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iTunes movies missing from some people's libraries

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randian

macrumors 6502a
Original poster
Jan 15, 2014
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It's being reported numerous people that the movies Gone Girl, The Intern, and Birdman are missing from their iTunes libraries. Not only can they not be downloaded or streamed, they no longer appear in Purchase History in iTunes or in the Videos app on the iPhone/iPad. They still play if already downloaded, but iTunes Extras are disabled.
 
Yea, I have a few movies missing as well. They better fix this and not pull the "you should have downloaded the video because the studio pulled it" card on us.
 
gcnet22 said:
Yea, I have a few movies missing as well. They better fix this and not pull the "you should have downloaded the video because the studio pulled it" card on us.
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Some victims have said they received exactly that treatment. Got some useless (because iTunes rental codes don't work on regular-priced rentals) rental codes for their troubles.
 
The infection is spreading. If I Stay, Hercules (2014), and How to Train Your Dragon are now missing.
 
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This has nothing to do with Apple and is the fault/responsibility of the studios/licensee. They force Apple to remove the content and Apple must legally comply. This is why Apple suggest you download the content because if the studios/licensee removes the content Apple is powerless to stop them.
 
is there a way to export a list of purchased movies from itunes to keep track of what might be missing?

EDIT - found it - just use the print option and it prints a PDF list
 
mikzn said:
is there a way to export a list of purchased movies from itunes to keep track of what might be missing?

EDIT - found it - just use the print option and it prints a PDF list
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Was just about to reply. Also for anyone else it is.

Movies: My Movies (tab): File: Print (also can be TV, Music, Apps, Podcasts, etc.)
 
just noticed how many movies I have not downloaded - have the auto download turned off.

Might have to buy an extra hard drive before I turn it back on :eek:

would hate to see all 6 seasons "Game of Thrones" suddenly disappear :(
 
Apple isn't just deleting content. They're removing the deleted movies from your purchase history. That's sneaky underhanded behavior.
 
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randian said:
Apple isn't just deleting content. They're removing the deleted movies from your purchase history. That's sneaky underhanded behavior.
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Again you are wrongly pointing the finger at Apple but it is the studios that are removing the content, NOT Apple. Apple is required by law to honor the studio's removed request or face legal action. You need to address your frustration at the responsible party and not Apple since Apple has no choice in the matter.

If it were up to Apple ALL moves and TV shows would be available on iTunes all the time.
 
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Julien said:
Again you are wrongly pointing the finger at Apple but it is the studios that are removing the content, NOT Apple.
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What does that have to do with deleting the affected movies from your purchase history?
 
I guess this is a sign to start switching to Ultraviolet. Maybe a good way to start is with Vudu's disc to digital. You get half off after 10 blu-rays. This is just really disappointing.
 
gcnet22 said:
I guess this is a sign to start switching to Ultraviolet. Maybe a good way to start is with Vudu's disc to digital. You get half off after 10 blu-rays. This is just really disappointing.
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You may want to check the relevant forums first. There have been many reports about similar glitches in UV (e.g. here). Most are related to individual UV providers (like Vudu), but I have also seen weird issues like some of my UV movies not transferring from Flixster to Vudu and similar things. The system is quite a mess IMO, only Vudu seems to be relatively stable but they also sometimes have issues.

I still think the missing iTunes movies are a glitch that will be resolved. If they started to intentionally remove purchased movies from people's libraries (not just from the store), they would kill their own business.
 
I tried my Hercules (2014) and I get an error.

I have not tried my How To Train Your Dragon. I see HTTYD2 as an iCloud download icon but that is not the case for the first movie. HTTYD shows a bundle artwork and a sale price, not a download from iCloud button.
 

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Julien said:
This has nothing to do with Apple and is the fault/responsibility of the studios/licensee. They force Apple to remove the content and Apple must legally comply. This is why Apple suggest you download the content because if the studios/licensee removes the content Apple is powerless to stop them.
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I'll give you an example of a company who got it right for situation like this: Valve (With Steam).

Games have been removed from Steam before for X and Y reason. Meaning you cannot find them in the Steam online store and buy them anymore. But if you bought said games previously, it's still on your game list and you can still download them anytime you want.
 
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FrancoisC said:
I'll give you an example of a company who got it right for situation like this: Valve (With Steam).

Games have been removed from Steam before for X and Y reason. Meaning you cannot find them in the Steam online store and buy them anymore. But if you bought said games previously, it's still on your game list and you can still download them anytime you want.
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This is about complex licensing agreements related to each content provider and relative to the types of software content (games, books, Apps, Music, TV, Podcasts, Movies, etc.) and their licensing agreements. It also may involve laws or requirements, so you analogy is apples and oranges. If the licensee holder's agreement requires Apple to remove all traces of the content (which may include any listing) then unless there is a law stating otherwise Apple must comply.

Also another possibility you need to take into account. In the Steam model you probably have a cloud based storage account that is considered yours and your game is moved to it. A similar analogy is if you were to upload your movie/TV to your iCloud storage account you would have it to download even if it was removed from iTunes.

Apple in NO way benefits from removed content so it is in Apple best interest to keep as much content and info available as long as possible.
 
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