Sony is erasing digital libraries that were supposed to be accessible “forever”::Casualties afoot as Sony merges Funimation with 2021-acquired Crunchyroll.
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If buying isn’t owning then piracy isn’t stealing
And the Zoomers all go, “lol y u got all those things on disk graddad? nobody does that anymore get with it.”
Yeah, okay. Sure.
But I’ll tell you what, I put my Steamline Pictures dub Laserdisc of Castle of Cagliostro in the machine, or whatever the hell, and it just plays. Every time.
Amen. Fuck the system.
But if you sell me something and then forcefully take it back, that actually is stealing. It will never happen because somewhere in the TOS they had wiggled in a clause to invalidate it, but morally Sony owes the users a refund for everything they are taking back.
Although the weaselling that tends to happen with digital content like this is that you didn’t buy the content. You simply bought a licence to view the content from that service, and if the service cannot provide the content, that’s your problem to deal with.
I would never pay to purchase a digital copy of a show. Either get physical media or pirate it. Anything else is just a long term rental.
Could this be the basis for a lawsuit? I mean everyone had to know that this platform wouldn’t last forever, but it’s not as if they’re shutting down completely. Seems like they could easily port this feature over to the new platform, they just choose not to. Is that breach of contract?
The secret is that despite everything on the website saying “buy” to the end user when they’re putting in their credit card information, somewhere 18 pages down in the TOS you agree to when making an account there is a provision that they reserve the right to revoke access at any time. It’s not truly owning content, it was never YOUR contract. It’s theirs.
The secret isn’t that the fine print somehow makes it okay.
The secret is that it really is blatantly illegal false advertising, but the regulatory-captured FTC isn’t doing it’s damn job and the companies know it.
The courts should not tolerate hidden clauses in pages of legalese that literally no one, not even lawyers reads. If you have a misleading claim advertised that the buyer is more likely to see, then your hidden clause is invalidated.
Yeah, I don’t see why they tolerate it. Judges are people too and they know damn well that people can’t be expected to read every TOS they’re asked to agree to.
They’re less than shutting down. Funimation was where these shows are. Sony owns Funimation, and funimation bought crunchyroll. Funimation is switching their name to crunchyroll because it has more positive name recognition.
So funimation is essentially claiming that Funimation purchases will be null and void after funimation chooses to change its name to crunchyroll.
Also, since crunchy and fun were competitors and they were allowed to buy themselves into a near monopoly, they’re upping the subscription prices.
I guess you shouldn’t expect any tech company to provide anything “forever,” as forever for them, and the fine prints, mean totally different things than what you and I think it is.
There’s plenty of room on the high seas for everyone.
Welcome all, arrr to be sure.
I went full digital years ago because I saw the writing on the wall for physical releases. I knew damn well that this was a possibility, but if they ever take my library from Movies Anywhere, I’ll be the first to grab a torch and pitchfork.
If you haven’t already done it, don’t forget to connect your movies anywhere account to other online playform so that the movies are unlocked across multiple platforms so if one goes down you still have them available elsewhere.
Although it is unfortunate when the internet drops at home, but I have a small collection of movies on Blu-ray for just that scenario.
All of the purchases are through a few other vendors, not from MA directly, they just link back to that service.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Funimation, a Sony-owned streaming service for anime, recently announced that subscribers’ digital libraries on the platform will be unavailable after April 2.
For years, Funimation had been telling subscribers that they could keep streaming these digital copies of purchased movies and shows, but qualifying it: “forever, but there are some restrictions.”
But in addition to offering video streaming, Funimation also dubbed and released anime as physical media, and sometimes those DVDs or Blu-rays would feature a digital code.
For people lacking the space, resources, or interest in maintaining a library of physical media, this was a good way to preserve treasured shows and movies without spending more money.
It also provided a simple way to access purchased media online if you were, for example, away on a trip and had a hankering to watch some anime DVDs you bought.
Regarding refunds, Funimation’s announcement directed customers to its support team “to see the available options based on your payment method,” but there’s no mention of getting money back from a DVD or Blu-ray that you might not have purchased had you known you couldn’t stream it “forever.”
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