Casualties afoot as Sony merges Funimation with 2021-acquired Crunchyroll.

Sony is erasing digital libraries that were supposed to be accessible “forever”::Casualties afoot as Sony merges Funimation with 2021-acquired Crunchyroll.

  • psychothumbs@lemmy.worldEnglish
    17·
    9 months ago

    I would never pay to purchase a digital copy of a show. Either get physical media or pirate it. Anything else is just a long term rental.

  • Squire1039@lemm.eeEnglish
    5·
    9 months ago

    I guess you shouldn’t expect any tech company to provide anything “forever,” as forever for them, and the fine prints, mean totally different things than what you and I think it is.

  • qwertyqwertyqwerty@lemmy.oneEnglish
    3·
    9 months ago

    I went full digital years ago because I saw the writing on the wall for physical releases. I knew damn well that this was a possibility, but if they ever take my library from Movies Anywhere, I’ll be the first to grab a torch and pitchfork.

    • SynonymousStoat@lemmy.worldEnglish
      6·
      9 months ago

      If you haven’t already done it, don’t forget to connect your movies anywhere account to other online playform so that the movies are unlocked across multiple platforms so if one goes down you still have them available elsewhere.

      Although it is unfortunate when the internet drops at home, but I have a small collection of movies on Blu-ray for just that scenario.

  • AutoTL;DR@lemmings.worldBEnglish
    2·
    9 months ago

    This is the best summary I could come up with:

    Funimation, a Sony-owned streaming service for anime, recently announced that subscribers’ digital libraries on the platform will be unavailable after April 2.

    For years, Funimation had been telling subscribers that they could keep streaming these digital copies of purchased movies and shows, but qualifying it: “forever, but there are some restrictions.”

    But in addition to offering video streaming, Funimation also dubbed and released anime as physical media, and sometimes those DVDs or Blu-rays would feature a digital code.

    For people lacking the space, resources, or interest in maintaining a library of physical media, this was a good way to preserve treasured shows and movies without spending more money.

    It also provided a simple way to access purchased media online if you were, for example, away on a trip and had a hankering to watch some anime DVDs you bought.

    Regarding refunds, Funimation’s announcement directed customers to its support team “to see the available options based on your payment method,” but there’s no mention of getting money back from a DVD or Blu-ray that you might not have purchased had you known you couldn’t stream it “forever.”

    The original article contains 420 words, the summary contains 186 words. Saved 56%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!