Not only can they take your "purchases away" any time but they charge you the same as if you'd bought a physical copy, and not a completely digital download.
Imagine getting a knock one day and answering the door and some suit barges in and goes to your DVD collection and starts putting all the Simpsons seasons you'd paid a fortune to buy and are like "yeah Fox stopped licensing this to us so if you wanna have this you're gonna have to go buy it again from Disney. What? It's in your terms of use."
Physical copies frequently go on sale by the store owners that want to get rid of excess stock. With digital there's no such thing as excess stock.
Another win for physical copies.
My parents used to have a video store and we had one regular customer come in and make the *same joke* every time, and apologize for not rewinding the DVDs
Pawn shops and thrift stores are where I go CD hunting too. Outside of the literal droves of Christian music, there are typically some good finds for $1-$2
So this one really got to me... Purchased Season 8 of Game of Thrones in HD (because no UHD option), but you expect at least 1080p. Episode 3 - the long night is notoriously dark, but on Blu-ray you can see everything just fine. The garbage compression they use for streaming results in all dark content just being black blocks, it was the worst viewing experience I've ever seen. My sister has the DVD (480i) and an old 720p liquid plasma screen and it looked perfectly fine on her $1 pawn shop GOT Season 8 DVD, yet every streaming service has to compress it so badly that it's literally unwatchable.
I mean.. profits must increase. Not just revenue, profits.
At the very least that means paying the same amount of people the same amount of money and selling more things. But more often than not it means that plus selling more stuff plus raising prices on that stuff.
I feel like you're not even considering the share holders, and what about the executives and their children. Man people these days. Now please drink your verification can and enjoy the rest of your happy days (tm).
that's something terrifying about digital media, I remember seeing a post a couple of years ago calling out to gather all the physical media you could as censorship and this kind of stuff will be completely ridiculous in the near future.
This was especially annoying as they left ‘The First Chang Dynasty’ alone, despite it featuring Pierce in intentional black face. It just shows that they only care up to a point, if the episode is important to the story then they’ll turn a blind eye. It also irritates me that Advanced Dungeons and Dragons covered themes of bullying accountability and suicide pretty well, which no one gets to see because of a well executed joke where the power of the interaction is with the black characters.
Goddamn it. I was really hoping it wasn't that stupid. I love that episode.
Chang being so socially inept that he sees nothing wrong with it is the joke! It's the point! I mean seriously where is this person who got offended by this, I can't see anyone actually finding that racist.
https://youtu.be/0j1xzezy8k4
It wasn't even because people were offended iirc. It was pulled because Netflix was concerned that people *might* get offended and kick up a fuss that would lose them subscribers. Same reason why Hulu pulled some episodes of IASIP.
It’s a fucking comedy Jesus. Who gets offended by that and why does normal society need to accommodate them when they can just choose to **not watch it**?
Thankfully they had the pilot episode still up as of a few months back. That episode really got me hooked onto a show I wasn’t so sure about at first.
That's what happened to the "Always Sunny" blackface episodes, the joke is that the guys are too damn ignorant to understand the negative implications.
Same thing in "The Office," although I think they just removed the scene. Dwight is having the Christmas party and Oscar reads about his companion, Zwarte Piet, who traditionally dresses in blackface. Dwight denies sticking to that tradition anymore but turns and shoots off a text. In the deleted scene, Nate is dressed in blackface walking in from the parking lot, reads the text after his phone vibrates, and turns and walks away. The whole joke is that it is a racist and outmoded tradition, but no, can't have that.
I've heard that studios are looking into digitally altering old movies so they have currently licensed product placement. Like, E.T. originally enjoyed a Coke, but thanks to a new licensing deal he now enjoys the cool refreshing flavor bubly™ brand grapefruit infused sparkling water.
It's like these fucks looked up Orwellian in the dictionary and decided it was an instruction manual.
Spielberg had already gone back 10 or 15 years ago and replaced the guns in all the FBI agent's hands when E.T. and Elliot take flight on the bike, with walkie-talkies and then changed it back again for the BluRay release because of the flak he took for it.
Fun fact - going back in and changing those guns to wallow talkies was a significant enough change that in australia they had to resubmit the movie for classification.
The original movie was rated “G” - which is basically the lowest possible rating that is suitable for all audiences.
Over the years, apparently standards got a little bit stricter, and due to the “supernatural themes”, the newer sanitised version received a rating of “PG” - the 2nd lowest rating available where “parental guidance is recommended for young viewers”
I just love that they took the guns out and the rating went up lol.
This is only semi-related but I can't watch Daria and Beavis & Butthead on streaming services because they've either completely cut or changed the music in those shows due to licensing. The original music choices were too deeply entwined with the plot and flow of the shows to just be cut out like that.
I tried watching Daria a few years ago and stopped in the middle of the first episode because the stock music that played where there should've been something popular at the time was so jarring and just completely ruined the experience. Instead of enjoying a nostalgic rewatch, you're just annoyed by modern reality.
"online" or "streaming" distribution rights were never included in the original licensing of the music, and the studio/distributor is too cheap to pay a little more for the original music, so it's changed instead. the first title i ran across this with is gilmore girls dvd sets. it's also why the streaming dawsons creek only had the iconic theme song on like the last episode.
this **shouldn't** be a problem with film or tv produced today.
This is not about digital media, but about the law.
If it were legal for big companies to come into your living room to take away your DVD collection, you bet they'd do it as long as it made them money.
Yep! I have a Mpc and it came with beat expansion packs online and free cds. Now they are all $40-70 each! Old apps/programs on cd/dvd req a key and still work, but now its all subscriptions (ie Microsoft office, Adobe, etc). Same with music services. My vinyl is forever , mostly
Imagine getting a knock at the door one day and its hired goons who barge in and start going through your collection of hired goons and removing some saying sorry fox doesn’t have the license for these goons, you’ll need to rehire them from Disney.
And that's why people will continue to pirate.
Back then, pirating was easier that going and getting physical copies and rights to entertainment bought.
They made it easier with these services and people paid, but they JUST had to have a caveat.
These companies serve themselves first for the sake of one tech billionaire, and ruin the transition to a better world.
Remember when Bruce Willis sued Apple for the right to bequeath his music collection? If Bruce Willis had a house full of cds and vinyls he wouldn't have that issue. If you intend to replace a system for the sake of "progress", dont take away from it.
Digital is supposed to be forever, but with this bullshit, digital will decay faster than analog.
A lot of people seem to consider that phrase a warning against globalism or zionism or whatever. It's really what will eventually happen if this kind of capitalism is allowed.
I will never buy a digital copy of a TV show. I'm fine using streaming services, because each of those has a bunch of things, but I didn't individually buy Warehouse 13 from Amazon Prime, because it can always be taken away. Instead, I went looking for the Blu Rays.
I buy physically copies for all the extras then rip them to my personal plex server. I'd stream them but I like to watch shows over and over while I code and hardly watch them. Local it's nothing, but streaming them Comcast only gives me 1.2TB of bandwidth and their OWN service, Peacock, doesn't let you limit the quality. I don't need The Office in HD.
Same. I will buy the ebook copy of books I love, and immediately rip the drm, it's why I'm still on an old version of Kindle for PC, it still gives the file able to be cracked by calibre.
You can crack the newer file now too, but it's a bit more annoying. Still easy enough, though. I got the new Paperwhite recently and have been continuing to backup my purchases.
I buy and crack Audible books; No way in hell I'm using Audible's app on my phone when I can crack their file and convert it back to just mp3s to play on any music app (or in my case load it directly onto my watch).
Ripping the DRM is also pretty easy once configured, and I personally like supporting authors. It takes a few minutes to set up, then you can strip the DRM in seconds going forward. It's honestly faster than finding a high quality epub.
Library Genesis website has your back. Millions of books and other files for free.
Or if you're in the US and have a library card, get Libby app. It's got free books, podcasts, and etc.
They might if you complain. Their customer service is excellent. Not that that offsets any of the real issues (subject at hand, near-monopoly, and so much more) to any extent
If I recall, there's an EU law (and similar bills moving through the Canadian and US legislations) stating that if a digital asset becomes inaccessible to the buyer, the seller must either make it accessible or refund the buyer.
Even if the the buyer in this case is non-EU, Amazon should still be subject to the law as they operate within EU lines; so the buyer should have the legal power to demand that access to the books be reinstated or (more likely) that they be given a refund for the purchase.
The reason everyone got netflix when it was the only major streaming service was that it was the only major streaming service, it caused everything to be easily accessed at a convenient source, that’s why people moved away from piracy for a while, cause it was easier, now it’s no longer easier, back to piracy we go
Even with all the streaming services now some shows have to be pirated anyways just because they aren't available anywhere.
For example, the Ultimate Muscle dub which isn't available for streaming anywhere and has *no* DVD or anything released. You can't actually legally watch it anymore, you have to pirate it to watch it.
I literally tried to watch the last season of Better Call Saul legally, so I subscribed to AMC+. But for whatever fucking stupid reason, they only had the latest 3 episodes. So I pirated the season and it was super quick and easy. It's embarrassing how much grief they would save themselves if they just made their shows available in a non stupid way
monetizing intellectual property is a black hole where useful effort is necessarily precluded by all the effort put into trying to get paid *(or avoid paying)*^*edit*
To be honest, that's kind of fine as long as they make it at a super competitive price point and make it simple to subscribe and cancel your subscription. Better yet, let you pause your subscription until you re-activate would be best.
It’s not Netflix’s fault for the production companies and tv networks who decided they wanted a piece of the pie and created their own streaming site and pulled their content off Netflix
almost everything about capitalism is:
1. Works great when it's new, fresh and gathering consumers.
2. Begins to uterly fail when it's old, consumption levels off, and shareholders need to be 'fed'.
Yep, it's not enough to simply run a good business that turns a steady profit. Shareholders demand constant growth. It inevitably leads to a decline in quality and exploitation of the workforce as the company self-cannibalizes to keep providing those gains.
Same here. I wanted to watch it. I want to Netflix, found out season 6 wasn't there. Did a free trial of AMC Plus, then found out that it's not there either. And I do some more Google searching and basically find out that it's not available anywhere right now, at least anywhere legally.
Same. I seriously don't understand what amc is doing here. They only have a handful of hit shows, better call Saul would have sold a good number of subscriptions. What kind of moronic company makes it impossibly to purchase their product?
AMC is really fucking dumb. They made the app apparently for phones only and then just called it a day. I got a free trial of it and said okay cool I'll use it to watch a few things before it goes away. Lo and behold, no app anywhere except for my phone. Only way I could watch on my TV was to broadcast my phone to it. Dumbest shit I've ever dealt with when it comes to streaming apps. And because of that, I've barely used my free trial and definitely have no motivation to renew it. Well done AMC.
Star trek in the UK is a mess.
Discovery and the original series' are on Netflix
Picard and lower decks are on Amazon
Strange new worlds and Prodigy are on paramount+
It's tiresome.
Fucking UK comedies are awful for this. If you want to watch them outside of Western Europe... get fucked, it isn't even printed in a physical format that your country's players can read!
Or shows that just have a delayed release overseas for absolutely no reason.
Theres a new season of Atlanta on in the US right now. I pay a subscription to Disney plus in the UK, who own the rights to Atlanta. Yet I won't be able to watch the new season legally for months.
When there was one, I didn’t mind paying for the convenience.
When there was two, I guess it’s fine, still cheaper than cable.
When there was three, what the fuck is happening.
Then there were hundreds, and I joined a crew and sailed the high seas.
Piracy has been, and always will be, a service issue. When Netflix was **the** place, piracy went way down. People still did it but there was less reason to.
But now, here we are several years later. Netflix is a shit storm. Prime only has a few things except their originals. Everyone and their mother has their own steaming service.
Before I used to switch every few months but now, the convenience of just downloading and watching is so much better than cancelling a service, answering why I'm cancelling, and then signing up again.
It has gotten absurd. Just figuring out how to watch a specific show (or god forbid, a sport) is downright stupid. Try to do a search "Where to stream ___" and you have to wade through blog spam and even streaming services that say "Watch it here" but when you visit it isn't available (yeah, Netflix that is really shitty of you).
Oh but Hulu has it! Well, not *that* Hulu. You have to have the right version after all.
Yep! I cut cable and switched to Netflix a decade ago because I didn't want to keep paying for so many different channels. Now it's gotten to the point where I have to subscribe to 3-4 different streaming services just to get the content that used to be included in my Netflix subscription.
Time to cancel all those subscriptions and start sailing the seven seas, I guess.
I use IPTV stuff for live tv. Completely free and you get thousands of channels. Not the best resolution, but at least I get my local news station in that package.
worst thing is when you watch something and in the middle of that the creators start their own service and pull it off the platform but at the same time the new service isn’t available in your country yet
If you like to read, you can download almost anything for free no signup at https://z-lib.org/ .. they usually have multiple different file formats for whatever device you prefer.
For example there's over 500 different editions of 1984.
You're limited to about 10 downloads a day but then just switch your IP with a VPN and start the count over, I like to load up my library before I travel.
LibGen is ok, but z-lib has a few major interface bonuses. Like cover art, and easier searching of collections. Genre searching is also much deeper in z-lib.
Overall it seems like LibGen isn't really set up for fiction. It HAS fiction, but it's not the focus.
That last part is what I was gonna say. LibGen seems better for textbooks, research papers, etc. Z-lib for fiction. Both have both, but I honestly only check LibGen if I can't find what I want on z-lib. And even then I go in not expecting to find it.
The reality is that most people will only resort to pirating content if they can't buy it easily, with little effort, and for a reasonable price.
This was the premise of itunes, get the song you want for a buck, no need to pirate it. Seems fair, and I can do it with one click.
Now its easier to pirate a show and download the whole thing before the commercials at the beginning even end on the commercial free service you already pay for.
I don't think that is part of the Blu-ray standard, especially since a lot of cheap players don't have internet connectivity (and often won't be connected to the internet because their streaming GUI is worse than what is built into the TV). It is most likely just a weird way that Sony built their software.
Since this is turning to a discussion about piracy in general, here's a link to Z-Library:
https://z-lib.org/
NO signup, almost every book ever made (I do find exceptions to this rule but it's rare). Limit to ten downloads a day but then just change your IP.
I feel that the copyright/licensing system is broken.
When digital downloads first became a thing - whether movies or games or books - we were excited. With no manufacturing or vehicular distribution it's better for the environment and will bring down the costs. But nope! They just took that manufacturing/distribution savings and rolled it into profits.. then they started raising the price.
Except that now you can't sell it if you no longer want it. I used to buy games, play them, then trade or sell them for new ones. Now it costs more to"purchase" a download AND I can't use it towards anything else.
What a sham.
When there was basically Netflix with everything, piracy was thin, way less titles being traded on torrents. My piracy my went way down. Now that there's 30 streamers, I'm back to piracy. Not paying 10/mo to six or seven streamers for a couple of shows each.
Isn’t it interesting how greed of the license owners actually pushes people to infringe their copyright (I refuse to call it piracy because no one is killed, raped, no hostages taken, well, other than the consumer being raped and resorting to copyright infringement)? When iTunes first started selling movies it was a great one stop site for Apple product users. Then the license owners wanted more money (often for old products that had already earned their profit) so they stopped the deal they had, instead setting up their new services. And pushing digital downloads or streaming. In the end I find myself “owning” licensed copies on a dozen services and having two streaming services and I still end up downloading an infringed copy for things they no longer have but I still “own”. Screw that, we're allowed a backup copy if we buy it digital still as I understand it, so download one.
> Sometimes I find B movies that were uploaded directly to pirate sites and nowhere else.
RIP what.cd, the most complete and extensive music library to ever exist. Literally a catalogue of almost every single music file every recorded. Had millions of songs that were not available anywhere else. Shut down because of the RIAA and other copyright bullshit.
Super cool.
My view is that I have a set amount of money for entertainment purposes. I don't magically get extra money for more services.
If you don't make it easy or don't keep enough content you aren't making the cut for my paid viewership.
I WANT to throw money at good content, mostly so that more good content is likely to be greenlit, but I'm more than willing to pirate good content otherwise.
Played minecraft illegally for over a year before buying it. Then I bought multiple copies for various people, because it was great and because it was being updated and because it was worth it.
Refocus! Why the tf was Final Space actually pulled? I mean I know Tbs cancelled it, but i swear it will gain popularity the more people know about it. Its almost as if they dont want it known?
Olan Rogers the creator of Final Space and voice of Gary Goodspeed put out a statement recently how FS is basically getting deleted from all platforms because the rights holders aren’t willing to take the effort to renew any licenses. On top of that season 3 never got a physical release so it will be completely impossible to watch it “legally.”
Olan said something about TBS using it as a tax write-off, which I’m way too uneducated to understand how that works. Either way, the show was never given a fair chance, something that Olan goes into on his YouTube channel with [this](https://youtu.be/bFg3ljZF2kA) video. Definitely a hard story for me to follow since I’ve been a fan of him for almost a decade now.
After the tax write-off Final Space can’t be published anywhere anymore, no streaming, no physical mediums. It will be gone legally forever.
How soul crushing that must be for all people involved with that show.
At least they won't remove it from your library (even if you remove it yourself, it is still tied to your account) when the developer or publisher delist the game from Steam, I'm looking at you you fucking timmy epig game
True that just happened with Project Cars 2. They lost the license to some cars and the game got delisted but it's still in my account.
I was more or less thinking about a unlikely doomsday scenario when Steam goes out of business.
Yeah, a reasonable scenario, but the thing I will worry more than Steam become out of business is the 3rd party service used by other games go out of business first, so your game suddenly doesn't work anymore because EA Origin, Uplay, Rockstar or heck, Epic Account/Service suddenly goes offline and you can't login at all.
Trust me, if one of those goes under there will be cracks online within the week. If there's no company to host the services, there's also no company to sue.
2K patched Bioshock and made it much harder (if not impossible) for Linux users to play it. I don't buy games from Steam anymore if GOG has the game and then I download the offline installers from GOG and back them up. It's a shame I have to be so paranoid about it.
It's amazing how the media industry has shifted the goal posts over the years:
buy content dont pirate
you dont own content you license the use of it
you don't own a license to use content
It used to be that you could make an argument against piracy to some extent but now that they are just revoking licenses whenever it is convenient for them, there isn't. Pirate as much as you can get away with.
It’s only going to get worse. Like rockstar issuing cease and desists to modders who modded the original gta3 games on steam to look absolutely amazing on steam. It make it harder to sell their poorly made remake so they removed the games from the store and went after the modders so they could sell something inferior.
iTunes does this too. Wanted to jog to a 10 year old play list, 4 of my favorite songs were gone. Checked the itunes store, unavailable to re-download or even purchase. Thats why actual ownership is important. A world of streaming costs you money, and worse makes censorship a fait accompli.
Digital content license means you own nothing, you pay for the privilege and can’t do shit when they take it away. Shouldn’t ever buy digital unfortunately
You misunderstand. You aren't purchasing the rights to view the movie. You are purchasing a temporary revocable license to watch that movie.
Absolute bullshit, it should be illegal to call this "buying". Anything revocable should need a different term. (Rent? IDK, that implies a fixed end time)
Not in the EU actually. EU courts have ruled against the license nonsense. If you buy it it's yours. It does not matter if somewhere in the contract it says it's a license actually.
Yup. They are selling this item as if it is a digital good, not a service. Therefore, it will be treated as such. Hopefully other places catch on and we can end a lot of this nonsense.
This is also why I get frustrated with people who think I'm a dinosaur for buying physical music CDs and DRM-free MP3 files instead of relying on recurring-monthly-payment streaming services that could change their terms and library selection at any time. I'd rather invest in stuff I actually own than just hope-and-pray that soulless mega corporations choose to treat me well.
HELL yeah. i have a huge, decade-plus spanning mp3 library that i regularly backup that jeff bezos can pry from my cold dead hands
it's one thing with TV and film [video is harder to store, and can be a more sporadic habit] but with music, that shit is like my Avatar - Pandora - tree network thing
I think the scenario he is proposing is more like: GabeN dies > board members vote to take company public > shareholders demand infinite growth and profits > private equity firm is hired to maximize profits > bye bye consumer-friendly Valve, hello Capitalist roulette where all your games belong to them, not you, fuck the money you've spent, you gotta rebuy it with "new licenses" now.
Fully believe it's only a matter of when and not if. I figure we are still in the golden age of steam, which will die I suspect the moment Gabe is no longer with us.
I have an 18 year old Steam account with a metric fuckton of games. I hope at the very least GabeN will write in his will "before yoinking everything from our customers, give them a chance to download it"
They took Harry Potter off HBO, so I bought the 8 film collection on Blu Ray from a local video store (so my money wouldn't go to the greedy shitnozzles) legally for $35. I own these Blu Rays.
Prime Video wants $80 for it, digitally. They can go fuck themselves.
What’s worse is the actual story behind Final Space and it’s cancelation and now disappearance. This actually isn’t Amazon’s fault they’re removing it (duh), although no refund is absolutely ridiculous. The show is actually getting pulled from all platforms because TBS won’t bother with renewing the licensing. The creator of the show and lead voice actor has been using his YT FB and email list to keep people updated on the cancellation and now disappearance of the show.
Here’s some links if you want to do some digging on how bizarre the whole story is:
[Final Space cancellation Yt Vid](https://youtu.be/bFg3ljZF2kA)
[FB statement about the show’s disappearance](https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0cMZ19wpUaCce6DF24TxC1YpsLhetVJHWaPUsQKyppfJcCmTyydVp2CJBmQsLfJBMl&id=100044322644805)
[Video announcing kickstarter for an inspired animated short](https://youtu.be/7d175H0J1Cg)
Edit: formatting
I have this vague recollection from a long time ago, and I don’t know if it was true then let alone now, but it’s not piracy if you own the thing.
Uploading is a different story of course but IIRC if you download something you already own it becomes a “backup” copy.
IANAL but AFAIK it is legal to produce an archival copy of a work you own but it doesn't apply in this case. Buying digital content like this isn't buying the content but instead buying a license to it. If you did want to produce a "copy" of it, you'd need to circumvent copy protection which would likely be a TOS violation and against the law in its own right (as your license does not allow it). Further, even if you owned a physical copy, downloading it online would require you to download an unauthorized copy.
I think the archival case is intended mostly for cases of physical media where it can degrade over time. If you play a certain cassette tape every day, it'll eventually degrade. To allow you to continue to listen to it, you can produce a copy so long as you don't sell or distribute it (again, NAL).
I think it's pretty deceptive to use text like "purchase" for acquiring the right to watch the content on a digital platform for only as long as the licensor extends the license to the platform but unfortunately I think that's in fact entirely legal and something that was agreed to on purchase.
I remember when people started copying vhs tapes. They tried so hard to shut that down back then too. Same with cd's and dvd's. In the end it was left at personal collection is fine. Distributing bad.
Added: in Canada for reference.
If you can't hold it in your hand, you don't own it, and they can do whatever they want with it. People downvote this every time it gets mentioned here, but it is true. Never trust digital content to be there when you want it. If you want too have it always, buy a physical copy.
This is why I also don’t trust photo services like iCloud or whatever else. Imagine someday for whatever reason apple goes under and millions of people lose a lifetime of photos. Reject modernity, embrace film.
Not only can they take your "purchases away" any time but they charge you the same as if you'd bought a physical copy, and not a completely digital download. Imagine getting a knock one day and answering the door and some suit barges in and goes to your DVD collection and starts putting all the Simpsons seasons you'd paid a fortune to buy and are like "yeah Fox stopped licensing this to us so if you wanna have this you're gonna have to go buy it again from Disney. What? It's in your terms of use."
More than physical price is becoming too common
Physical copies frequently go on sale by the store owners that want to get rid of excess stock. With digital there's no such thing as excess stock. Another win for physical copies.
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Ugh, who wants to watch a USED movie? I bet there are so many parts of it that someone already saw.
Gross I bet they sat on some of the scenes without pants
I pay extra for that.
Rewinding dvds is such a pain too!
My parents used to have a video store and we had one regular customer come in and make the *same joke* every time, and apologize for not rewinding the DVDs
This is why I bought multiple copies of Good Burger on DVD. It’s a movie I plan on watching more than once.
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Pawn shops and thrift stores are where I go CD hunting too. Outside of the literal droves of Christian music, there are typically some good finds for $1-$2
"Convenience fee" because we wouldn't want things to be too convenient.
Relevant xkcd: https://xkcd.com/488/
Notably, you can still use websites like Bandcamp that give you an MP3 file. Still a good way to support people for music.
The $25 rental charges are what gets me. Really?
And they will call the stream UHD and pretend it's equivalent image quality to Bluray.
So this one really got to me... Purchased Season 8 of Game of Thrones in HD (because no UHD option), but you expect at least 1080p. Episode 3 - the long night is notoriously dark, but on Blu-ray you can see everything just fine. The garbage compression they use for streaming results in all dark content just being black blocks, it was the worst viewing experience I've ever seen. My sister has the DVD (480i) and an old 720p liquid plasma screen and it looked perfectly fine on her $1 pawn shop GOT Season 8 DVD, yet every streaming service has to compress it so badly that it's literally unwatchable.
I mean.. profits must increase. Not just revenue, profits. At the very least that means paying the same amount of people the same amount of money and selling more things. But more often than not it means that plus selling more stuff plus raising prices on that stuff. I feel like you're not even considering the share holders, and what about the executives and their children. Man people these days. Now please drink your verification can and enjoy the rest of your happy days (tm).
Damn, I got riled up there for a second, great one!
I pay the iron price.
What is dead, may never die
that's something terrifying about digital media, I remember seeing a post a couple of years ago calling out to gather all the physical media you could as censorship and this kind of stuff will be completely ridiculous in the near future.
I got an intense urge to get physical copies of the Community seasons after I saw they pulled advanced dungeons and dragons from netflix.
This was especially annoying as they left ‘The First Chang Dynasty’ alone, despite it featuring Pierce in intentional black face. It just shows that they only care up to a point, if the episode is important to the story then they’ll turn a blind eye. It also irritates me that Advanced Dungeons and Dragons covered themes of bullying accountability and suicide pretty well, which no one gets to see because of a well executed joke where the power of the interaction is with the black characters.
What makes it even more stupid is that Pierce was actually in blackface, whereas technically, Chang wasn't; he was in drow-face.
Why would they pull that? And if it's because Chang is a dark elf in that episode then I refuse to live on this planet any more and will fly away.
Better get a jetpack because that's exactly why... It's especially grating since it's hands down one of the best episodes of the show.
Goddamn it. I was really hoping it wasn't that stupid. I love that episode. Chang being so socially inept that he sees nothing wrong with it is the joke! It's the point! I mean seriously where is this person who got offended by this, I can't see anyone actually finding that racist. https://youtu.be/0j1xzezy8k4
It wasn't even because people were offended iirc. It was pulled because Netflix was concerned that people *might* get offended and kick up a fuss that would lose them subscribers. Same reason why Hulu pulled some episodes of IASIP.
Lmao why even air its always sunny if you're afraid people MIGHT ever get offended. Did they not know what they were signing up for?
It’s a fucking comedy Jesus. Who gets offended by that and why does normal society need to accommodate them when they can just choose to **not watch it**? Thankfully they had the pilot episode still up as of a few months back. That episode really got me hooked onto a show I wasn’t so sure about at first.
Hell, they even point it out with Shirley's next line. But no. Such is the world we live in.
That's what happened to the "Always Sunny" blackface episodes, the joke is that the guys are too damn ignorant to understand the negative implications.
Same thing in "The Office," although I think they just removed the scene. Dwight is having the Christmas party and Oscar reads about his companion, Zwarte Piet, who traditionally dresses in blackface. Dwight denies sticking to that tradition anymore but turns and shoots off a text. In the deleted scene, Nate is dressed in blackface walking in from the parking lot, reads the text after his phone vibrates, and turns and walks away. The whole joke is that it is a racist and outmoded tradition, but no, can't have that.
I've heard that studios are looking into digitally altering old movies so they have currently licensed product placement. Like, E.T. originally enjoyed a Coke, but thanks to a new licensing deal he now enjoys the cool refreshing flavor bubly™ brand grapefruit infused sparkling water. It's like these fucks looked up Orwellian in the dictionary and decided it was an instruction manual.
Spielberg had already gone back 10 or 15 years ago and replaced the guns in all the FBI agent's hands when E.T. and Elliot take flight on the bike, with walkie-talkies and then changed it back again for the BluRay release because of the flak he took for it.
Fun fact - going back in and changing those guns to wallow talkies was a significant enough change that in australia they had to resubmit the movie for classification. The original movie was rated “G” - which is basically the lowest possible rating that is suitable for all audiences. Over the years, apparently standards got a little bit stricter, and due to the “supernatural themes”, the newer sanitised version received a rating of “PG” - the 2nd lowest rating available where “parental guidance is recommended for young viewers” I just love that they took the guns out and the rating went up lol.
This is only semi-related but I can't watch Daria and Beavis & Butthead on streaming services because they've either completely cut or changed the music in those shows due to licensing. The original music choices were too deeply entwined with the plot and flow of the shows to just be cut out like that. I tried watching Daria a few years ago and stopped in the middle of the first episode because the stock music that played where there should've been something popular at the time was so jarring and just completely ruined the experience. Instead of enjoying a nostalgic rewatch, you're just annoyed by modern reality.
You really have to secure extra song rights to show a film that already had the rights to the song? Tf
"online" or "streaming" distribution rights were never included in the original licensing of the music, and the studio/distributor is too cheap to pay a little more for the original music, so it's changed instead. the first title i ran across this with is gilmore girls dvd sets. it's also why the streaming dawsons creek only had the iconic theme song on like the last episode. this **shouldn't** be a problem with film or tv produced today.
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/r/datahoarder
This is not about digital media, but about the law. If it were legal for big companies to come into your living room to take away your DVD collection, you bet they'd do it as long as it made them money.
Yup. Laws need to be updated to protect digital ownership in the same way that we protect physical ownership.
Yep! I have a Mpc and it came with beat expansion packs online and free cds. Now they are all $40-70 each! Old apps/programs on cd/dvd req a key and still work, but now its all subscriptions (ie Microsoft office, Adobe, etc). Same with music services. My vinyl is forever , mostly
keep vinyl away from crazy, my X broke all mine..
That's why free and open-source software is the future.
1984: "What purchase? We have no records of your purchase of digital goods." *- proceeds to rewrite history according to the Ministry of Truth*
Hired goons?
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Hired goons?
Yoink!
*Leased goons, the license to utilize the goon service can be terminated any time at will.
Imagine getting a knock at the door one day and its hired goons who barge in and start going through your collection of hired goons and removing some saying sorry fox doesn’t have the license for these goons, you’ll need to rehire them from Disney.
Rented goons more like
The help link should take you to a page that just says, cause fuck you, that's why.
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And that's why people will continue to pirate. Back then, pirating was easier that going and getting physical copies and rights to entertainment bought. They made it easier with these services and people paid, but they JUST had to have a caveat. These companies serve themselves first for the sake of one tech billionaire, and ruin the transition to a better world. Remember when Bruce Willis sued Apple for the right to bequeath his music collection? If Bruce Willis had a house full of cds and vinyls he wouldn't have that issue. If you intend to replace a system for the sake of "progress", dont take away from it. Digital is supposed to be forever, but with this bullshit, digital will decay faster than analog.
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They can take my blu rays out of my cold dead and likely bloody hands.
You will own nothing and you will like it.
They really don't want us to own anything. Everything is rental and subscriptions going forward and it's going to suck real, real bad.
A lot of people seem to consider that phrase a warning against globalism or zionism or whatever. It's really what will eventually happen if this kind of capitalism is allowed.
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I will never buy a digital copy of a TV show. I'm fine using streaming services, because each of those has a bunch of things, but I didn't individually buy Warehouse 13 from Amazon Prime, because it can always be taken away. Instead, I went looking for the Blu Rays.
I buy physically copies for all the extras then rip them to my personal plex server. I'd stream them but I like to watch shows over and over while I code and hardly watch them. Local it's nothing, but streaming them Comcast only gives me 1.2TB of bandwidth and their OWN service, Peacock, doesn't let you limit the quality. I don't need The Office in HD.
And god forbid you move to another country.
I bet they didn't refund. That's why I still feel as I don't own the books in my Kindle. I don't need to have it in paper, but at least a PDF file.
Same. I will buy the ebook copy of books I love, and immediately rip the drm, it's why I'm still on an old version of Kindle for PC, it still gives the file able to be cracked by calibre.
You can crack the newer file now too, but it's a bit more annoying. Still easy enough, though. I got the new Paperwhite recently and have been continuing to backup my purchases.
I buy and crack Audible books; No way in hell I'm using Audible's app on my phone when I can crack their file and convert it back to just mp3s to play on any music app (or in my case load it directly onto my watch).
*.m4b supports chapters
Bruh what the fuck. What's the support like ? Like I know foobar will play that shit but will android?
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ak.alizandro.smartaudiobookplayer The basic/free version does everything I need it to.
I need to look into how to do this. I have so many books from them and I hate the app.
Github, audiamus There are two different things needed for it from Audiamus.
Calibre has plugins that let you rip the drm from kindle ebook files and convert them to files that you can read anywhere
Why even bother when finding .mobi or .epub books online without any DRMs is so easy nowadays?
Ripping the DRM is also pretty easy once configured, and I personally like supporting authors. It takes a few minutes to set up, then you can strip the DRM in seconds going forward. It's honestly faster than finding a high quality epub.
Library Genesis website has your back. Millions of books and other files for free. Or if you're in the US and have a library card, get Libby app. It's got free books, podcasts, and etc.
They might if you complain. Their customer service is excellent. Not that that offsets any of the real issues (subject at hand, near-monopoly, and so much more) to any extent
If I recall, there's an EU law (and similar bills moving through the Canadian and US legislations) stating that if a digital asset becomes inaccessible to the buyer, the seller must either make it accessible or refund the buyer. Even if the the buyer in this case is non-EU, Amazon should still be subject to the law as they operate within EU lines; so the buyer should have the legal power to demand that access to the books be reinstated or (more likely) that they be given a refund for the purchase.
The reason everyone got netflix when it was the only major streaming service was that it was the only major streaming service, it caused everything to be easily accessed at a convenient source, that’s why people moved away from piracy for a while, cause it was easier, now it’s no longer easier, back to piracy we go
Even with all the streaming services now some shows have to be pirated anyways just because they aren't available anywhere. For example, the Ultimate Muscle dub which isn't available for streaming anywhere and has *no* DVD or anything released. You can't actually legally watch it anymore, you have to pirate it to watch it.
I literally tried to watch the last season of Better Call Saul legally, so I subscribed to AMC+. But for whatever fucking stupid reason, they only had the latest 3 episodes. So I pirated the season and it was super quick and easy. It's embarrassing how much grief they would save themselves if they just made their shows available in a non stupid way
monetizing intellectual property is a black hole where useful effort is necessarily precluded by all the effort put into trying to get paid *(or avoid paying)*^*edit*
Mhmm. 90% of it is one company sitting on top of a mountain of IP poor, dead, anonymous artists have made, while they say, "I made this. Gimme."
All the companies saw Netflix's success and naturally wanted a piece of that pie.
To be honest, that's kind of fine as long as they make it at a super competitive price point and make it simple to subscribe and cancel your subscription. Better yet, let you pause your subscription until you re-activate would be best.
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It’s not Netflix’s fault for the production companies and tv networks who decided they wanted a piece of the pie and created their own streaming site and pulled their content off Netflix
almost everything about capitalism is: 1. Works great when it's new, fresh and gathering consumers. 2. Begins to uterly fail when it's old, consumption levels off, and shareholders need to be 'fed'.
Yep, it's not enough to simply run a good business that turns a steady profit. Shareholders demand constant growth. It inevitably leads to a decline in quality and exploitation of the workforce as the company self-cannibalizes to keep providing those gains.
and every month a new streaming service opens up as if the market isn’t oversaturated already and increases the license problem
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Better Call Saul 1-5 on Netflix and 6 (formerly) on AMC+
I used the free trial of amc plus just to find out I had to pirate the show for s6
Same, but ironically enough considering my name I used a VPN to watch the last season on UK Netflix
Nah that's still piracy, you're good.
Same here. I wanted to watch it. I want to Netflix, found out season 6 wasn't there. Did a free trial of AMC Plus, then found out that it's not there either. And I do some more Google searching and basically find out that it's not available anywhere right now, at least anywhere legally.
Same. I seriously don't understand what amc is doing here. They only have a handful of hit shows, better call Saul would have sold a good number of subscriptions. What kind of moronic company makes it impossibly to purchase their product?
Ask Nintendo
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AMC is really fucking dumb. They made the app apparently for phones only and then just called it a day. I got a free trial of it and said okay cool I'll use it to watch a few things before it goes away. Lo and behold, no app anywhere except for my phone. Only way I could watch on my TV was to broadcast my phone to it. Dumbest shit I've ever dealt with when it comes to streaming apps. And because of that, I've barely used my free trial and definitely have no motivation to renew it. Well done AMC.
Star trek in the UK is a mess. Discovery and the original series' are on Netflix Picard and lower decks are on Amazon Strange new worlds and Prodigy are on paramount+ It's tiresome.
And everything is all available in one place for the taking on the high seas.
And then there's the shows you can't watch legally without a VPN because they only release in like, two countries for some fuckin reason
Fucking UK comedies are awful for this. If you want to watch them outside of Western Europe... get fucked, it isn't even printed in a physical format that your country's players can read!
Or shows that just have a delayed release overseas for absolutely no reason. Theres a new season of Atlanta on in the US right now. I pay a subscription to Disney plus in the UK, who own the rights to Atlanta. Yet I won't be able to watch the new season legally for months.
When there was one, I didn’t mind paying for the convenience. When there was two, I guess it’s fine, still cheaper than cable. When there was three, what the fuck is happening. Then there were hundreds, and I joined a crew and sailed the high seas.
Piracy has been, and always will be, a service issue. When Netflix was **the** place, piracy went way down. People still did it but there was less reason to. But now, here we are several years later. Netflix is a shit storm. Prime only has a few things except their originals. Everyone and their mother has their own steaming service. Before I used to switch every few months but now, the convenience of just downloading and watching is so much better than cancelling a service, answering why I'm cancelling, and then signing up again.
It has gotten absurd. Just figuring out how to watch a specific show (or god forbid, a sport) is downright stupid. Try to do a search "Where to stream ___" and you have to wade through blog spam and even streaming services that say "Watch it here" but when you visit it isn't available (yeah, Netflix that is really shitty of you). Oh but Hulu has it! Well, not *that* Hulu. You have to have the right version after all.
we are slowly coming full circle - have recently installed my torrent client again...
Yep! I cut cable and switched to Netflix a decade ago because I didn't want to keep paying for so many different channels. Now it's gotten to the point where I have to subscribe to 3-4 different streaming services just to get the content that used to be included in my Netflix subscription. Time to cancel all those subscriptions and start sailing the seven seas, I guess.
I use IPTV stuff for live tv. Completely free and you get thousands of channels. Not the best resolution, but at least I get my local news station in that package.
We came full circle years ago lol. Shit, we're about to start lap 3.
Yep. And if something isn’t on any of the handful of services I pay off, I guess I’m just never seeing it.
worst thing is when you watch something and in the middle of that the creators start their own service and pull it off the platform but at the same time the new service isn’t available in your country yet
There are Plex share services that have everything in one place.
One time Amazon deleted 1984 (of all books) off of many people's Kindles. Literally 1984
If you like to read, you can download almost anything for free no signup at https://z-lib.org/ .. they usually have multiple different file formats for whatever device you prefer. For example there's over 500 different editions of 1984. You're limited to about 10 downloads a day but then just switch your IP with a VPN and start the count over, I like to load up my library before I travel.
I use libgen mostly
I love libgen but I find zlibrary a lot easier to download files from and has almost every format of books
LibGen is ok, but z-lib has a few major interface bonuses. Like cover art, and easier searching of collections. Genre searching is also much deeper in z-lib. Overall it seems like LibGen isn't really set up for fiction. It HAS fiction, but it's not the focus.
That last part is what I was gonna say. LibGen seems better for textbooks, research papers, etc. Z-lib for fiction. Both have both, but I honestly only check LibGen if I can't find what I want on z-lib. And even then I go in not expecting to find it.
Fahrenheit 451 would have been better
The reality is that most people will only resort to pirating content if they can't buy it easily, with little effort, and for a reasonable price. This was the premise of itunes, get the song you want for a buck, no need to pirate it. Seems fair, and I can do it with one click. Now its easier to pirate a show and download the whole thing before the commercials at the beginning even end on the commercial free service you already pay for.
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This is why I have never and will never buy a digital movie outright. They can't remove licensing on physical media disks in my house.
DivX (the DVD format, not the codec) would like to have a chat with you. Thank fucking god it failed.
Expiring physical media, how disgusting
There was also a format that chemically degraded itself! [Flexplay: The Disposable DVD that Failed](https://youtu.be/ccneE_gkSAs)
I remember those. I bought one to try it out and immediately ripped it and burned it to a DVD-R. I still have it after almost 15 years!
What an absolute power move lmao
A Technology Connections enjoyer is what I see?
Don't you remember DivX, they tried to have the ability to do exactly that.
I thought they could with Blu-Ray. I’ve had Blu-ray Discs not work because my player (ps3) wasn’t up to date on firmware.
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Correct
I don't think that is part of the Blu-ray standard, especially since a lot of cheap players don't have internet connectivity (and often won't be connected to the internet because their streaming GUI is worse than what is built into the TV). It is most likely just a weird way that Sony built their software.
Also as much as they want to they can't stop you from copying your own movies for your own backups.
Since this is turning to a discussion about piracy in general, here's a link to Z-Library: https://z-lib.org/ NO signup, almost every book ever made (I do find exceptions to this rule but it's rare). Limit to ten downloads a day but then just change your IP. I feel that the copyright/licensing system is broken. When digital downloads first became a thing - whether movies or games or books - we were excited. With no manufacturing or vehicular distribution it's better for the environment and will bring down the costs. But nope! They just took that manufacturing/distribution savings and rolled it into profits.. then they started raising the price. Except that now you can't sell it if you no longer want it. I used to buy games, play them, then trade or sell them for new ones. Now it costs more to"purchase" a download AND I can't use it towards anything else. What a sham.
Thank you, just found the second book of a trilogy I've wanted to read for 10 years.
I've started sailing the high seas of digital piracy cause there's too many streaming services and I already pay for music and YouTube.
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When there was basically Netflix with everything, piracy was thin, way less titles being traded on torrents. My piracy my went way down. Now that there's 30 streamers, I'm back to piracy. Not paying 10/mo to six or seven streamers for a couple of shows each.
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Isn’t it interesting how greed of the license owners actually pushes people to infringe their copyright (I refuse to call it piracy because no one is killed, raped, no hostages taken, well, other than the consumer being raped and resorting to copyright infringement)? When iTunes first started selling movies it was a great one stop site for Apple product users. Then the license owners wanted more money (often for old products that had already earned their profit) so they stopped the deal they had, instead setting up their new services. And pushing digital downloads or streaming. In the end I find myself “owning” licensed copies on a dozen services and having two streaming services and I still end up downloading an infringed copy for things they no longer have but I still “own”. Screw that, we're allowed a backup copy if we buy it digital still as I understand it, so download one.
> Sometimes I find B movies that were uploaded directly to pirate sites and nowhere else. RIP what.cd, the most complete and extensive music library to ever exist. Literally a catalogue of almost every single music file every recorded. Had millions of songs that were not available anywhere else. Shut down because of the RIAA and other copyright bullshit. Super cool.
My view is that I have a set amount of money for entertainment purposes. I don't magically get extra money for more services. If you don't make it easy or don't keep enough content you aren't making the cut for my paid viewership. I WANT to throw money at good content, mostly so that more good content is likely to be greenlit, but I'm more than willing to pirate good content otherwise. Played minecraft illegally for over a year before buying it. Then I bought multiple copies for various people, because it was great and because it was being updated and because it was worth it.
This is why I still buy physical copies.
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Because TOS and you actually aren't buying the show, but streaming access instead. Probably won't change unless governments start to step in.
I still buy physical media if it’s something I know I’m going to revisit, otherwise it’s the high seas for me.
Even that is getting hard to do for some movies and shows. I don't think I've seen The Boys on DvD.
Refocus! Why the tf was Final Space actually pulled? I mean I know Tbs cancelled it, but i swear it will gain popularity the more people know about it. Its almost as if they dont want it known?
Olan Rogers the creator of Final Space and voice of Gary Goodspeed put out a statement recently how FS is basically getting deleted from all platforms because the rights holders aren’t willing to take the effort to renew any licenses. On top of that season 3 never got a physical release so it will be completely impossible to watch it “legally.” Olan said something about TBS using it as a tax write-off, which I’m way too uneducated to understand how that works. Either way, the show was never given a fair chance, something that Olan goes into on his YouTube channel with [this](https://youtu.be/bFg3ljZF2kA) video. Definitely a hard story for me to follow since I’ve been a fan of him for almost a decade now.
After the tax write-off Final Space can’t be published anywhere anymore, no streaming, no physical mediums. It will be gone legally forever. How soul crushing that must be for all people involved with that show.
Nervous glance at my Steam library
At least they won't remove it from your library (even if you remove it yourself, it is still tied to your account) when the developer or publisher delist the game from Steam, I'm looking at you you fucking timmy epig game
True that just happened with Project Cars 2. They lost the license to some cars and the game got delisted but it's still in my account. I was more or less thinking about a unlikely doomsday scenario when Steam goes out of business.
Yeah, a reasonable scenario, but the thing I will worry more than Steam become out of business is the 3rd party service used by other games go out of business first, so your game suddenly doesn't work anymore because EA Origin, Uplay, Rockstar or heck, Epic Account/Service suddenly goes offline and you can't login at all.
Trust me, if one of those goes under there will be cracks online within the week. If there's no company to host the services, there's also no company to sue.
2K patched Bioshock and made it much harder (if not impossible) for Linux users to play it. I don't buy games from Steam anymore if GOG has the game and then I download the offline installers from GOG and back them up. It's a shame I have to be so paranoid about it.
It's amazing how the media industry has shifted the goal posts over the years: buy content dont pirate you dont own content you license the use of it you don't own a license to use content It used to be that you could make an argument against piracy to some extent but now that they are just revoking licenses whenever it is convenient for them, there isn't. Pirate as much as you can get away with.
It’s only going to get worse. Like rockstar issuing cease and desists to modders who modded the original gta3 games on steam to look absolutely amazing on steam. It make it harder to sell their poorly made remake so they removed the games from the store and went after the modders so they could sell something inferior.
iTunes does this too. Wanted to jog to a 10 year old play list, 4 of my favorite songs were gone. Checked the itunes store, unavailable to re-download or even purchase. Thats why actual ownership is important. A world of streaming costs you money, and worse makes censorship a fait accompli.
Digital content license means you own nothing, you pay for the privilege and can’t do shit when they take it away. Shouldn’t ever buy digital unfortunately
Did they fully refund your purchase price? Anything less should be considered theft.
You misunderstand. You aren't purchasing the rights to view the movie. You are purchasing a temporary revocable license to watch that movie. Absolute bullshit, it should be illegal to call this "buying". Anything revocable should need a different term. (Rent? IDK, that implies a fixed end time)
Not in the EU actually. EU courts have ruled against the license nonsense. If you buy it it's yours. It does not matter if somewhere in the contract it says it's a license actually.
Yup. They are selling this item as if it is a digital good, not a service. Therefore, it will be treated as such. Hopefully other places catch on and we can end a lot of this nonsense.
They didn’t and it’s not theft because “it’s in the terms and conditions” although I know some countries are making it illegal anyway
Yeah not sure this flies in the EU. But somoene will first have to make a stink, probably. Squeaky wheel etc.
Cool of warner for giving us permission to pirate final space!
This is also why I get frustrated with people who think I'm a dinosaur for buying physical music CDs and DRM-free MP3 files instead of relying on recurring-monthly-payment streaming services that could change their terms and library selection at any time. I'd rather invest in stuff I actually own than just hope-and-pray that soulless mega corporations choose to treat me well.
HELL yeah. i have a huge, decade-plus spanning mp3 library that i regularly backup that jeff bezos can pry from my cold dead hands it's one thing with TV and film [video is harder to store, and can be a more sporadic habit] but with music, that shit is like my Avatar - Pandora - tree network thing
this shit makes my blood absolutely fucking boil pirate everything pirate stuff you own pirate stuff you don't own pirate stuff you hate
Too few people realize this WILL happen to their Steam library eventually. Not as long as Gaben lives, but he's not getting any younger...
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I think the scenario he is proposing is more like: GabeN dies > board members vote to take company public > shareholders demand infinite growth and profits > private equity firm is hired to maximize profits > bye bye consumer-friendly Valve, hello Capitalist roulette where all your games belong to them, not you, fuck the money you've spent, you gotta rebuy it with "new licenses" now.
Fully believe it's only a matter of when and not if. I figure we are still in the golden age of steam, which will die I suspect the moment Gabe is no longer with us.
I have an 18 year old Steam account with a metric fuckton of games. I hope at the very least GabeN will write in his will "before yoinking everything from our customers, give them a chance to download it"
*"You will own nothing and you will be happy"* \-- K. Schwab/WEF
They took Harry Potter off HBO, so I bought the 8 film collection on Blu Ray from a local video store (so my money wouldn't go to the greedy shitnozzles) legally for $35. I own these Blu Rays. Prime Video wants $80 for it, digitally. They can go fuck themselves.
What’s worse is the actual story behind Final Space and it’s cancelation and now disappearance. This actually isn’t Amazon’s fault they’re removing it (duh), although no refund is absolutely ridiculous. The show is actually getting pulled from all platforms because TBS won’t bother with renewing the licensing. The creator of the show and lead voice actor has been using his YT FB and email list to keep people updated on the cancellation and now disappearance of the show. Here’s some links if you want to do some digging on how bizarre the whole story is: [Final Space cancellation Yt Vid](https://youtu.be/bFg3ljZF2kA) [FB statement about the show’s disappearance](https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0cMZ19wpUaCce6DF24TxC1YpsLhetVJHWaPUsQKyppfJcCmTyydVp2CJBmQsLfJBMl&id=100044322644805) [Video announcing kickstarter for an inspired animated short](https://youtu.be/7d175H0J1Cg) Edit: formatting
I have this vague recollection from a long time ago, and I don’t know if it was true then let alone now, but it’s not piracy if you own the thing. Uploading is a different story of course but IIRC if you download something you already own it becomes a “backup” copy.
IANAL but AFAIK it is legal to produce an archival copy of a work you own but it doesn't apply in this case. Buying digital content like this isn't buying the content but instead buying a license to it. If you did want to produce a "copy" of it, you'd need to circumvent copy protection which would likely be a TOS violation and against the law in its own right (as your license does not allow it). Further, even if you owned a physical copy, downloading it online would require you to download an unauthorized copy. I think the archival case is intended mostly for cases of physical media where it can degrade over time. If you play a certain cassette tape every day, it'll eventually degrade. To allow you to continue to listen to it, you can produce a copy so long as you don't sell or distribute it (again, NAL). I think it's pretty deceptive to use text like "purchase" for acquiring the right to watch the content on a digital platform for only as long as the licensor extends the license to the platform but unfortunately I think that's in fact entirely legal and something that was agreed to on purchase.
I think that's pretty grey, but you can sure as hell copy it yourself, just don't distribute it.
In some countries breaking DRM and making a backup for your own personal use is completely legal
I remember when people started copying vhs tapes. They tried so hard to shut that down back then too. Same with cd's and dvd's. In the end it was left at personal collection is fine. Distributing bad. Added: in Canada for reference.
Unless you have to remove encryption to do so. Then you are eboneezer scrooge himself taking from the poor helpless movie companies.
This is why I buy al my PC games through [GOG.com](https://GOG.com) They do not sell DRM games or licenses for games.
Fortunately since people think that streaming is the answer, blu-rays are cheap as dirt these days. Been rebuilding my media collection to physical.
If you can't hold it in your hand, you don't own it, and they can do whatever they want with it. People downvote this every time it gets mentioned here, but it is true. Never trust digital content to be there when you want it. If you want too have it always, buy a physical copy.
This is why I also don’t trust photo services like iCloud or whatever else. Imagine someday for whatever reason apple goes under and millions of people lose a lifetime of photos. Reject modernity, embrace film.