Funimation digitally owned libraries being dissolved by Sony

[Delekii]

Funimation has been merging into Crunchyroll for a while now, but what wasn't immediately obvious (except in pessimistic and unfortunately now proven accurate ways) was what was happening to digital libraries available through Funimation.

Turns out, it's exactly what you would expect; Sony said "fuck you digital owners, you get shit", and nearly doubled the price on Crunchyroll at the same time to boot ($55 > $100 yearly, $6 to $10 monthly)!

https://nerdist.com/article/sony-sun...hyroll-prices/

This is your never-ending reminder that digital ownership is absolutely not forever, companies are invariably as anti-consumer as they can afford to be, and piracy remains absolutely the most logical choice in any case where it is available.

We understand that you may have concerns about your digital copies from Funimation. These Digital copies available on Funimation were a digital access to the content available on the DVDs or Blu-rays purchased.

Please note that Crunchyroll does not currently support Funimation Digital copies, which means that access to previously available digital copies will not be supported. However, we are continuously working to enhance our content offerings and provide you with an exceptional anime streaming experience. We appreciate your understanding and encourage you to explore the extensive anime library available on Crunchyroll.

IE: Haha, get fucked, you paid full product price to rent the product for as long as we deemed to provide it, now we are taking it away because we can. Here, you can have this other product, where you may (or may not) be able to watch said content that you already bought, at a low low price of more than zero dollars even though you already own it!

[Stickiler]

I'm guessing this is because Crunchyroll doesn't have a purchase-and-retain-access model, they're subscription based and have always been, so closing Funimation means the content is inaccessible. Sucks for anyone who purchased anything on Funimation

piracy remains absolutely the most logical choice in any case where it is available.

Sure, if we want the stream of content we currently enjoy to peter out and disappear. If nobody pays, the content will eventually stop. Buy things physically if you enjoy them, otherwise a subscription isn't particularly expensive to have ongoing access to existing and new media that comes out.

[Draco-Onis]

Sure, if we want the stream of content we currently enjoy to peter out and disappear. If nobody pays, the content will eventually stop. Buy things physically if you enjoy them, otherwise a subscription isn't particularly expensive to have ongoing access to existing and new media that comes out.

Piracy has never been such a big concern that this would happen, the reason people pirate things is because legitimate sources are terrible at providing a service. There are simply too many streaming services nowadays and content is split unnecessarily between several platforms due to greed. I think it is best to buy physical copies of things you enjoy if you are going to watch it again other cases piracy is the more attractive option.

[Belize]

The enshitification continues.

At any rate, this alongside the Sony-Discovery split is yet another reason to feel smug towards the folks saying "PhYsIcAl MeDiA iS dUmB". Companies selling digital goods are explicitly yelling their customers that they don't actually own any form of digital media and can have their access revoked at any point for any reason. This shit is only to get more common as it becomes normalized and companies continue to split and merge, throwing their licenses in chaos.

[VMSmith]

piracy remains absolutely the most logical choice in any case where it is available.

If purchase does not equal ownership, then piracy cannot equal theft.

[Biomega]

It sucks, but it's the price you pay for convenience.

You accept the reality that you may lose access to what you buy, and in return you get more convenient access to it than you would with a physical medium. Yeah someone can shut off your access to the service, but in return, you also can't have your disc chewed up by your dog.

It's really mostly up to the consumer to choose which of the two they prefer and for what reason.

What's more concerning, imo, is the Balkanization and price hikes in the streaming world. That's way more anti-consumer than the whole digital property thing.

[Linkedblade]

People are happy to pay for content if they have a way to do so. That's pretty much what killed music piracy, it wasn't that they cracked down on p2p clients (rip napster), but becaue itunes made music available.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

Piracy has never been such a big concern that this would happen, the reason people pirate things is because legitimate sources are terrible at providing a service. There are simply too many streaming services nowadays and content is split unnecessarily between several platforms due to greed. I think it is best to buy physical copies of things you enjoy if you are going to watch it again other cases piracy is the more attractive option.

While you are correect in the terms that piracy has never been a huge concern....I think you missed the point of the argument.

What the original post was is this:

piracy remains absolutely the most logical choice in any case where it is available.

This is an argument against buying a physical copy, buying a digital copy, getting a subscription, or any other legal means of gaining access to a film or television series. This is an argument that states that everyone, everywhere, should ALWAYS pirate.

[Nymrohd]

At some point the very idea of digital ownership needs to be attacked legally because it is an illusion and a deceptive practice.

And yeah, just pirate.

[Ereb]

It sucks, but it's the price you pay for convenience

What convenience lmao

I swear these companies could slap some of you in the face and you'd react accordingly with, "well I'm sure I've done something to deserve it tbh"

[Romanthony]

It is kinda shitty honestly, its why ive recently, gone and bought alot of my fave anime on blu ray now

[Delekii]

While you are correect in the terms that piracy has never been a huge concern....I think you missed the point of the argument.

What the original post was is this:



This is an argument against buying a physical copy, buying a digital copy, getting a subscription, or any other legal means of gaining access to a film or television series. This is an argument that states that everyone, everywhere, should ALWAYS pirate.

It's certainly not, since the context of the thread is the dissolution of the digital libraries of owned products under Funimation. In fact, the actual sentence that you cut in half for that quote was, in its entirety,

This is your never-ending reminder that digital ownership is absolutely not forever, companies are invariably as anti-consumer as they can afford to be, and piracy remains absolutely the most logical choice in any case where it is available.

I happen to also believe that pirating is now the only logical choice in terms of content available on subscription services, which have now become so splintered that no individual service provides anywhere near the level of value that those such as Netflix in its earliest days did, but that's a different discussion than digital ownership.

The 4th post in the thread is entirely correct, it's a global march to the bottom of the enshittification well, where companies are entirely emboldened by ludicrous consumers who value their own money so little that they ascribe all forms of bad, unjustified or even downright immoral corporate behavior to "just doing business". If something is sold in such a way as it could be reasonably construed to be "purchased" and not leased, no amount of small print on Earth should absolve that seller from that sale. This will never, ever come from societal changes that happen in America, so we can only hope that Europe at some point enacts some form of consumer protection similar to the cookies changes, whereby no legitimate site now runs without explicit notification that they are using cookies, and has to specifically opt the user in.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

It's certainly not, since the context of the thread is the dissolution of the digital libraries of owned products under Funimation. In fact, the actual sentence that you cut in half for that quote was, in its entirety,


I happen to also believe that pirating is now the only logical choice in terms of content available on subscription services, which have now become so splintered that no individual service provides anywhere near the level of value that those such as Netflix in its earliest days did, but that's a different discussion than digital ownership.

The 4th post in the thread is entirely correct, it's a global march to the bottom of the enshittification well, where companies are entirely emboldened by ludicrous consumers who value their own money so little that they ascribe all forms of bad, unjustified or even downright immoral corporate behavior to "just doing business". If something is sold in such a way as it could be reasonably construed to be "purchased" and not leased, no amount of small print on Earth should absolve that seller from that sale. This will never, ever come from societal changes that happen in America, so we can only hope that Europe at some point enacts some form of consumer protection similar to the cookies changes, whereby no legitimate site now runs without explicit notification that they are using cookies, and has to specifically opt the user in.

Perhaps you should have not used the phrase "In any case" and instead used "in this case.

[Hitei]

Piracy has never been such a big concern that this would happen, the reason people pirate things is because legitimate sources are terrible at providing a service. There are simply too many streaming services nowadays and content is split unnecessarily between several platforms due to greed. I think it is best to buy physical copies of things you enjoy if you are going to watch it again other cases piracy is the more attractive option.

I'm not particularly against piracy, but let's not just be willfully dishonest. People pirate because they can very easily get away with get something for free instead of paying money. The exact same reason people steal packages off porches or shoplift small items and the same reason that any item of note left unattended in a public space is probably going to disappear. It's not some noble statement against anti-consumer policies or some answer to modern corporate shitbaggery; it's petty greed.

People were just as willing to pirate when it was 95% music and physical CDs were widely available to purchase and own, because MP3 players were the rarity not the norm. Just like they did the same thing with home-made VHS recordings before that. There's no statistically significant "w-we were forced to pirate, it's the only realistic option!!" going on here.

[Delekii]

I'm not particularly against piracy, but let's not just be willfully dishonest. People pirate because they can very easily get away with get something for free instead of paying money. The exact same reason people steal packages off porches or shoplift small items and the same reason that any item of note left unattended in a public space is probably going to disappear. It's not some noble statement against anti-consumer policies or some answer to modern corporate shitbaggery; it's petty greed.

People were just as willing to pirate when it was 95% music and physical CDs were widely available to purchase and own, because MP3 players were the rarity not the norm. Just like they did the same thing with home-made VHS recordings before that. There's no statistically significant "w-we were forced to pirate, it's the only realistic option!!" going on here.

Except that piracy fell dramatically in the early days of streaming services, where it provided good value for money in the form wanted by consumers.

There's no doubt that a significant number of people will always pirate given the option, but the idea that people won't pay for a good product they can get for free is demonstrably false.

- - - Updated - - -

Perhaps you should have not used the phrase "In any case" and instead used "in this case.

Except that it was at the end of a sentence that had already been qualified by the object being digital ownership. To wit; the sentence could equally read "in any case regarding digital ownership.." and it's meaning would be unchanged. In order for it to apply generally, it would have to be regeneralized; "in any case, digital ownership or otherwise..."

[rarhyx]

with all the ads on netflix, disney and now this
it's like 2005-2010 all over again
back to the roots I guess

[Polybius]

Except that piracy fell dramatically in the early days of streaming services, where it provided good value for money in the form wanted by consumers.

There's no doubt that a significant number of people will always pirate given the option, but the idea that people won't pay for a good product they can get for free is demonstrably false.

- - - Updated - - -



Except that it was at the end of a sentence that had already been qualified by the object being digital ownership. To wit; the sentence could equally read "in any case regarding digital ownership.." and it's meaning would be unchanged. In order for it to apply generally, it would have to be regeneralized; "in any case, digital ownership or otherwise..."

Consumer psyche factors in convenience more than goodness of heart. It’s why “buy one get one free” deals and “free trial” subscriptions are so popular: they’re hassle-free. Most consumers take risky behaviors and don’t upkeep ethical purchasing, like clicking links despite the risk of downloading a virus.

[Fabinas]

Perhaps you should have not used the phrase "In any case" and instead used "in this case.

Perhaps you should read and understand phrases in context instead of deliberately separating them from it, just to nitpick and create an argument noone has made, just to create a "debate" for your own reasons.

[Evil Midnight Bomber]

just to nitpick and create an argument noone has made, just to create a "debate" for your own reasons.

You mean, like you're doing now?

[Orange Joe]

If purchase does not equal ownership, then piracy cannot equal theft.

when you purchase a car rental do you own said car?