iTunes/Movie Digital rights?

In practice you probably have to accept that there is some risk that might lose access to some past purchases over time, in much the same way that you might occasionally lose access to physical media. (What is down the back of the sofa?) I believe that in some cases Apple may allow the original purchasers access to content that has otherwise been removed from the store, although offhand I cannot find an explicit statement to that effect. What is there is this:

Content may not be available for Redownload if that Content is no longer offered on our Services.

Presumably the same caveat applies to streaming rights.

tt2

So it is to my understanding from a chat today that I am required to download any “purchase” I make from iTunes and if I lose that said download (ex. Hard drive crash) I do NOT have the option to redownload if he content has left iTunes. So how can this be a “purchase” if I don’t really own it because I can’t access it all the time if it’s removed or “changed” as they called it

It works for me. I've purchased over 100 movies from the iTunes Store. In the unlikely event that one is removed I'll take my chances that I'll be able to find it somewhere else like Netflix should the mood to watch it again come over me. Still cheaper and more convenient than going to the cinema.

Apple will only remove content they have lost rights to deliver. Disney seem to be particularly fond to putting content "back in the vault" but for anything else it ought to be rare occurrence. Apple are simply underlining that they can be subject to force majeure

rather than promise something that can't be delivered as other services have done.

tt2

Why do they even make apple tv if they say you have to download your content? Cause apple tv storage is no where near enough space and you cant hook an external hdd to it. So whats the point, Really????

I guess my main point of all this is I’ve worked hard for most of my movies (yes some were acquired differently) but most of my iTunes purchases have been cash. Why should we as a consumer sit back and let them use the term “own” when we don’t own anything, just a “right” to watch it! Isn’t that what renting something is ????? I mean come on at least use correct terminology Apple.

Rediculous policy in the age of Apple TV 4K.

It appears to be true. I know people personally who have had movies removed from their iTunes library which they purchased using the OWN option. Clearly, I need to start tracking my library better. Before Apple started using cloud storage, your movies had to be downloaded into iTunes and stored on your hard drive. The cloud has made it much easier from a storage perspective for our devices, but, apparently, if Apple loses the rights to a movie and you've not downloaded it...so do you.

For those of us who have been in the digital world for a while, we've seen the downfall of many services such as Flixster, Target Ticket and CinemaNow and we've lost movies. Apple clearly isn't going anywhere, but to be allowed to remove our movies that we PAID FOR at random, whether they've lost rights or not, seems a extremely deceptive. If this is the case, then Apple needs to reword their options of Rent and Own, as you truly don't "own" unless you download apparently. I'm feeling once people realize movies have vanished that they have purchased, if they're smart, they'll migrate to another streaming service such as Vudu, who does not remove movies from your library that you purchased, even when the rights have been removed from the studio. It's a slippery slope for Apple to use the term "own", as it appears to be used very loosely. Perhaps they should reword that to "temporarily own" or "own as long as you download" or "own as long as the studio allows us"...something more of that nature would be more accurate. Now that this has become more real, I don't see myself purchasing any movies directly from Apple going forward.