Do I own the "files" I've purchased from iTunes

[bzen]

With the rollout of iCloud I deleted a number of TV episodes (some full seasons) from ITunes. I verified that all of them were available in/on iCloud and didn't see any reason to keep them on my machine. The plan seemed simple, when I wanted to watch them again, I'd just download them again.

And, truth be told, this worked just fine until I had a billing issue with the credit card on my iTunes account. I had purchased a song for $1.99 and the credit card was expired, but I was able to download the song file. I didn't realize there was a billing issue until I went to RE-download a television episode from iCloud I had ALREADY purchased. ITunes would not let me download a previously purchased episode until I had cleared up the $1.99 balance (which, just to reiterate, was a balance incurred long, long after the episode in question was purchased).

Based on this experience, it seems to me that once a file is in iCloud we are no longer "owners" of the file. The $1.99 for a TV episode is not necessarily for the episode itself, but only for access (and re-access) to that episode. If the episode had been on my computer, I would not have needed to clear up the balance to watch the episode.

Thoughts?

--Immy

 

[Julien]

You can't "own" copyrighted materiel because it is owned by the copyright holder. You can only own a licenses to use it.

 

[bzen]

You can't "own" copyrighted materiel because it is owned by the copyright holder. You can only own a licenses to use it.

True. I purchased a license to use the episode, but I was still prohibited from using it. Do I have a license or do I not?

 

[From A Buick 8]

It is a catch 22, you own the right to watch it and if it was on your hard drive there would have been no issue. Accessing the cloud (or iCloud) you need to be a "member" in good standing, that charge kept you from being a "member" in good standing. So yes it is your file but you cannot get to its present location because of the billing issue.

 

[NewAnger]

It's not just music and videos that you can't download again if you owe money, it's apps meaning purchases and updates. You can still download new podcast episodes as long as they are free, but that's about it.