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WARNING: Serious flaw in iTunes in the Cloud
- Thread starter ipedro
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I've never had an issue with missing purchases.
And I'm pretty sure Tim Cook has a lot of assistants
He does. One called my brother when he was missing his movies. A different one called me when I asked about the same issue. Both gave the same answer: your movies are not guaranteed to be available for download indefinitely. You must back them up.
While it may be in the User Agreement, Apple knows nobody reads those. It should be stated explicitly on the AppleTV when you press "Buy".
My understanding is that you can do a legal rip to your computer for backup like the law that stats you can burn one copy on to dvd for backup. Some one please correct me if I am wrong.
Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1996. Illegal to circumvent copy right protection.
It isn't. In the US, it is illegal to circumvent the copy protection on a copyrighted DVD to extract the content, regardless of the purpose. It is actually illegal to rip or otherwise copy (copyrighted and copy protected) DVDs you have purchased, whether it's to put the content on your iPad, hard drive, another DVD, etc. The only thing you can do with it legally is to play it on a player that has a legal decryption key. We have the Digital Millenium Copyright Act to thank for that (and there are similar laws in most countries the US has trade agreements with).
Incidentally, CDs are different, and we can legally rip those to our computers. That's why music ripping is built into iTunes, but movie ripping isn't.
Sandman42 put it very eloquently. It's not legal, you're just as bad as the online pirate in the eyes of the law.
Sandman42 put it very eloquently. It's not legal, you're just as bad as the online pirate in the eyes of the law.
Don't you know the law is meant to be broken?
This is a serious flaw with the movie studios and their licensing terms not with iTunes. You are misrepresenting the problem to imply that Apple is somehow at fault, or that they owe you something. They don't.
The same thing happened with Amazon several years ago. Under Amazon's 'old' system, people lost all access to their purchased movies. It was a licensing issue then as well.
Sounds like Apple "should" put another superscripted number on their ads/collateral saying *Movies/TV Shows/etc purchased from Apple/iTunes will be available from the cloud to watch at a future time on any iOS device, Apple TV, computer running iTunes so long as the licensing company owning the media continues to make it available to those who've purchased said media. Any licensing out of Apple's hands may circumvent the ability to download such media in the future, therefore it is encouraged that you make backups so you may enjoy the media locally.*
Sorry to hear about your brothers issues.
You keep saying we live in a "Post PC world" like that is something official that was voted on and that not having a computer is a decision that was voted on by the world. You choose not to have a computer thus you chose to rely on backing up and using the cloud for stroage. Its a new system with flaws that you are discovering.
You are also acting like this is a huge problem for apple as a whole and that news outlets are going to break this like a huge story. Like calling the AD false advertising. All digital media prodcuts apple and others are subject to licensing agreements. So those ADs are true according to a currnetly licensing agreements of the said media.
Again sorry you are having an issue but this isn't a worldwide problem.
You keep saying we live in a "Post PC world" like that is something official that was voted on and that not having a computer is a decision that was voted on by the world. You choose not to have a computer thus you chose to rely on backing up and using the cloud for stroage. Its a new system with flaws that you are discovering.
You are also acting like this is a huge problem for apple as a whole and that news outlets are going to break this like a huge story. Like calling the AD false advertising. All digital media prodcuts apple and others are subject to licensing agreements. So those ADs are true according to a currnetly licensing agreements of the said media.
Again sorry you are having an issue but this isn't a worldwide problem.
I guess I don't see this as a problem...
...as I bought my iMac with a 1TB hard drive, knowing I'd be ripping and saving movies.
I never buy movies directly from my Apple TV, and if I did, I'd still download it to my mac so I can put the movie on my or my kids ipads/ipods.
Knowing what you know, just make sure you always download the movie to iTunes when you purchase it, and you'll always have the movie, no matter what Apple and the movie studios decide to do.
...as I bought my iMac with a 1TB hard drive, knowing I'd be ripping and saving movies.
I never buy movies directly from my Apple TV, and if I did, I'd still download it to my mac so I can put the movie on my or my kids ipads/ipods.
Knowing what you know, just make sure you always download the movie to iTunes when you purchase it, and you'll always have the movie, no matter what Apple and the movie studios decide to do.
They are at fault. They're misrepresenting the benefits of the system by
A - Saying that you can download your movie from the cloud whenever you like.
B - Promoting a Post-PC world when it's impossible to back up movies without a PC/Mac.
Apple would very much like nothing more than to not have these laws so of course the studios are the roadblock here but it's Apple's job to communicate that to customers, not lead them in the completely opposite direction by fooling people into a false sense of security. Many people who buy their movies on their AppleTVs have ZERO backups and are completely unaware that one day some of their movies will go missing and Apple won't allow them to recover those movies because the fine print in the User Agreement (that nobody reads) warns them to.
For DVDs?
Isn't that only for DVDs?
And if so, let them catch me. As long as I'm not distributing, I feel fine about it.
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Rent, don't buy. If a movie is $3.99 to rent or $19.99 to buy, the math is pretty obviously stating that you'd have to watch the movie five times in order to recoup your money.
I know it doesn't totally solve the problem, but it's been helpful to me.
Isn't that only for DVDs?
And if so, let them catch me. As long as I'm not distributing, I feel fine about it.
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Rent, don't buy. If a movie is $3.99 to rent or $19.99 to buy, the math is pretty obviously stating that you'd have to watch the movie five times in order to recoup your money.
I know it doesn't totally solve the problem, but it's been helpful to me.
I agree with some exceptions. I rent almost all my movies because I know I just don't think I'll watch a movie more than a few times, unless it's an all time favourite. If in 20 years I decide to watch a rarely watched movie again, I doubt I'd still have it around on the same medium anyway.
I've been a cable cutter for 5 to 6 years now so I like to have a collection of my favourite movies and tv shows available to watch when I just want some casual tv viewing and for when I have guests who want to watch TV but are wondering why I don't have cable.
When iTunes in the Cloud arrived for movies in Canada, I went on a shopping spree, spending north of $500 on that said collection. I already have them on DVDs (which I'll now sell) but what sold me on buying them on iTunes was that I could access them anywhere, have them stored in the cloud, ready to be viewed on an iPad, iPhone or AppleTV no matter where I am. I could have just easily ripped the DVDs but it's the storage and management of digital media that turned me off and it's the service I bought, not just the rights.
If this is taken away because a studio decided to pull movies from the iTunes store, it defeats the purpose and removes what people paid for. I paid for access to a movie in the cloud. Apple and the studios have an obligation to make good on their commitment to those who they sold the rights and service to. Sure, remove a movie from iTunes for future purchase but don't cut off the people who already paid for said rights and service.
Nope, any media with copy protection is covered. I always find it amusing how people rip on pirates, yet they turn around & violate the same law. Not saying that's you of course.
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Yep, I'll never buy anything from iTunes for this very reason. That content could disappear at any time.
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It's all about the fine print
Automatic downloads and downloading previous purchases require iOS 4.3.3 or later on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd generation or later), or iPad; iOS 5 or later on iPhone 4 (CDMA model); or a Mac or PC with iTunes 10.3.1 or later. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer in the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBookstore. Downloading previous movie purchases requires iTunes 10.6 or later, iOS 5 or later, or Apple TV software 4.3 or later. Not all previously purchased movies are available for downloading to your other devices. Download iTunes 10.7 free.
Automatic downloads and downloading previous purchases require iOS 4.3.3 or later on iPhone 3GS or later, iPod touch (3rd generation or later), or iPad; iOS 5 or later on iPhone 4 (CDMA model); or a Mac or PC with iTunes 10.3.1 or later. Previous purchases may be unavailable if they are no longer in the iTunes Store, App Store, or iBookstore. Downloading previous movie purchases requires iTunes 10.6 or later, iOS 5 or later, or Apple TV software 4.3 or later. Not all previously purchased movies are available for downloading to your other devices. Download iTunes 10.7 free.
Would I be correct in saying though that if only used an iPad, you basically would have no way to backup your iTunes movie purchases like they suggest?
I still think the worse case senecio (where a movie you purchase is no longer available for you to watch) isn't as likely as some fear. The second it started to happen to enough people, the voices would get loud, companies would come under fire, and people would definitely stop purchasing. Just because they technically do it doesn't mean they would - the marketplace is a very powerful force.
I still think the worse case senecio (where a movie you purchase is no longer available for you to watch) isn't as likely as some fear. The second it started to happen to enough people, the voices would get loud, companies would come under fire, and people would definitely stop purchasing. Just because they technically do it doesn't mean they would - the marketplace is a very powerful force.
I have a slightly different philosophy:
Yep, I'll never buy any DRMed content from iTunes for this very reason. That content could disappear at any time.
I buy songs from iTunes, I buy music videos from iTunes. VLC plays those, I don't even care if all of iTunes disappears at some time in the future.
But if you "buy" something, like a movie, that's been locked down with DRM, then you haven't really bought it at all.
I would have thought that everyone would have learned this lesson. History teaches it over and over and over and over. E.g. here are just a few instances:
2007 - MLB rips off suckers
2008 - Wal-Mart rips off suckers
2008 - Microsoft rips off suckers
Maybe some of the above DRM shutdowns got reversed. Maybe they didn't. I'm too lazy to google any further, because they never affected me. I never drank the Kool-Aid.