• LazaroFilm
    link
    fedilink
    English
    201
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    They’re not purchases, they’re leases.

    Edit: it’s actually that you purchase access to their license of the media.

    • NickwithaC
      link
      fedilink
      English
      191 year ago

      And this is why you don’t see apps selling for a price but rather being used to syphon users into subscriptions.

    • @snaggen@programming.dev
      link
      fedilink
      English
      81 year ago

      Are they really? Didn’t you press a button that said “Buy”? Just because they want things to be something else, doesn’t mean that the meaning of the words changed.

        • @grue@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          71 year ago

          No they fucking can’t argue that! Words have meanings and Google is not entitled to change them.

          • LazaroFilm
            link
            fedilink
            English
            11 year ago

            It’s in the terms you agreed to. Didn’t you read them?

            • @essteeyou@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              61 year ago

              I wish the terms and conditions had reading times at the top of them, and I also wish there was a law saying something to the effect of “buying a movie shouldn’t require you to read 35 minutes of ALL CAPS TERMS AND CONDITIONS while holding a dictionary and a thesaurus after gaining a legal degree”

              • LazaroFilm
                link
                fedilink
                English
                21 year ago

                Agreed there should be a max word count for this kind of things.

            • @DreadPotato@sopuli.xyz
              link
              fedilink
              English
              9
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              There are usually loads of unenforceable terms and definitions in the ToS you sign. Just because you sign it doesn’t make it true or enforceable, and many won’t hold up in court even if you’ve signed the document. But that requires you to spend the energy and money to fight these fuckers.

            • @lolcatnip@reddthat.com
              link
              fedilink
              English
              2
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              Maybe that’s true in a legal sense, depending on the jurisdiction, but in a moral sense, it’s only true if you read and understood what you were agreeing to. You can’t consent to something you were tricked into.

            • @essteeyou@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              6
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              If a car dealership put a sticker on the front window of a car saying “Buy this car for $250 a month for 4 years” and then took the car from you after 4 years because their terms had some fine print, the dealership would likely be sued.

              If they weren’t sued they’d at least lose business. Unfortunately for everyone, that’s not going to happen with Amazon or Sony or any other big company doing this shit because we’re just letting them get away with shady business practices.

              I’m not saying the terms are wrong or that what the companies are doing is illegal right now, but I do think it should be looked at closely by someone who can dish out some massive fines, or ideally change the situation.

          • danielfgom
            link
            fedilink
            English
            11 year ago

            Exactly. It should say “lease” instead of “buy” or just “price” .

            They know that too but you know why they don’t use “lease”? They would have WAY less sales. Almost no one would click that.

            So they use “buy”/“price” to make you think you own it, and then think they are clever when they define it as “buying a licence” in the Terms.

            That’s plain and sneaky so I don’t feel sorry for them when people pirate stuff.

            I wish every dev had the option of “go to my website and buy this from me with an eternal licence included” as well as the option to lease it from the Play Store.

            Same goes for music and movies.

      • @Patch@feddit.uk
        link
        fedilink
        English
        41 year ago

        I’ve just had a look on the Play Store, and they notably don’t use the word “buy” anywhere that I can see. The button to “buy” the app is just a button with the price on it, and clicking through that it uses the language of “install”.

        Can’t help but think that that’s deliberate.

        • @f4f4f4f4f4f4f4f4@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          51 year ago

          It does say “Buy” and refers to a “purchase”, but everyone’s arguing semantics; the Terms of Service say that you are buying a limited license to download and use the software. You may have a “one-click purchase”-type option enabled?

        • @atrielienz@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          11 year ago

          Pretty much all the big tech firms have done this. The problem is we only blame the middlemen. We blame Sony or Amazon, or Google or whoever. But the companies providing the licenses for them to “sell” are a big part of the problem. And nobody ever wants to listen when I say this but they should be on the hook too. Like, I appreciate that it’s messed up to have your purchased media shadow ganked. But at the same time it’s fucked up to have the licensing agreements be what they are to start with and that’s absolutely on companies that own the rights to digital media. Who continue to lobby to maintain the status quo.

      • @ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        47
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Edit: Sorry, meant to reply to the comment above you!

        They’re not really leases either. Leases last for a defined period of time, like “one year,” or they renew at regular intervals, like “monthly.” “Pay up front and we’ll let you keep this license for either forever or until we decide to revoke it without notifying you” isn’t the same thing.

      • LazaroFilm
        link
        fedilink
        English
        191 year ago

        Apple uses the word “Get” for free things and simply displays the price on the button of paid apps. No mention of the nature of the transaction. That’s in the Germa of agreement you “read” and agreed to.

      • FiveMacs
        link
        fedilink
        English
        61 year ago

        All they will do is call it purshaces or some other made up bs

    • IninewCrow
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -281 year ago

      It’s also a private company and they can do whatever they want on their platform and their property.

      It’s like renting space in an apartment … don’t be surprised if the landlord decides to change the agreements and do things you don’t like. You’re renting things, you don’t own anything.

      • FiveMacs
        link
        fedilink
        English
        381 year ago

        You can’t arbitrarily change agreements for renting without consent or lease renewal. At least not in civilized countries.

        • IninewCrow
          link
          fedilink
          English
          -51 year ago

          I’m not defending or condoning it … I was just pointing out something for what it is. I keep my purchases, rentals and anything paid for to a minimum with services like Google, Amazon or any other cloud or electronic service. They are not purchases of ownership, they are marketed as things that we buy and own indefinitely but in legal terms, they are more or less indeterminate rentals or leases from the company with terms that can be set by the company that controls them.

          I agree, in terms of comparing to an apartment rental, there are more laws because the thing that is involved severely affects a person’s life because we’re talking about a roof over a person’s head.

          But in terms of electronic or digital items or services that only exist online, it’s a lot easier to remove / change / delete them because these actions won’t put you out on the street, make you starve or physically hurt you in any way. We lose the convenience and we lose out on something.

          I’m not belittling any of it, I wouldn’t want to lose anything I paid for either but at the same time, we have to understand that when we sign up to pay for something with a multi billion dollar corporation, we hardly have any rights to anything, agreed to or implied … and if we argue that in court, the one with the most money wins.

      • @grue@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        91 year ago

        Your argument is cargo-cult libertarian bullshit. There are lots of things private entities can’t do on “their property!” Murdering visitors, for example. Fraudulently claiming a sale isn’t really a sale is right up there with that in terms of how clear-cut the rule is.

        What we have here is squarely a failure of the FTC to do its goddamn job. Nothing more, nothing less.

        • @laverabe@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          -61 year ago

          I think everyone took there comment in the wrong light. They’re not defending Google, but rather pointing out that this behavior should be expected from a for profit company, and thus people should have avoided the situation in the first place. Not that it should be that way, but we live under capitalism unfortunately, and people need to be way more skeptical of these companies.

          Rather than blaming inaction of the FTC, why not just stop using play store all together and encourage people to use Fdroid instead? Companies will never stop abusing ‘e-goods’ , it’s just not going to happen. People should just get beyond ownership and embrace the advantages of free software.

          • @grue@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            7
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            Rather than blaming inaction of the FTC, why not just stop using play store all together and encourage people to use Fdroid instead?

            Because boycotts don’t fucking work and are not a replacement for meaningful consumer protection law!

            I do use F-Droid myself, thankyouverymuch, but I’m not so naive as to think it’s an actual solution instead of a workaround. Even if it’s technically possible to continuously defend yourself from the avalanche of corporate abuse, it’s fucking exhausting. The masses not only aren’t capable of it, but shouldn’t have to be in the first place because abuse should be prevented, not worked around. That’s what government is for!

            This shit about boycotting abusive companies instead of actually regulating them is just as brain-dead as arguing that we shouldn’t have police because we can just hire a personal security detail to follow us around instead.

            Companies will never stop abusing ‘e-goods’ , it’s just not going to happen.

            Not with that attitude. Companies could certainly be forced by the government to stop doing that, but apologists like you are letting government off the hook.

            • @laverabe@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              English
              0
              edit-2
              1 year ago

              Well I personally think the FTC should do more, but until money out of politics, it will never happen. And pending some mass upheaval; that is probably in all reality unlikely as long as people are fed, money will almost certainly never be out of politics.

              So all the more necessity to encourage people to just abandon these profiteering companies.

      • @SuperSpruce@lemmy.zip
        link
        fedilink
        English
        51 year ago

        Does that single landlord control every apartment in the country? That is Google’s level of monopoly.

  • @hperrin@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    163
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Because you signed (digitally) an agreement that lets them do that.

    Pirate everything.

      • deweydecibel
        link
        fedilink
        English
        141 year ago

        If you have an Android, they are increasingly making it impossible to not use them. They continue to punish users that choose to unlock the bootloader or root, and Google Play Services are an inescapable prerequisite to many apps, regardless of side loading ability.

        • @psud@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          51 year ago

          “the boot loader is only safe if it is signed by Google”

          How ever did I get out of the '80s with computers with dangerous unsigned boot loaders

        • @player2@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          link
          fedilink
          English
          11 year ago

          I’ve used F-Droid without unlocking the bootloader or rooting or Google Play services integration. Developers are free to use F-Droid, most just choose not to. Hopefully it becomes even more popular as gplay has more issues.

      • firecat
        link
        fedilink
        -121 year ago

        Don’t buy games on Steam or Valve Corporation, they make you sign the User Agreement that legally waves your rights and ownership of games.

        • @Gestrid@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          181 year ago

          Actually, Steam is usually one of the best places when it comes to refunds. The process is simple, and they’re willing to make exceptions to the rules. And the company is run by one of the few CEOs in the gaming industry who seem to actually understand gaming.

          • @ColeSloth@discuss.tchncs.de
            link
            fedilink
            English
            131 year ago

            And a large portion of the steam community will be super sad if Gaben retires or passes away. We can only hope it continues to be run as well as it has been over the past 15 years.

          • @rambaroo@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            -2
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            They literally had to be sued by multiple jurisdictions to even offer refunds. The cult of Valve needs to die.

          • firecat
            link
            fedilink
            21 year ago

            AU lawsuit against Valve proves Valve didn’t want to refund their customers. Valve is guilty of this violation of Australia law. Many people who used Steam before 2010 tell people they were never given refunds oran option for refunds.

            Valve is not good guys, they fought the Australia government to the very top to not pay or offer refunds. They are greedy.

    • Infiltrated_ad8271
      link
      fedilink
      26
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Read by almost no one, it is interesting because in many countries contracts are considered invalid if one of the parties is not properly informed and still accepts, affirmative consent is legally crucial.
      Everyone knows that EULAs violate it systematically, tens or hundreds of millions a day, but it doesn’t seem to be a matter of interest.

      • CheezyWeezle
        link
        fedilink
        English
        121 year ago

        Whenever I see a checkbox or something that just says “Check here to confirm you accept our privacy policy” I think it’s funny because all I am legally agreeing to are the words actually in front of me. Sure, I agree with the standalone words “our privacy policy”. I’m not sure what that does for you, but i guess “our privacy policy” is an acceptable string of words.

        • ÚwÙ-Passwort
          link
          fedilink
          English
          91 year ago

          My last order in a questionable shop had a ‘return policy’ pop up, i had to screenshot. It was empty.

      • @Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        1
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Imagine how hard it would be to buy stuff or use free services if you actually had to read and understand the contracts every time.

        Ok, I’ll just quickly check on Google maps what’s south of Mongolia. Oh, I need to read all that before seeing the map? Well, maybe later. Don’t really have the time for that right now.

        If that’s what life was like, laziness would win nearly every time and companies would have hardly any users or customers. Eventually some companies would probably make super short contracts in order to lower the threshold.

        • Infiltrated_ad8271
          link
          fedilink
          21 year ago

          I can already see it: “We’ll do whatever we want without accepting any responsibility and we’ll spy on you to monetize it. Click here to accept.”

          It’s a complicated issue, maybe with summaries, requiring affirmative consent only for certain actions, or splitting them up? I don’t know, it all seems messy. But I hope it leaves behind the expectation that we lie by agreeing to sell your firstborn’s soul after reading for hours in legalese.

          #SellYourChildrenWithAffirmativeConsent.

          • @Hamartiogonic@sopuli.xyz
            link
            fedilink
            English
            11 year ago

            LOL, that was a brilliant summary about what these contracts usually boil down to. However, they should probably include these things too: “You’re not allowed to do anything cool. If anything goes wrong, it’s always your fault.”

            These brutally honest super short contracts could be fun to read.

    • ToRA
      link
      fedilink
      English
      51 year ago

      Additionally, we can try to change the laws so we do actually own a copy.

      • @Auli@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        -51 year ago

        But we never owned a copy of any software or movie ever. We always had a license to watch or use the copy we purchased.

        • ToRA
          link
          fedilink
          English
          21 year ago

          Why does that matter to my point?

          “But we’ve always been enslaved. We’ve never had rights as individuals in the first place.” Is not an argument against change.

    • @TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      61 year ago

      I heard there was such a fantastic whimsical thing called “false advertising, punishable by law”, but apparently as long as companies keep a bundle of inscrutable legalese shoved up their asses and fart it at you AFTER you press the button clearly labeled “BUY”, it mysteriously ceases to exist.

      Funny that customers can’t spring documents at companies to demand stuff and treat continuation of the transaction as implicit agreement. Then, suddenly it’s unfair and ridiculous.

      • @Gerula@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 year ago

        That is a unicorn, my friend. In reality we have the EULA, “Terms and Conditions”, 'Community Guidelines" and you name it! All basically are contracts in which you renounce you rights and happily agree to pay for shit on their terms!

  • @space@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    link
    fedilink
    English
    48
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Not only that. If you buy an app, you are at the mercy of its creator. If they decide they want to fill it with ads and tracking, or switch to a subscription model, there’s nothing you can do. You can’t rollback updates, you can’t install an older version from the play store. If they decide to remove it from the store, you won’t be able to install it any more.

    • @psud@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      20
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      I had one of the flight tracker apps, used it to identify planes passing my work lunch room’s window, and paid $5 for it to get it ad free. Then it went to subscription and made it’s free tier time limited instead of ad supported, so now I don’t use it. I can’t use an old version as it doesn’t work on newer versions of Android

      Edit to add: It’s worth learning how to side load apps. While on a driving holiday in Sicily I was told that it was vital to have the ZTL app so I could know what areas were closed to cars (zero traffic limit), but it was only available on the Italian play store, so I had to download the APK and install it that way

      • @SkippingRelax@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        4
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Zona a Traffico Limitato - buy I like the way you made the acronym work in english :)

        Edit: Limited traffic area, typically only residents, emergency services, deliveries etc.

        • @psud@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          41 year ago

          That’s it. I was allowed to drive into one as I was booked into a hotel in the zone, I think that’s the slowest I ever drove for more than three metres

    • @Piwix@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      13
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      On that note, I bought a GIF viewer app’s full version via in-app purchase and about a year later, they updated the app to have ads again regardless and my “full version no ads” app got ads again and now i had to buy a subscription per month to be “ad free” needless to say I uninstalled

    • @TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      21 year ago

      I got into technology because I loved it. Now, ever bit of news I get I hate it a little bit more. What happened with improving things, sharing information and making the world better?

    • @dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 year ago

      There are usually archives of versions for most apks for android. App updated to be shittier? Uninstall and install an older version of it from IA.

        • @jbk@discuss.tchncs.de
          link
          fedilink
          English
          21 year ago

          That’s why Android apps must be signed. Tools can show an app’s certificate hash and if two app versions’ hashes match, they’re equally trustworthy / from the same source. I think APKMirror does this and it’s actually quite trusthworthy.

    • @starman2112@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      2
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      The “best” thing is when someone makes legitimately the best application for its purpose (arguably the only good application for it), so you convince your friends to use it because it’s so useful, and then they cram it full of ads and bloat and make it borderline unusable, but your friends won’t switch to a different app (or even leave the app altogether) because it’s the only way they know how to do the thing

      I’m talking about the 5e Companion app on Android. Anyone know any good alternatives? It used to be so good, but then they started adding Unearthed Arcana garbage to it, which almost entirely sucks ass, and when UA gets officially added, they have to add the official version separately because some people have already used the UA version to make characters. I want so badly to switch away from it, but I can’t find any good free alternatives that have all of the content from 5e.

      I wish 5e.tools had a character sheet builder

  • @BustinJiber@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    81 year ago

    It’s because we are buying access to product not the product itself. Many websites are doing that, I lost a few purchased albums on Bandcamp for whatever reason they see fit. With one band it was done so bad that I still see their albums in my wishlist even though they just one day went and deleted their whole band account apparently without stating reason or answering email.

    • @t0fr@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      191 year ago

      Of all the comparisons you could make, you compared it to a website you can buy the files, and download them DRM free?

      This is the one example where you can actually keep the files even if the band deleted their account.

      • @BustinJiber@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        5
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        It also claim that with purchase you get infinite streaming.

        In that case it was Bandcamp who deleted it. Literally the person in control of the band account with, at the very least, thousands sells of numerous albums (both digital and physical) awoken up one day and couldn’t find it. Deathspell Omega is the band. And I still see some of the albums in my wishlist. Sometimes the option to buy it suddenly appears, but then is gone with refresh. They did it so poorly that it broke the website/app in a minor way.

        I swear to God that website is going to implode one day and it’s going to be sad.

  • @kworpy@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    241 year ago

    And these companies think piracy is unjustified. No, it’s just holding out an umbrella in the rain.

    • @muh_entitlement@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      21 year ago

      Piracy is ALWAYS justified! These companies are dead set on robbing me blind. Well guess what: if I never spent a nickel, there’s nothing to rob me of! To the high seas!

  • rivermonster
    link
    fedilink
    English
    8
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    Because when your legislators write laws (read, have them handed to them by the party with a direct interest) they do it for campaign donations because everything is money. Capitalism’s end stage is corporatocracy and oligarchy. Surprise, we’re there! Legislation in a healthy democracy/republic is written for the benefit of the citizens, but we stopped being a democratic republic long ago. In capitalism, legislation is written to maximize profit at all expense, including the health, welfare, and best interests of the citizens.

    This isn’t new, study the history of the East India Trading Company. The difference is lack a monarch to dissolve the company (and it’s not just one company anymore). The founders remembered the lesson of East India Trading Company and corporate charters in the US used to be temporary, and you had to show a benefit to the citizens. It’s one reason conservatives, republicans, and capitalists don’t want strong education and history lessons. Corporations in the past were NOT people, and they better benefit society or they could swiftly have their charter revoked and dissolved.

    This is a repeat, but even more successful than in the past. But when your populous has no education it seems brand new!

    EDIT: Low effort/research further reading

    https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746

    https://www.thenation.com/article/society/cbo-american-wealth-inequality/

    https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/jimmy-carter-u-s-is-an-oligarchy-with-unlimited-political-bribery-63262/

  • @Coach@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    691 year ago

    Because they have more money than you and, according to the US legal system, that’s all that matters.

  • @Blackmist@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    191 year ago

    And on another note, why is it not backwards compatible with older apps?

    I’ve got games and a bathroom speaker I can’t access because I got a new phone. Are we just expecting devs to sit there updating their apps forever to meet new stupid requirements?

    Fuck the whole Android ecosystem. It’s completely broken from top to bottom.

    • @kent_eh@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      English
      111 year ago

      This is far from an android only problem.

      It’s more of a software as a service problem combined with a cloud controlled hardware problem.

    • @Alexstarfire@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      3
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      That’s a problem with any software. If you keep updating the OS eventually some programs are going to stop working. This is true for any OS: Linux, Unix, MacOS, Windows, Android, iOS, etc. Eventually something the program relies on no longer exists or works in a way the program can’t handle.

      I don’t see any good solutions. Options I see:

      • Keep an old device to have older versions of Android, or whatever, so the software you need will still work. Sucks to have to find the specific device for whatever your trying to do. Also, don’t know how easy they’d be to replace/fix if they broke.
      • OSes no longer remove any functionality, only add-on to. This causes bloat and performance problems at the least. Not to mention would be incredibly hard to maintain on any long term scale.
      • Have some way to emulate old devices/OSes so you can run instances that work with your software. IDK how well this would work with multiple instances. Probably can’t do this on your phone so you’d need a different dedicated device. Not to mention I’m not sure how many different instances you can emulate at once before you start having problems.

      Everything seems to have drawbacks. That’s one advantage of devices having dedicated hardware, and software that doesn’t rely on outside hardware/services. Updates won’t kill it and they can’t take it away from you. Though, they still don’t have to support the hardware forever so it gets harder and harder to fix as time goes on, if it’s even user fixable to begin with.

    • @starman2112@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      01 year ago

      Fucking Tasker isn’t allowed to turn off my Bluetooth anymore because of Android’s new bullshit. I hate Android with as much passion as I used to love it. When my current phone bites the dust, I’m migrating to Apple.

      • @unreasonabro@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        01 year ago

        lmao yes apple, which all equate with freedom

        the direction you want to go is linux, not to an even more fascist company

  • @Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    441 year ago

    A “purchase” or “buy” option, especially when you get an invoice, should ALWAYS mean ownership of the product.

    A “borrow” or “rent” option is one that you expect to have to return the product.

    Google can’t have it both ways. They either sold people software or they rented it out. Since it was never advertised or marketed as the Google Play Rental Library, they should be forced to give people the products they paid for.

    • @starman2112@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      131 year ago

      Yup, I’ve said it a million times, it needs to be made flatly illegal to use language that implies ownership if the company has any method of revoking your ownership of that product in the future. These threads always get the same libertarians that show up in discussions about non-functional slack fill saying “it’s not illegal, so what’s the problem?” The problem is that it isn’t illegal. Imagine if Toyota could come grab your car from your driveway, because even though you paid it off, subclause 74 of section G(2) says that the company retains the right to repossess property made by them at any time for any reason. You didn’t read a 200 page contract at the dealership when you bought the car, you just trusted that they wouldn’t fuck you. Toyota would get their ass reamed in court if they tried that, so why are Google and Microsoft and Sony and Steam allowed to do it?

      • @Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        51 year ago

        I am starting to reconsider how I obtain my stuff.

        This is a good thing. I don’t know why modern business models for these companies seem to be intentionally anti-consumer, but people will find other ways to get what they are looking for. And if that means spending money with a more ethical company, or simply pirating, they’ll find the path of least resistance.

        I used to spend hundreds on the Google Play Store, buying apps and music all the time. Then they started playing stupid games, and I haven’t spent a dollar on the Play Store in years. My money goes to someone else.

          • @Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            21 year ago

            I lucked out last year and ended up scoring something like 1000 DVDs for cheeeeaap. Like $100 or something. I ripped them all (minus any duplicates I already owned) and put them on my NAS. No more worrying about ads, data mining, or even internet/service outages ruining my evening.

            I did the same for all my CDs, and while we still do purchase CDs, they are way overpriced.

            But purchasing digital music and movies has become harder since Google Play Music went away. It’s almost too much effort to try to buy digital content these days, and it makes no sense. I want to pay for content, but making it impossible just doesn’t work for anyone.

            Amazon played their first ad for us on Prime Movies today… during a kid show no less. Just disgusting where things have ended up.

              • @Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
                link
                fedilink
                English
                21 year ago

                And I just found out my local library sells old DVDs and Blu-rays for $.50 each.

                Holy crap, I need to see if our local library offers something like that. I used to go to their book sales, but never considered that they would be selling movies.

    • KillingTimeItself
      link
      fedilink
      English
      11 year ago

      As far as im concerned, the equivalent here, should be a raw downloadable file. Much like how music purchases work.

      Anything other than that simply isn’t “buying”

      • @Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        41 year ago

        I recall purchasing Photoshop for Android, before it became Lightroom for Android.

        It was as close to the desktop Photoshop as you could get, and it wasn’t cheap.

        Google (or adobe) took it out of the play store, effectively cutting customers off and preventing them from installing it on new devices.

        Fortunately, I was rooted at the time and backed up the APK, which allowed me to use it for years longer and on newer devices. But the experience really had be second guessing whether I should keep “buying” apps on the play store.

        There are quite a few other instances where games and apps I purchased simply disappeared. Such an unethical business model.

          • @Showroom7561@lemmy.ca
            link
            fedilink
            English
            11 year ago

            True, but as I recall it was more than just the APK that I needed to backup/restore to get it to work.

            It was so many years ago, so I really don’t remember the details, but the point was without a backup, I’d have lost access to the app I paid for.

  • @TheAlbacor@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    281 year ago

    Good to see more people are understanding how anti-consumer our digital distribution laws are. Sucks they had to find out this way, but people have been warning of this for years.

  • @darth_tiktaalik@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    13
    edit-2
    1 year ago

    This is why I stick to open source software for anything truly important.

    Gaming’s a mix of open source, physical retro games and the least abusive free to play games.

  • @Skkorm@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    161 year ago

    Digital purchases are not you buying the product. It’s you buying limited and reversible access to the license to download the file. When you agree to the TOS, you agree to this arrangement.

    If you want to actually own something, you should be buying a physical copy of it.

    • @A_Random_Idiot@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      431 year ago

      If you actually want something, pirate it.

      its the only way to actually own anything.

      Which is such an absurd and ridiculous thing to say, and its even more absurd and ridiculous we are at this point.

    • @psud@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      2
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Or (in software) get open source software, so anyone can make a fork of it if the original goes off the rails

    • ToRA
      link
      fedilink
      English
      71 year ago

      You are stating the facts of the current situation. However, that is the exact situation that needs to change.

      • @starman2112@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        English
        11 year ago

        That’s true. If I steal 20 copies of some avengers movie from Walmart and give them away on the street, I’ll pay a couple thousand dollars in fines, tops. If I’m caught seeding an avengers movie to one person downloading from me in Serbia, I’ll be fined more money than most people make in their entire lives

    • @woodgen@lemm.ee
      link
      fedilink
      English
      231 year ago

      Piracy is never stealing, since you are not removing anything from anyone. This does not include actual piracy, the one with ships and rum.

    • @Dkarma@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -30
      edit-2
      1 year ago

      Ok but this isn’t purchasing outright it is basically leasing. It says so in the tos. The issue here is ppl don’t read tos or they don’t care and pay anyway. Ppl like that have zero right to complain.

      Lol everyone of you idiots are proving my point and making tons of idiotic assumptions like I’m anti piracy. Y’all need some logic lessons.

      • Uriel238 [all pronouns]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        10
        edit-2
        1 year ago

        Yeah, okay, except the iTunes and Facebook TOSes are longer than King Lear. Eventually a judge nullified a TOS on the basis that no-one ever reads those anyway.

        Thanks to odious TOSes, the average American commits three felonies a day, violations of the CFAA for which some whistle-blowers and journalists are serving sentences similar to [assassin] Scott Roeder (for the murder of Dr. George Tiller). The rest of us are not serving such sentences but for one officer or official who wants us to disappear.

        In the meantime journalists continue to get charged with such violations, usually when their investigating something embarrassing to current administrations. The EFF has repeatedly raised a stink about this, but hasn’t yet been able to change the law.

        If your kid is under 13 and has social media accounts on specifically kid-friendly platforms (that, themselves teem with predators, salesfolk and law enforcement) then your kid is committing major federal crimes. On the light side, they totally have haxxor cred.

      • experbia
        link
        fedilink
        English
        131 year ago

        OK but piracy isn’t stealing it is basically a harmless free copy. The issue here is corporations want to have their cake and eat it too, but to prohibit us all from either having or eating any cake ever. Corpos like that have zero right to my consideration or care.

      • @d3lta19@lemmy.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        191 year ago

        The button to install a paid app literally says BUY. If that doesn’t mean purchase I don’t what else it could mean.

        • lemon_nade
          link
          fedilink
          English
          -91 year ago

          It’s literally just a convention, a design choice. It doesn’t really mean anything.

          • @starman2112@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            1
            edit-2
            1 year ago

            From Wiktionary:

            buy (third-person singular simple present “buys,” present participle “buying,” simple past “bought,” past participle “bought” or (archaic, rare, dialectal) “boughten”)

            (transitive, ditransitive) To obtain (something) in exchange for money or goods.

            “I’m going to buy my father something nice for his birthday.”

            When I search the Play Store for Geometry Dash, and click the lil button that says “$1.99,” I get this page. It sure as shit looks like what I’m about to buy is Geometry Dash, the video game. When I click “Buy,” I’m not at all expecting to “buy” a temporary, permanently revokable license to play the game for now. I’m expecting to own the 1s and 0s that are downloaded to my device. Hiding legalese in the T&C that nobody clicks saying “actually buy means lease” is legal, and it should not be legal, because it’s misleading as hell. They should not be allowed to redefine widely understood words in T&C in a way that misleads consumers into paying for something they didn’t expect to be paying for.

      • @gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        201 year ago

        How dare the average person not have the time or attention span to read a 28 page document in legalese that explains what exactly they’re doing

        It’s not like purposefully dense and overlong TOS is a known strategy to hide bullshit that later gets thrown out in court or anything

        • @Urist@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          141 year ago

          That person probably also think people who get shot are stupid for not moving out of the bullet’s path. “It is not so hard, it moves in a straight line you idiots”.

        • @NotJustForMe@lemmy.ml
          link
          fedilink
          English
          -21 year ago

          So you don’t have time for that? Spend two hours reading stipulations for a service that you might use for a decade or longer? That you might spend thousands of your currency on? What happened to the world. So fast. So furious.

      • @NotJustForMe@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        21 year ago

        Some people don’t get how you can separate understanding the logic of something and not supporting it at the same time.

        Don’t worry, that is normal. Im getting laughed at left and right for having my own root-server with all my services running on it, all FOSS.

        Most of them were born with google already existing, it is part of nature. They haven’t seen a giant go down yet.

      • @lolcatnip@reddthat.com
        link
        fedilink
        English
        41 year ago

        I recall a while back someone did a study that there are not enough hours in the day for an average person to actually read all the TOS documents they’re expected to agree to. The idea that people can or should be responsible for knowing what’s in a TOS is a legal fiction.