Having both digital and physical copies

[Jim Thompson]

Until you accidentally delete them all or your computer crashes without a backup.

Which would be akin to a fire or flood destroying one's physical collection, I suppose.

[Kid Montana]

How'd they explain the loss of value to your gift card?

Dude, I am overseas. I have spent a couple grand easy on Itunes gift cards. Missing 1 $10 purchase from 2 years ago is not so easy to track. I guess If I had kept every email receipt, but even those records where consumed when I lost access (student account), or flat out deleted by me. Why keep those records? The movies were in my account for about a year, then they dissappeared. I was able to get the more recent purchase (Princess Bride) back because it still showed in a purchase record I-tunes had that hadn't been purged. I was SOL with It's a Wonderful Life.

[Jim Thompson]

Dude, I am overseas. I have spent a couple grand easy on Itunes gift cards. Missing 1 $10 purchase from 2 years ago is not so easy to track. I guess If I had kept every email receipt, but even those records where consumed when I lost access (student account), or flat out deleted by me. Why keep those records? The movies were in my account for about a year, then they dissappeared. I was able to get the more recent purchase (Princess Bride) back because it still showed in a purchase record I-tunes had that hadn't been purged. I was SOL with It's a Wonderful Life.

Easy there, mate. I was just curious if it had been addressed.

[The Frozen Reptile]

I'm going to start off by saying I love my Kobo. It has allowed me to get rid of a bunch of Star Wars and Forgotten Realms novels (and some physics and math texts) that were taking up a lot of space in the Reptile's Lair. I have also replaced a lot of my RPG stuff with pdfs. Having said that, to me nothing will replace the physical copy of a comic book. It is my one true hoard, and I hope paper copies continue forever...

[Fused]

I would by more digital comics if I at least had a better sense of ownership. Digital downloads for video games is a much larger investment than a comic book, and it seems to me they allow for more ownership on those items.

I get they want to cut down on illegal downloads, but would allowing people to own the files really facilitate more piracy? I don't really think so.

[Jim Thompson]

...but would allowing people to own the files really facilitate more piracy? I don't really think so.

I completely disagree with you here. I don't think there's any question allowing people ownership of the files would lead to an increase in piracy. The model is pretty well established at this point. Just ask Hollywood.

[Kid Montana]

Easy there, mate. I was just curious if it had been addressed.

I am not trying to be pissy, just explaining that if you do alot of purchasing of this stuff, you are at the mercy of the company selling/storing it for you. I do alot of purchasing of this stuff and have had random things dissappear. Apple TV as a result gets alot less of my money than it used to. It gets harder to track the more you have though.

I have also had things ruined by a basement flood and an angry Ex selling off collections, nothing is without risk. But when a physicaly event happens, it can be insured and inventoried. It was only when trying to watch one of my movies that I realised they had both been deleted from my account (after an upgrade by apple).

I love the convenience of having entertainment a button away. I do not trust them to safely store everything I 'own' that I was charged a premium for. I haven't heard of this happening with comics, but Imagine it is the same scenario of always needing to know what you have the check against.

[Jim Thompson]

I am not trying to be pissy, just explaining that if you do alot of purchasing of this stuff, you are at the mercy of the company selling/storing it for you. I do alot of purchasing of this stuff and have had random things dissappear. Apple TV as a result gets alot less of my money than it used to. It gets harder to track the more you have though.

I have also had things ruined by a basement flood and an angry Ex selling off collections, nothing is without risk. But when a physicaly event happens, it can be insured and inventoried. It was only when trying to watch one of my movies that I realised they had both been deleted from my account (after an upgrade by apple).

I love the convenience of having entertainment a button away. I do not trust them to safely store everything I 'own' that I was charged a premium for. I haven't heard of this happening with comics, but Imagine it is the same scenario of always needing to know what you have the check against.

Well, I also buy a ton of digital product, and I haven't had the issues you've obviously had. It's why I was curious.

[Fused]

I completely disagree with you here. I don't think there's any question allowing people ownership of the files would lead to an increase in piracy. The model is pretty well established at this point. Just ask Hollywood.

People that pirate are gonna pirate, people that buy are gonna buy. Just as the music industry.

[Jim Thompson]

People that pirate are gonna pirate, people that buy are gonna buy. Just ask the music industry.

The music industry is leading the fight against digital piracy, and are huge advocates for clouding product as opposed to consumer ownership.

[Kid Montana]

Well, I also buy a ton of digital product, and I haven't had the issues you've obviously had. It's why I was curious.

I was close to filling up the hard drive on my original appleTV when an update was pushed though as they were introducing an expansion of the 'cloud'. The apple TV then started 'dumping' a bunch of stuff at random onto the cloud. It wasn't a problem retrieving everything else, for the most part, but they seemed to delete movies as one of the categories with that update. I am also missing a few random episodes. I don't think alot of people actually buy movies this way from apple, the apple tv being a rather odd duck in their lineup. It was most likely bad programming on the update, but it took someone there retrieving my purchase records and re-downloading the 1 movie they could find back to my account.

If you go into the apple forums, you see this happens quite a bit.

[Jim Thompson]

I was close to filling up the hard drive on my original appleTV when an update was pushed though as they were introducing an expansion of the 'cloud'. The apple TV then started 'dumping' a bunch of stuff at random onto the cloud. It wasn't a problem retrieving everything else, for the most part, but they seemed to delete movies as one of the categories with that update. I am also missing a few random episodes. I don't think alot of people actually buy movies this way from apple, the apple tv being a rather odd duck in their lineup. It was most likely bad programming on the update, but it took someone there retrieving my purchase records and re-downloading the 1 movie they could find back to my account.

If you go into the apple forums, you see this happens quite a bit.

I familiar with what you're saying; I have Apple TV, too, and frequent those boards. I just haven't heard a lot of people having the problems you seem to have had getting Apple to either reimburse them or get them access to the material they bought.

[Kid Montana]

I familiar with what you're saying; I have Apple TV, too, and frequent those boards. I just haven't heard a lot of people having the problems you seem to have had getting Apple to either reimburse them or get them access to the material they bought.

I didnt have a problem on the one movie. Apple actually has great customer support. But there is a cut off for what records stay in your account. I believe they could only go back 12-18 months. If you go in thinking you have 'bought' something and 24 months later it is gone with no record you actually purchased it, that is a severe limitation to buying into the format.

There were alot of issues when they went to Itunes 9.2 as well, alot of things downloading to hard drives were not fully synching and dissappearning. Easy enough if you catch a recent purchase, not so much historically speaking.

Don't mean to derail this away from digital comics. I think there is along way to go before people can feel confident they 'own' material this way. Had I downloaded my purchases to multiple computers/devices as is my ability, it could have been easily retrieved, but then that also negates the advantage of having it stored in the cloud.

[Tandaemonium]

I was close to filling up the hard drive on my original appleTV when an update was pushed though as they were introducing an expansion of the 'cloud'. The apple TV then started 'dumping' a bunch of stuff at random onto the cloud. It wasn't a problem retrieving everything else, for the most part, but they seemed to delete movies as one of the categories with that update. I am also missing a few random episodes. I don't think alot of people actually buy movies this way from apple, the apple tv being a rather odd duck in their lineup. It was most likely bad programming on the update, but it took someone there retrieving my purchase records and re-downloading the 1 movie they could find back to my account.

If you go into the apple forums, you see this happens quite a bit.

I have seen this happen before myself personally. If this helps, download Subler (it's free) and go into your file browser (Finder or Explorer) and find the file you purchased from iTunes and open it in Subler. Basically delete the two lines at the bottom connecting your actual video file to your AppleID and then resave the file (you'll recognize the lines because you will see your email address/AppleID show up in both the lines). This prevents iTunes/Apple TV from making the mistake of screwing around with your files. Unfortunately, you will not be able to save these files up in iCloud since it is also what Apple uses to verify your ownership/purchase. At least you won't have to worry about disappearing shows and movies any more. Just make sure you have your own way of backing up your videos in case of some freak hard drive death or anything.

[Fused]

The music industry is leading the fight against digital piracy, and are huge advocates for clouding product as opposed to consumer ownership.

All I gotta say is good luck with that!