Anyone with a huge collection ever worry if Apple/iTunes goes under?

[Kendro]

It probably doesn't seem possible now but there was once a time when Motorola and Nokia were kings of the cellphone, Sega and Nintendo were on top of the video game world, and Sony was THE brand for electronics (I still wonder how Samsung managed to overtake them so quickly). Companies can rise and fall in just a few short years.

If Apple and iTunes go under, doesn't our digital collection pretty much go to oblivion? I haven't invested THAT much money into iTunes, maybe $200 in credit and another $100 in codes for a total of 400 movies. But I am cautious to keep a UV collection as backup since UV is simply digital rights and not a provider.

Btw, I don't want to turn this into a physical v digital debate. I overwhelmingly prefer digital solely for the convenience and the cost. Just curious if anyone else wonders what would happen to their collection, especially those with 1,000+ movies.

[Zillamon51]

I have over 200 digital movies (UV). I never paid for one, they're all from Blu-ray codes. I've only watched one or two, I just think they might come in handy for travel or something. I'd probably never actually buy one, unless super cheap, like a buck or something, for the reason you stated. The customer doesn't actually own anything tangible. They can be deleted, altered, or the providers go down anytime.

[Kochore]

Originally Posted by Kendro

It probably doesn't seem possible now but there was once a time when Motorola and Nokia were kings of the cellphone, Sega and Nintendo were on top of the video game world, and Sony was THE brand for electronics (I still wonder how Samsung managed to overtake them so quickly). Companies can rise and fall in just a few short years.

If Apple and iTunes go under, doesn't our digital collection pretty much go to oblivion? I haven't invested THAT much money into iTunes, maybe $200 in credit and another $100 in codes for a total of 400 movies. But I am cautious to keep a UV collection as backup since UV is simply digital rights and not a provider.

Btw, I don't want to turn this into a physical v digital debate. I overwhelmingly prefer digital solely for the convenience and the cost. Just curious if anyone else wonders what would happen to their collection, especially those with 1,000+ movies.

I definitely do wonder what would happen if either iTunes or UV goes down. Maybe at some point, if say iTunes went down and UV was still up, there'd be some sort of transfer implemented to UV so you wouldn't lose what you have.

Either way, I have the majority of my blu-ray discs on hand, so at least if anything goes down, I have a copy of my movies somewhere

[OI8T12]

I don't think you have to worry about Apple closing down any time soon. As long as they're selling iPhones, iPads, iPods, and digital movies, and music, they should be just fine. Many, many people are tied into their eco system, myself included, we should be fine. As long as the support of their product continues, I don't see it happening in the near future. All of my music is in iTunes, so I would be in big trouble if they ever decided to close shop.

I still have all of my CD's, so I wouldn't lose my music, but it would be a big pain the @ss if I had to upload all of it again. I don't have many movies in my iTunes collection, and I do have the physical Blu-ray discs of all of my movies, so my music is more important to me as far as iTunes is concerned.

[Fiffy]

Originally Posted by Kendro

If Apple and iTunes go under, doesn't our digital collection pretty much go to oblivion?

If you are that concerned, download and back up your iTunes content (and perhaps prepare to remove the DRM if necessary).

But I am cautious to keep a UV collection as backup since UV is simply digital rights and not a provider.

I think there is a far bigger chance of all the UV providers going under than Apple or Amazon. They are all relatively small players, with Vudu really being the only serious contender. Flixster isn't even selling movies anymore.

[master gandhi]

Pretty much what Fiffy said about how it's unlikely that iTunes or Amazon would go out of business any time soon.

People are hooked on Amazon to the point where many have Prime which gives them access to the movies/TV shows that it provides to Prime members. That model seems to work well for Amazon. Subscription service with exclusive content and the option to purchase content that isn't automatically included. There's no reason for them to change that, and the company itself is a giant that isn't going anywhere.

But more connected to your question of iTunes, I don't see that slowing down either. Just looking at all the sales they do and the extras they provide with several of their movies, they must be doing really well. On top of that, almost everyone who wants to "cut the cord" when it comes to their cable provider, is turning to Apple TV. Granted, some people use their Smart TV's apps or a game console or a computer, but a large portion of people go with Apple TV. That bodes well for iTunes too. If Apple is serious about making Apple TV the future of TV, as they say, it will only improve, and it will stay successful for years to come.

[DarrenL]

I'd echo what Fify and master_ghandi said. I'm more worried about UV not continuing (at least here in the UK). Although UV is a digital locker, it relies on content providers to actually stream the content. I think that outside of VUDU in the USA there aren't any decent UV providers. I'd certainly never buy a UV movie from a provider in the UK (I'd be paying the same price for 720p stereo content).

I have bought/redeemed a couple of UV codes, but consider my tiny UV collection as "indefinite rentals".

I don't think Amazon or iTunes are going away any time soon, but I wouldn't expect them to join UV. Both companies are heavily invested in media and sell their own streaming boxes.

[Greyman]

Originally Posted by Kendro

It probably doesn't seem possible now but there was once a time when Motorola and Nokia were kings of the cellphone, Sega and Nintendo were on top of the video game world, and Sony was THE brand for electronics (I still wonder how Samsung managed to overtake them so quickly). Companies can rise and fall in just a few short years.

If Apple and iTunes go under, doesn't our digital collection pretty much go to oblivion? I haven't invested THAT much money into iTunes, maybe $200 in credit and another $100 in codes for a total of 400 movies. But I am cautious to keep a UV collection as backup since UV is simply digital rights and not a provider.

Btw, I don't want to turn this into a physical v digital debate. I overwhelmingly prefer digital solely for the convenience and the cost. Just curious if anyone else wonders what would happen to their collection, especially those with 1,000+ movies.

Not a concern. The UV ecosystem is at more risk than iTunes, but I am not going to worry a bit about either.

[Joeker]

I have my plan set if it all goes under.

Step 1:

[Trblmakerj]

Originally Posted by Joeker

I have my plan set if it all goes under.

Step 1:

Hahahahahahahaha!!! You and me both

[doctor_who]

Apple will be around until the day you die.

[Kendro]

I looked into some external HDDs after the suggestion of backing up all my movies. It is actually pretty feasible. Even with a massive collection of 1,000 movies (figure 5GB per movie), you can get 5TB for less than $150.

[brentsg]

If I was going to worry, it would be about UV. At least with Apple, I have all the content on my computer. Worst case, I'd have to strip the DRM.

[odditie]

To put your mind at ease, Apple has $231 BILLION cash on hand. To put that into perspective, Yahoo sold for $4 billion a few days ago.

[Jumpman]

Originally Posted by Kendro

It probably doesn't seem possible now but there was once a time when Motorola and Nokia were kings of the cellphone, Sega and Nintendo were on top of the video game world, and Sony was THE brand for electronics (I still wonder how Samsung managed to overtake them so quickly). Companies can rise and fall in just a few short years.

If Apple and iTunes go under, doesn't our digital collection pretty much go to oblivion? I haven't invested THAT much money into iTunes, maybe $200 in credit and another $100 in codes for a total of 400 movies. But I am cautious to keep a UV collection as backup since UV is simply digital rights and not a provider.

Btw, I don't want to turn this into a physical v digital debate. I overwhelmingly prefer digital solely for the convenience and the cost. Just curious if anyone else wonders what would happen to their collection, especially those with 1,000+ movies.

As an avid iTunes Movies user that has, on hand, 219 films downloaded to my external but probably bought into the 500's over the years, I'm not concerned.

If they did, no big deal to me, personally. I have the ones I want downloaded. And even if they also go away, I have the ones that I truly want on disc.

I'm more into streaming and renting films nowadays anyway. My purchasing on both ends (physical and digital) has gone way down since the implementation of streaming services. My days of collecting are coming to an end.

The films I bought on digital through iTunes are essentially films that I don't feel like re-renting all the time. Better to have them digitally instead of re-renting them or searching for them on whatever streaming services I have. But, there are also films I don't want to have on my shelf either.

I have a weird philosophy about my home entertainment.

[Greyman]

Originally Posted by Kendro

I looked into some external HDDs after the suggestion of backing up all my movies. It is actually pretty feasible. Even with a massive collection of 1,000 movies (figure 5GB per movie), you can get 5TB for less than $150.

There is DRM on the movies, if Apple and their DRM server bit the dust, the backups wouldn't be any good unless someone came up with a decryption system or you had requiem working.

[Kendro]

Originally Posted by Greyman

There is DRM on the movies, if Apple and their DRM server bit the dust, the backups wouldn't be any good unless someone came up with a decryption system or you had requiem working.

You mean to tell me if you download the movies onto a hard drive and don't have an Internet connection, you won't be able to watch them?

[PCFan]

Originally Posted by Kendro

You mean to tell me if you download the movies onto a hard drive and don't have an Internet connection, you won't be able to watch them?

But what happens if you have to reinstall Windows, assuming a Windows PC is being used, you would have to reinstall iTunes as well and connect to your iTunes account before you can do Home Sharing with your iTunes purchased content. If iTunes was shutdown, in this situation you would lose access to your purchased iTunes content even if it was downloaded.

[Fiffy]

Originally Posted by Kendro

You mean to tell me if you download the movies onto a hard drive and don't have an Internet connection, you won't be able to watch them?

You can play them offline once the device or computer has been authorized (i.e. the decryption keys have been downloaded).

But yes, if Apple completely disappeared tomorrow you'd not be able to authorize any new devices. If that unlikely scenario concerns you, look into removing the DRM (and buy insurance against a meteorite hitting your home ).

[PCFan]

Originally Posted by Fiffy

You can play them offline once the device or computer has been authorized (i.e. the decryption keys have been downloaded).

But yes, if Apple completely disappeared tomorrow you'd not be able to authorize any new devices. If that unlikely scenario concerns you, look into removing the DRM (and buy insurance against a meteorite hitting your home ).

Based on what I read on the internet on some forums, removing DRM from an iTunes purchased movie requires re-encoding and re-encoding always reduces video/audio quality even if the bitrate is the same as before the re-encoding. I have never removed the DRM from my iTunes movies and have no plans on doing so. I already find the image quality of many of my iTunes purchases borderline acceptable and don't think I would want to watch them with worse image quality.