You know how some people like to say that
physical media is dead and streaming is the future? Well, Apple is
doing a pretty good job right now of proving that theory well and truly
wrong.
Reports have started to emerge of Apple completely deleting films
from iTunes accounts even when they’ve been bought, not merely rented.
And when people complain about this, they’re receiving an astonishing
message from Apple telling them that iTunes is just a “store front,” and
so Apple isn’t to blame if a film studio decides it no longer wants to
make its titles available on iTunes.
Even worse, it seems that if bought film titles are removed from your
account you may not even be entitled to get a refund for them. When an
iTunes user in Canada complained to Apple that their initial offer of a
free $5.99 rental hardly seemed suitable recompense for him having three
bought films summarily removed from his account, Apple replied that
“our ability to offer refunds diminishes over time. Hence your purchases
doesn’t meet the conditions for a refund.”
The Canadian user was offered a further two free rentals as
compensation. But, of course, as well as being far less in monetary
terms than the films user had bought, having short-term rental rights to
a film is very different indeed from owning a film.
While I’m hearing from others who fortunately did get a refund for
their deleted films, the bottom line in all this is that Apple appears
to be openly saying that if you buy a film on iTunes, you don’t really
own it at all. It may only stick around in your iTunes account for as
long as the studio who really owns it decides it wants it to stick
around in your iTunes account.
The Canadian user suffering this issue was pointed to this page of Apple legalese in the response where he was told that he wasn’t entitled to compensation for his lost purchases.
I’m also starting to receive reports today of the recent return of
another major issue with iTunes movies: the downgrading of 4K HDR films
to HD. This started happening in 2017, just after the Apple TV 4K
launched, as reported here.
At that point Apple suggested that there was some sort of labeling
issue (where films said they were HD on their header page, but played as
4K) that they managed to (largely) fix. And it seems that the return of
this issue may still be responsible for some of the “lost” 4K movies
Apple TV 4K users are seeing now.
This doesn’t seem to explain all of the 4K to HD switches, though. It seems that some are down to Apple’s
original policy of offering free HD to 4K upgrades of films no longer
applying to titles bought in HD outside of iTunes. Say, via the
iTunes-compatible Movies Anywhere platform. Though I am recently hearing
from people saying that films bought on other iTunes-compatible
platforms in 4K are also now only appearing in HD on iTunes.
In fact, I have even been contacted just today by an iTunes user who
tells me that dozens of films he owns in iTunes — many of which were
actually bought in iTunes — have stepped back on his Apple TV 4K to HD,
having previously being available in 4K. This includes titles that are
still available in 4K on VUDU.
It’s worth noting that the specific incident of films being
completely deleted I refer to in this article happened in Canada; it’s
possible that iTunes users in the U.S. and elsewhere haven’t experienced
the same issue (yet…) due to differences in film rights between
different territories.
But actually these sorts of regional rights differences merely
underline the fundamental point Apple seems to be doing its best to
confirm right now: That the only way you can be sure you own anything is
if you’re physically holding it in your hand.
I’ve asked Apple for comment on these iTunes issues, and will provide
an update if they come back with anything worth sharing. In the
meantime, though, if you’ve experienced either films you bought
disappearing entirely from iTunes, or films that once appeared in 4K now
only appearing in HD, please let me know (with details, if possible, of
whether you bought the title from within iTunes or via another
compatible platform) via the Twitter account shown at the bottom of this
article.
You don’t own anything that has DRM – not movies, not ebooks, nothing.
Can someone please tell me this was a pair that was trying to do the death spiral that mating birds of prey do, and somehow in the process they ended up stuck on a road sign.
Because if it is, this is definitely one of the funniest “Okay, maybe we WERE a little bit over our head when we started this…” moments.
I doubt it. One of these birds is a juvenile (the top) while the other is an adult (bottom). The juvenile would have no interest in mating.
Honestly when I see hawks doing stupid stuff 9/10 times its a harris hawk—this seriously just looks like one of those stupid hawks time. They are one of the only social raptors, so this leads to some funny things, like
Stacking
The harris hawk argument for stacking is “your back is less Pokey than a cactus so imma use it”
Not even falconers are safe…
They even hold hands
Please, what are you doing harris hawks, learn how to hawk
Harris hawks are the only bird of prey that are pack hunters. This is why they make excellent falconry birds – they don’t need as much explanation of the concept of “Okay, let’s go hunting together” as more solitary hawks. Of course, a lot of falconers can’t afford them – Harris hawks cost $500-1000 each and because they’re social birds, most falconers recommend flying them in a cast (two birds, normally a mated pair) so you generally want to buy two. They’re goofy for the same reason dogs and wolves are, because all pack critters are goofy.
y’ever get the feeling that theres this very specific window of opportunity for getting invited to shit but no one warns you that if you say no this one time you’re never gonna get invited to anything ever again like that’s it you had your chance to hang and now its gone and you’re on your own while everyone else in your social circle is doing stuff together
I want to move to a forest. Can anyone rec some good forests I can live on the edge of? maybe a river nearby? Looking for a place where the fog will roll in at about 7 am, when I am taking my daily walks
It overwhelms me how much I love autumn. The dark and foggy mornings where everything’s in a haze and you only see the street lights in the distance. The grey sky, cold wind and rainy days. When you drink a hot chocolate, snuggled into a cozy blanket while watching TV. The leaves changing color into red, orange and yellow and finally falling to the ground. The Halloween decorations in the supermarket, the pumpkins, the costumes. I just can’t wait for autumn I love it so much
tora42's nonsensne 