HT201272: Download your past purchases
Learn about Download your past purchases
Q: Purchases no longer available to download
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Jan 2, 2016 10:15 AMby King_Penguin,HelpfulIf it's the same version of the film that you bought (e.g. the rights-holder hasn't removed it and replaced it with a new version/purchase), and you haven't moved countries since buying it, then check to see if you've hidden it from the cloud : Hide and unhide purchases in iTunes or iBooks on your Mac or PC - Apple Support
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Jan 2, 2016 10:15 AMby timik,I check hidden purchases first because I have made this mistake before. In this case the purchase is no longer available for download. It is Mad Men season 4 in the Canadian store. I have purchased all the Mad Men seasons and all are available for re-download or cloud viewing except season 4. The support agent said that there must have been a change in the licensing for season 4. Season 4 is still available in the store. If anyone can credibly explain why I can't have it in my list of purchases I will be eternally grateful, because Apple cannot explain it. This has happened before with other purchases.
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Jan 2, 2016 10:57 AMby timik,That is exactly what Apple support said and yet it is not an explanation.
I purchased Mad Men Season 4 > Mad Men Season 4 is in the store > Mad Men Season 4 is not in my purchases. It doesn't follow.
And it means that every purchase is at risk of disappearing, storewide.
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Jan 2, 2016 11:05 AMby King_Penguin,If the version that you bought has been removed from your country's store then it will not show for redownloading - if the rights-holder has changed, or the existing rights-holder has removed and replaced it, then the current store version will be treated as a separate purchases.
Any item can be removed from the store (and potentially replaced with a separate new purchase) at any time, the store's terms tell you that you may not be able to redownload any item and to back them up. Have you not been doing that ?
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Jan 2, 2016 11:14 AMby timik,I have everything backed up.
Hypothetical #1: my backup drive fails then I have lost the purchase.
Hypothetical #2: i am traveling and want to watch my purchase on my iPad. If I didn't sync it is not available (but all my other purchases are).
Hypothetical #3: I take my Apple TV on vacation but my purchase is not available to view (but all my other purchases are).
Why do you and Apple think these losses of functionality are OK?
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Jan 2, 2016 11:38 AMby King_Penguin,1 - you are only guaranteed one download of any item. Ideally you wouldn't have just the one backup of anything that you don't want to risk losing.
2, 3 - if they are still in the store (and you are not in a different country) then you can potentially redownload/stream them (audiobooks and tones can't be redownloaded irrespective of whether they remain in the store). If you don't space on your iPad then their are wifi-enabled drives that allow you to stream content to it
I can't speak for Apple, you will have to ask them. But unless the content providers change their requirements things are unlikely to change.
