Amazon Prime movies

MyRealNameToo

There have been a few big name pull outs (Microsoft books, Google games) which showed you just owned a licence not a copy. In both these cases they actually refunded all prior purchases automatically.

It's mainly tied to digital rights management, to stop you being able to download a copy and then send it to all your friends and family. Its hardly new news though, Sky+ introduced the ability to record to the device but playback was disabled if you ever dropped your Sky+ subscription even though you could still watch the free-to-air channels with the box.

There is no real parallel to physical products as you can't buy a TV and give your friends/family a copy of the TV for you to all have and use independently in different locations at the same time. Media like VHS tapes did have mechanisms to try and stop you copying them onto another tape to share with others but it wasnt too hard to buy a recorder that had the capability to get round the copy protection.

Generally with these sorts of things you get charged less by your wholesaler the stronger the protections you can put in.

A_Geordie

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/6667016/amazon-prime-movies

What is it that you want from Amazon to make sufficiently clear that you are not purchasing something to own outright? When I try to buy or rent something on Prime Video, a pop up message appears like below. They have even highlighted the important point that says if you're buying or renting, then you receive a license and a link to their terms and conditions.

Ectophile

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987897#Comment_81987897

It's not stealing, it's copying. The original owner still has their copy.

Arunmor

"You'll own nothing and be happy" (Ida Auken)

WEF 2016:- "… a future in which a person relies on the sharing economy for many of their needs"

Welcome to the future!

Davesquire

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987591#Comment_81987591

Erm, perhaps I badly explained my analogy. It was about a can of beans.

Davesquire

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987803#Comment_81987803

This is true of Amazon, where I "purchased" the movie - one off - reasonably assuming this to mean "buy" a copy of the movie. Hence, if I stopped my Prime account, how could I take my purchase with me to use on another device?

"born_again" nailed the true answer, however this should be made crystal clear, in normal sized font prior to the purchase. Where are this countries regulators when you need them?

CurlySue2017

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81987651#Comment_81987651

On the flip side, because of their demise, they have become very very cheap to buy preowned. Because of this, I have started to re-build my film / box set collection and am buying a few each month

It barely costs me anything and I will ALWAYS have my favourite film or show to watch 😊

Streaming is great at the moment but I fear it will become more and more expensive and also, there are adverts on everything now unless you pay extra which I am not willing to do. For now it is not an issue but I have noticed that they are becoming more and more frequent and play for longer

eskbanker

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81988869#Comment_81988869

Re "Where are this countries regulators when you need them?", retail is of course an unregulated industry, although traders have to comply with consumer protection legislation, including unfair terms provisions, so if you feel there's a case to be made, you'd need to pursue it yourself…

https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2015/15/part/2

Jenni_D

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81988859#Comment_81988859

We know it was about a can of beans .. the point being made was that an analogy using a can of beans bears no resemblance to buying (licensing) digital media. 🙂

born_again

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81988015#Comment_81988015

@flaneurs_lobster said Torrent if you want to steal copyrighted material from the legitimate owner.

The pertinent word is "Copyright", as by copying you are stealing the copyright from the original owner, who only grants the purchaser of the video, the right.

Hence why people get prosecuted for sharing films via such means.