Last month, Sony announced that users would be losing more than a thousand Discovery-owned titles that were previously purchased on the PlayStation store. There was no mention of refunds.
Customers were not happy with this news. People usually aren’t happy when an item purchased with the promise of being able to own forever is suddenly taken away.
Later that month, Sony announced to users that, due to an upgraded licensing agreement, they would be able to keep their digital titles for the meantime.
Okay, so what? Consumers were able to keep their seasons of Cake Boss and BBQ Pit Wars (not to be confused with BBQ Pitmasters). But Playstation’s near removal of 1380 titles reveals the grim truth that the things we buy digitally are never really ours.
Amazon Digital, Vudu, and iTunes all have caveats in their terms of service, stating that you the customer are subjected to having your purchased-to-own digital titles stripped from you. The whole situation sounds like false advertising. Most of these services offer both an option to rent or to own a title. Rent is what it sounds like you purchase a movie for a lower price and you can watch that movie for 24 to 48 hours. However to own a digital title comes with the connotation that you, well, own that. How do you own it if it can easily be taken away?
Okay, so buying digital means doesn’t necessarily mean you own what you purchased, but what if you’re cool, what if you stream your content?
Streaming has quickly taken over entertainment media in the last decade. But last year, we saw a pretty big downside when streaming newcomer MAX (formerly HBO MAX) took down multiple originals and exclusives. These titles were not available on any other platform.
But you know what they can never take away from you? A DVD.
When you buy a piece of physical media, it’s yours, that it. Whether it’s a Blu-ray, DVD, CD, or vinyl record, a piece of physical media is vital to media ownership.
We all know NBC took its big sitcoms off of Netflix in 2021. But what if, instead of paying for a Peacock subscription, you go on Ebay and pay a one-time fee of less than $40 for a nice, shiny used box set of of The Office. If you ask me, it’s very much worth it.
Yes, streaming is a convenient ways to watch and listen to media. But physical media is the surest way to own that media.
