Amazon Prime Video is able to remove a video from your library after purchase.
Amazon Prime Video is able to remove a video from your library after purchase.
We are contacting you regarding a past Prime Video purchase(s). The below content is no longer playable on Prime Video.
In an effort to compensate you for the inconvenience, we have applied a £5.99 Amazon Gift Card to your account. The Gift Card amount is equal to the amount you paid for the Prime Video purchase(s). To apologize for the inconvenience, we've also added an Amazon Gift Certificate of £5 to your account. Your Gift Card balance will be automatically applied to your next eligible order. You can view your balance and usage history in Your Account here:
Remember, streaming only has a business model as long as it has a better user experience than piracy. That's why iTunes took off in the era of Napster. When a streaming service's user experience drops below that of digging up pirate treasure off a shitty ad-ridden torrent site, that service is not long for the world.
You don’t own the video file. You own access to their video file, which they also don’t own, they only own the right to distribute it. If their distribution contract ends and doesn’t gets renewed, then they can’t let you access the file. At least they refunded you. This system is one of the issues with the ongoing writers and actors strikes. Amazon can decide to stop making a video available, which cuts all dividends revenues to actors and writers. So having a video available for you to watch costs money to Amazon (or Netflix or Max…) but not enough content makes users unsubscribe, so they ride that thin line for maximized revenue. This means that older movies that aren’t blockbusters get dropped in favor of new content. Now new content doesn’t means good content, remember, it needs to be as cheap as possible. Aaand this is why steaming companies are spiraling down and everything is going to shit. Filmmaking is an art form turned into an industry. But art isn’t about maximized profit, it’s about art first. But you can’t make that art without millions of dollars and that requires the art to take a step back to maximize profit, but not too far back. It’s a really big issue in the film and entertainment industry.
— I’m an IATSE local 600 camera operator.
Every day on the internet, a lucky 10,000 get to learn "common knowledge" for the very first time.
Like everyone said 50 times, yar har be pirate, all that.
Or, buy hard copy, which is refusing to completely die because of this shit, right here.
BUT, you have to make sure the data is on the hard copy and that you can access the data (play the songs, watch the movie, etc) WITHOUT internet access, that is you have to make sure the hard copy of the media is really on the damn disc, and it's not just a glorified access key to media that will then be streamed from their servers they control. If it is then do not pay for it.
This is honestly why vinyl is still a thing, once you rip things back out of the digital realm it gets a lot harder for them to pull bullshit, they pretty much have to put the songs on the wax if they want your $40, and they do, oh boy they do they want that money bad.
Piracy is always a bigger pain in the ass than internet techies act like. No, I don't want to buy a Plex server and learn how to use it and learn how to make my own VPN and make sure the VPN doesn't just report my activity to 7 Eyes or whatever that things called and and and and, and results like "my movie got unbought" are also unacceptable.
Yes, we know, there are "special" websites that you can just surf to and it's like a janky Netflix that "just works" so long as you already know the name of the thing you intend to watch, otherwise it's just a blank search bar. Also, you cannot tell other people about the website or the website gets taken down. Nothing is more useful than a website that you absolutely can't tell people about, wow, what a problem solver that is.
"I want to watch a movie" is a very "This activity must offer zero friction, I will only accept push button get movie" kind of activity so, yeah. "Be pirate" is not that useful, it's just the internet's go-to answer, they always speak loudly for the tiny minority in this place.
What we're actually doing is drastically limiting our spending on any of this type of thing, and never, ever pay money to "own" something digital. That era is over. It sucks, but it's yet another shitty thing that would take bullets to change, and since it's not worth bullets it's not changing.
Honestly I doesn't even take bullets but if you're going to build the kind of political movement it would take to create change then all that work would be absolutely wasted on this problem while everyone eyerolls at you like you're stupid and worthless for caring so yeah, it's not changing.
So yeah, do not pay for digital ownership of any kind, ever. It's only ever a lease with one-sided terms, at best. Amazon lost the contractual right to provide that movie, so you lost the right to watch it, and "buying" it meant buying a license to watch it on their terms, the end. Don't pay for it.
Wow. This is why owning DVDs is better. And if you can't buy, download via torrents. Imagine these bastards rolling up to your home and reclaiming a movie you physically purchased. We gave them too much power. Time to withdraw it. Convenience is not worth this shit. Get uncomfortable and get your entertainment away from these streamers who don't give customers what they paid for.
DVD rental stores could surely make a comeback given these new developments. Libraries still loan movies as well. Remember, Barnes & Noble didn't run all independent bookstores out of business. And after Amazon savaged Barnes & Noble, Amazon Books suddenly came into existence (2015 - 2022). Greed driven corporations aren't the answer.
If companies won't sell you a DRM-free copy of media, just pirate it. It's the only way to actually own it.
Before YouTube Music, I purchased quite a lot of albums on Google Play Music. Paying normal CD prices, no renting.
My Google Play Music library consisted of 60% uploaded and 40% purchased music.
After my Music Library migration to YouTube was done ( this sentence alone, is enough doom and sorrow for any music lover ), my uploaded music was merged with my purchases and both were put under quarantine within the "uploads" tab.
No way to recognize purchases or even the possibility of downloading any of my uploaded or purchased music.
The money I paid for the music?
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Edit: i bought 2 - 4 albums every month on average. For a few years. Sometimes more. So, it's not like they only got a few bucks ... At least from my pov. lol
Just wanted to mention that torrentgalaxy.to, rutracker.org, 1337x.to and therarbg.com won't ever remove anything from your library.
Welcome to the Pay Per View information economy. Amazon, and others, have been pulling this shit for years.
It's been well documented that Amazon does this with eBooks all the time. A publisher pulled a copy of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE from Amazon over a contract dispute in the earlier days of the Kindle. So Amazon reached out and delete that copy from all Amazon customers who bought it through the Amazon Store.
Students who were annotating it for class lost all their notes. Amazon refunded the cost of the eBook. But those notes are toast.
It's what prompts me to copy non-DRM'ed files to my Kindle and read them without Amazon having a record of purchase. It won't stop them from logging in remotely and wiping the device, but I have backups and programs to convert them to non-Kindle format for another eReader.
All this kinda bullshit does is justify why piracy isn't the worst option out there, if you ask me. In fact, this kinda bullshit cements why it's a better option in my mind.
Companies want to make it so you don't own anything just rent the use of it.
When you buy something from a streaming service you're only buying the right to stream it, nothing more.
You can't compare it to owning physical media because there are ongoing costs involved for Amazon to host it and ever changing contracts with media companies outlining what they are allowed to host.
I've legitimately lost hundreds of dollars of content without even getting refunded; So consider yourself lucky! To get a gift card instead; ANYWAY I now pirate all my things minus idk I guess my video game consumption but even then I had the luxury to pirate shit I bought on steam just to have it again. In the end of the day though you don't really own anything unless you own it physical and even then its still illegal to use makemkv to dump your blurays and dvds onto your nas and watch them outside of the physical media they were put on. But I guess thats just living in the future for ya!
You will own nothing and be happy about it!
After over a decade of giving up on physical media, I'm now back to collecting it primarily because of this major issue with streaming services.
This is the way it has been working for quite some time with all digital distribution networks.
The shocking thing here is that you get compensation, Apple e.g. has never done that, in the past they did not even send a notification if they deleted something from your library.
Yes, the whole concept is scummy. But Amazon at least tries as best as they can in the context of licenses from third parties...
What they did to me was:
When I went to watch a movie I had purchased, a message came up saying that it was no longer available on Amazon prime and to watch it I had to download an app and watch it on another service. The app was free and I didn't have to pay anything to watch it but I want to say there was something else wrong with it, like the service was free or it had commercials or something. Not sure.
Google is just as bad, trying to do the right thing and support the movies we love, and now Google has locked all my movies so only I can watch them. I can still load them on the telly in the lounge, but I specifically bought them to be shared amongst my kids, who now can't see them. They make it impossible to follow their rules. It's become impossible to buy digital. I'm tempted to go apple and try Apple store, for all my purchases. I just want it all in one place and to actually own what I purchase. They're talking out both sides of their mouth. On one hand they lambast you for taking a copy of something, but if you buy a copy they can take it away at any time and you don't own it. There is no contract where money is traded for a product.
That's bullshit
This is why I use xManager for free Spotify Premium, YouTube Revanced for free YouTube premium, and torrent everything else that I need. I'm so tired of subscriptions for literally everything.
Richard Stallman already talked about this Here is the article: https://stallman.org/amazon.html
Of course they’re able to.
They’re a digital platform. Unless something is DRM free, this shit is likely to happen at some point.
This is why I don't buy digital media (other than games).
I pay the fee to stream but I won't give them more money to "buy" their movies or "rent" them.
shocked Pikachu face
Did customers really forgot the ebook 1984 event or assume they'd "just" get "better"?
Honestly kind of deserved, don't buy from Amazon! Wondering why? Read Chokepoint capitalism but TLDR their business model is monopoly and monopsony. They're terrible.
Of course, most digital goods providers are set up this way. You're not buying a copy of a thing, you're buying a limited perpetual license. If you want to actually own a copy of a digital good, pirate it.
This is why I stopped buying movies on this platform, on anything else, if something gets delisted but I bought it before that happened I get to keep it...
Amazon Prime done fucked up
As I said(probably) in another post, you own nothing since you sing up and accept the terms. They can change the terms when ever they want, they can remove videos when ever they want or the rights for a movie or series end. If you want to have something, find a provider that sells and lets download files, so you don't lose what you buy.
This is why I don't 'buy' media from online services. You are depending on:
- The service continuing to have the rights to the item
- You continuing to be a member of the service
- The service continuing to exist
- You having the software or sometimes the hardware to access the service
Eff all that stuff ....
That’s why I stopped using streaming services and started robbing studio executives and using the proceeds to buy physical media from the dude parked in front of the FastTax.
Amazon has made I harder and harder to download the raw audio files of music purchases, at this point I have to download it on my PC only to get the files on my disk, if I have a phone they have even managed to identify when you are using desktop mode on your browser and still tells you to download Amazon music.
Another reason physical > digital.
Donner cut is still right there on my shelf. If Amazon wants to take it, they can TRY. Good luck!
Arrrr maty!
Google video can also remove movies and tv shows from your library. I believe they give you 5 years before they claim its okay to remove them.
They've done this previously with books, music, and other media purchased through them and they aren't alone. Apple and Google have also been on the hook for this. This usually happens when they lose the right to sell some form of media (they make deals with record labels, artists, movie companies, publishers etc to license the right to sell that media for the purpose of streaming). You're buying the right to stream/enjoy that media indefinitely (until they lose the rights to sell it to you and then they have to remove it from their library of streamable media). You can absolutely download that media and keep it somewhere not connected to the internet. But they can absolutely remove it.
The one exception used to be Google Play Music. Their terms were such that you actually owned the music you purchased. I assume that's part of the reason they sunsetted that app and their music selling altogether. The cost was too high vs the number of paid users.
Apple has also done this and it was a big deal because they didn't notify customers at all at the time.
Edit: I'm gonna add that this licensing agreement is similar to the one made when we bought physical media from retail stores. They have the right to sell it until their licensing agreement runs out. When or if it runs out they send back their remaining inventory and proof that they sold everything else. And the only reason a company isn't requesting that media back in this event is because it's cost prohibitive for them.
Further proof why digital goods are bullshit, and are never really yours, despite spending full price on it.
Yarrr, that be some bullshit matey!
At least you got a refund. I lost count of the number of apps and games I purchased from the Google Play store that got unlisted / removed and I didn't get any refunds. Granted it's not Google removing the app but it's the developers unlisting it for whatever reason. A small heads up before said unlisting would have been nice.
"your" library
This isn't about games, but Ross Scotts video about games as a service and how companies are able to pull your access from your paid products and my man has even been looking into ways to make it illegal
🏴☠️
Piracy is always the answer
download files and store elsewhere. music mp3s anyway. never tried their vids. mostly crap