Question about iTunes offline movie downloads

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Oubadah

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#243609 20-Dec-2018 13:37

Blu Ray has become too much of a drama, so I am somewhat reluctantly looking to start purchasing my movies from iTunes. I'm a bit concerned about this issue of purchased movies being removed from libraries. I know that that recent Twitter faff resulted from the guy changing regions, but it was also confirmed that Apple can remove movies without warning based on licensing nonsense.

I know that iTunes lets you download movies offline (standard HD only) but they have DRM. I know there ways to remove that DRM but I don't like them. My question is: are the movies that iTunes downloads (on PC) discrete files that I can back up, and if I back these files up, can I be confident that I will be able to restore them to the iTunes media folder at a later date for playing via iTunes (in the event the movie is no longer downloadable/streamable from Apple's servers)?

Thanks.

freitasm

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Geekzone

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#2148381 20-Dec-2018 13:40

You can backup and you should.

antoniosk

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#2148386 20-Dec-2018 13:50

Deconstructing:

are the movies that iTunes downloads (on PC) discrete files that I can back up

>> Yes, but they can be huge. I have one, Cleopatra, which is 11GB in size and is upscaled to 1080p. Mind you the movie is 4hrs long!

if I back these files up, can I be confident that I will be able to restore them to the iTunes media folder at a later date for playing (in the event the movie is no longer streamable)?

>> You can back up your entire folder if you wish, and reattach itunes to it as a new library.

BUT:

Your question is one of DRM. iTunes requires you to authenticate with your account before it becomes useful. Would you be able to take the keys across territories, jurisdictions and devices safely without losing your purchased access rights to said movie?

Really good question, and I suspect the answer will be "maybe". As people know, your never actually get full ownership of any media - you don't own the movie on the blu-ray, you own the physical disc and have acquired a right to playback the content on that media. Most content can't actually be blocked remotely - records, tapes, vhs, dvd, blu-ray and so on - and so the rights could never be policed or revoked regardless of their state. In essence, the content became 'yours'.

itunes (and google and amazon et al) needs authenticated access, and no doubt the software checks in with home on a regular basis (try going 2 weeks using office365 offline and never allowing it to phone home to check your license, it gets ready to demote you to unlicensed real fast). I don't know if the software locally checks how long it's been before phoning home and forces it on you before it will allow operation... but you get the drift.

And then organisations wonder why people rip content and remove 'protections'.

________

Antoniosk

wellygary

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#2148391 20-Dec-2018 14:14

Oubadah:

Blu Ray has become too much of a drama, so I am somewhat reluctantly looking to start purchasing my movies from iTunes. I'm a bit concerned about this issue of purchased movies being removed from libraries.

How so?...

There are a number of fairly well documented workflows (and software) for backing up BluRays into portable file formats..

As others have said the iTunes DRM route leaves you at the mercy of Apple.