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Comment by aeturnum | Hacker News Reader

Sony is obviously the villain here (and pretty much always) but I think this points to an unsolved problem with our model of digital ownership: it's based on the media company providing a service...forever? People in this thread are saying customers should get refunds and I disagree - customers should get video files!

We need a model of digital ownership that does not involve the media owner forever delivering that media on demand. Doing away with that requirement would be good for all involved. Sony has been a bad actor here and deserves every possible sorrow - and also I would like a model that retains the balance of physical media: companies give you a copy that works 'til it wears out and it's your job to keep it in working condition.

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> it's based on the media company providing a service...forever? People in this thread are saying customers should get refunds and I disagree - customers should get video files!

Very much agree. And while Steam could disappear tomorrow, all of the games that have been delisted are still downloadable if you bought them (I think The Movies was one of the early ones - delisted in 2007 maybe, but you can still download it if you bought it back then).

This is how it now works with music, I believe. Apple, Amazon, Bandcamp, etc. all sell you access to DRM-free files along with the ability to download or stream them in perpetuity.

The iTunes store originally sold m4p (protected) files, not m4a files.

Is it really the ability to download them all in perpetuity? Google Music (RIP) gave you five downloads or something like that and I thought that was on par with Apple Music at least.

Qobuz always shows me the following message after purchasing (downloads are DRM-free FLACs):

> Certain works may be withdrawn from the service for legal reasons, such as a revocation of rights. The titles purchased will then no longer be available for re-download. Download your purchases quickly.

Perhaps we could get the video files and burn them to a disc like disc that can be played back in a special machine

Almost like a Digital Video Disc, no idea what we would call it however?

*Digital Versatile Disc

Originally it meant video

And the SD card logo was originally intended for Super Density Disc

> but I think this points to an unsolved problem with our model of digital ownership:

"unsolved" gives the charity of thinking that someone is working hard around the clock to figure out a proper solution. It's instead like this by design. Companies love the power to sell for premium and take away at a whim. To mislead and not be punished. These are parts of how consumer laws came about in the physical world.

But our governmetns are very slow to adapt to the digital world (and are doing their own share of ransacking instead). We're some 5 levels of magnitude away from a society where we can start to truly ponder regulations around owning, reselling, and modifying our own digitial goods.

But if you just gave customers the video files, they’d get leaked. We can’t have 4K Dolby Vision + Atmos files just floating around for people to pirate!

Oh wait, despite all the DRM we have that anyway. What a huge waste of effort all this protection has been.

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