Amazon Prime Video is able to remove a video from your library after purchase.

We are contacting you regarding a past Prime Video purchase(s). The below content is no longer playable on Prime Video.

In an effort to compensate you for the inconvenience, we have applied a £5.99 Amazon Gift Card to your account. The Gift Card amount is equal to the amount you paid for the Prime Video purchase(s). To apologize for the inconvenience, we’ve also added an Amazon Gift Certificate of £5 to your account. Your Gift Card balance will be automatically applied to your next eligible order. You can view your balance and usage history in Your Account here:

atrielienz, (edited )

They’ve done this previously with books, music, and other media purchased through them and they aren’t alone. Apple and Google have also been on the hook for this. This usually happens when they lose the right to sell some form of media (they make deals with record labels, artists, movie companies, publishers etc to license the right to sell that media for the purpose of streaming). You’re buying the right to stream/enjoy that media indefinitely (until they lose the rights to sell it to you and then they have to remove it from their library of streamable media). You can absolutely download that media and keep it somewhere not connected to the internet. But they can absolutely remove it.

The one exception used to be Google Play Music. Their terms were such that you actually owned the music you purchased. I assume that’s part of the reason they sunsetted that app and their music selling altogether. The cost was too high vs the number of paid users.

Apple has also done this and it was a big deal because they didn’t notify customers at all at the time.

Edit: I’m gonna add that this licensing agreement is similar to the one made when we bought physical media from retail stores. They have the right to sell it until their licensing agreement runs out. When or if it runs out they send back their remaining inventory and proof that they sold everything else. And the only reason a company isn’t requesting that media back in this event is because it’s cost prohibitive for them.

Lightrider,

#fuckingcapitalists

FartsWithAnAccent,
@FartsWithAnAccent@lemmy.world avatar

“your” library

root,

At least you got a refund. I lost count of the number of apps and games I purchased from the Google Play store that got unlisted / removed and I didn’t get any refunds. Granted it’s not Google removing the app but it’s the developers unlisting it for whatever reason. A small heads up before said unlisting would have been nice.

Michal,

Not a refund, a gift credit.

root,

Right, a gift credit. My bad. It’s almost as good as a refund, still better than being out of pocket.

Michal,

What do you mean almost as good? You can spend your refund money anywhere. Gift card is only accepted by the store issuing it.

If you’re only shopping with Amazon then for you it may be, but it’s not true for everyone.

root,

Almost as good, with best being a full refund and worse being nothing at all. I’ve had Google Play app purchases disappear and that was it. No refunds.

icedterminal,

It’s Google’s store policy that apps cannot be removed from a users library. If you purchase it, and the app later is delisted, head to manage apps. List apps not installed. I have stuff there from when I had a device that ran Android 5. I’ve never had an app disappear. They just eventually reach “can’t be installed on this device.”

root,

It may be store policy but it unfortunately does not prevent it from happening. Two examples i can remember are “Gentle Alarm” and “Manhatten Project”. Both I purchased and no longer available. Also not in my “not installed” list unfortunately.

I may have used the wrong terminology in my earlier reply. There is “unlisted” where the developer leaves the app in the store but removes it from the search. “Carcassonne” by Exocet comes to mind. It is still available for me to install but searching for it only shows the version by Asmodee.

Then there is the complete removal of the app. Gentle Alarm and Manhatten Project are 2 examples. :(

icedterminal,

Then you should report the developers for breaching the Google Play Developer Policy.

root,

I don’t think they are around anymore.

EmperorHenry,
@EmperorHenry@discuss.tchncs.de avatar

This has been known for a while now.

krolden,
@krolden@lemmy.ml avatar

Duh

Ibex0,

Just like with DVDs 🙄

uis,
@uis@lemmy.world avatar

With DVDs there is libdvdcss

cheese_greater,

In Soviet Russia, Amazon Prime video removes you!

uis,
@uis@lemmy.world avatar

In Soviet Russia internet was only in universities. In post-soviet Russia there is still no Amazon Prime.

cheese_greater,

K Siberia Prime or whatever

uis,
@uis@lemmy.world avatar

Arctic Prime))) And Tundra Prime with Taiga Prime.

cheese_greater,

In Soviet Russia, internet schools you!

Iceman,

“Refunding” is theft.

yokonzo,

This isn’t about games, but Ross Scotts video about games as a service and how companies are able to pull your access from your paid products and my man has even been looking into ways to make it illegal

qAzi,

can’t u just purchase it again with the 5.99£ + 5£, what’s the issue here

extant,

Amazon probably lost the license from whomever owns the rights to the movie and thus it’s not in their catalog anymore.

qAzi,

hmm, and it’s an Amazon giftcard so i can’t spend elsewhere

JoMiran,
@JoMiran@lemmy.ml avatar

🏴‍☠️

m3t00,
@m3t00@lemmy.world avatar

download files and store elsewhere. music mp3s anyway. never tried their vids. mostly crap

rizoid,
@rizoid@midwest.social avatar

I use Amazon kindle to have my books synced across everything but I only use a burner Amazon and make sure I have my epubs backed up on a calibre server just in case they kill that account. Never buy digital shit from Amazon especially. They always pull this kind of thing.

seitanic,
@seitanic@lemmy.sdf.org avatar

There are exceptions to this. You can download MP3s of the music you buy from Amazon, last time I checked. Although it’s been awhile, so they might’ve gotten rid of that and gone to 100% streaming like so many others have.

AnonTwo,

I think it's currently an on/off switch. Some music you can download and some is streaming only

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