iTunes etc to suit your desires, nor can they retro backup data you didn't.

Best they will tell you is to sign out and sign in again, transfer you to iTunes who will give you the same "sorry to hear that you are frustrated but the terms . . ." or just give you the line themselves
 
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