It's actually slightly worse than that as licensing deals can collapse on the backend that would remove an item that you had paid for from your library.
While it seems unlikely that Amazon would do this, consider that Microsoft has on several occassions with their various attempted music services.
This is exactly what's happening with Netflix. I've heard stories of this happening on Steam, where games receive essentially post-humous updates to remove licensed content for which the license expired (I believe Rockstar did this to Steam users with its GTA3-era titles). One could also argue that shutting off multiplayer servers is like this, when there is no LAN/TCPIP option available.
If you think paying for Netflix means you’re paying for access to anything Netflix has a license for at a certain point time for all of eternity, you’ve obviously got an erroneous model of the business in mind.
Netflix is subject to licensing agreements, just like cable and broadcast is.
Licensing agreements are not the consumer's problem. From their point of view, the service just gets worse and worse because it no longer provides the content they actually want to watch.
They will get used to it, just like they got used to tv channels becoming unavailable or commercials on cable. Or they will find a better way to spend their time and money.
Either by researching before, or by finding something missing, the buyer is going to learn what it is they are buying.
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard.”
Not sure what the argument is, but if you’re claiming that taking a minute to educate oneself by reading an FAQ on Netflix’s website is too arduous, then I’d have to say I disagree. Life as a buyer doesn’t get much easier than that.
Y'all are terrible techno-utopians if you stop at the consumer having limited access to stuff for a certain time.... the utopian ideal is everything in one place, forever.
Personally I've dusted off my bittorrent seedbox...
Or; as a consumer, why should I care about these things? Just give me my damn TV shows, screw your licensing BS
Rockstar has removed licensed music and other content from their games post-purchase.
In the case of GTA San Andreas, the version on steam is now closer to the mobile/tablet version, with significant gameplay changes over the original release.
Comparing it to my original copies on PS2 and pre-Steam PC, it's very different.
Patches should be for fixing bugs, not taking away things people purchased.
I didn't knew this.
This is a disgusting practice, and another reason why you should keep the installers and versioning.
At least GOG let's you keep the installer.
This is precisely why I ditched Spotify and went back to a local music collection.
I got sick and tired of albums disappearing and reappearing at random, ruining my playlists. Some of my favorite albums were gone for months at a time, with no warning. Not to mention the terrible state of Spotify's catalogue and curation. Wrong information, spelling errors, multiple artists with identical names being confused, you name it.
With my local collection, I can fix the tags and keep track of the correct information.
Apple did this in 2018 when two movies bought on iTunes were removed from a user. After contacting support the user was offered two vouchers for rental movies, which is obviously worth less.
While it seems unlikely that Amazon would do this, consider that Microsoft has on several occassions with their various attempted music services.