This is an opinion piece. The views are the author’s own.
Every digital storefront has a big button that says “Buy.” Press it, pay full price, and the movie, album or ebook shows up in your library. It feels exactly like buying a DVD or a paperback. It isn’t, and I think it’s time stores stopped pretending otherwise, or started making “buy” mean what it says.
What You Actually Get
In most cases, what you pay for is a license: permission to watch, read or play, on the seller’s terms, for as long as the seller keeps the rights. When California Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin pushed a law on this in 2024, her argument was simple. Shoppers assume they own what they buy, but they’ve really bought a license the seller can take back.
This isn’t a theoretical worry. In December 2023, PlayStation told owners that more than 1,300 Discovery TV shows they had paid for would vanish from their libraries by the end of the month, because a licensing deal was ending. After a backlash, Sony said it had reworked its agreement with Warner Bros., and buyers could keep watching for “at least the next 30 months.” Read that again: the good-news version of the story still came with an expiration window.
Games have it worse. Ubisoft sold about two million copies of its racing game The Crew, then shut its servers in 2024, leaving it unplayable even in single-player mode. A French consumer group sued this year, arguing buyers were never told the game had an expiration date.
And sometimes the change is quieter. In February 2025, Amazon removed the “Download & Transfer via USB” option that let Kindle owners save copies of their purchased books to a computer. Your books still arrive over Wi-Fi and in the Kindle app. But a backup you control is one less thing you have.
California Took the First Step
California’s law, AB 2426, took effect Jan. 1, 2025. It bars sellers from using words like “buy” or “purchase” for digital movies, music, books and games unless they clearly tell you it’s a license that can be revoked, either with a prominent notice before checkout or by having you acknowledge it. Goods you can download to keep permanently offline are exempt.
That’s a good start, and it should be the national standard, not a California quirk. But a disclosure only tells you that you might lose something. It doesn’t stop you losing it.
Disclosures also have a habit of becoming wallpaper. We’ve all scrolled past cookie banners and terms-of-service boxes without reading a word. A line of fine print at checkout tells the store’s lawyers they’re covered. It doesn’t change the feeling the big “Buy” button was designed to create, and it does nothing for the people who bought years before the notice appeared.
What “Buy” Should Mean
Here’s my modest proposal. If a store wants to keep the word “buy,” it should promise one of two things:
- A copy you can keep. A file you can download and store yourself, which is exactly what California’s offline exemption already rewards.
- Your money back if it disappears. If the seller loses the rights, shuts the servers or pulls the title, buyers get a refund or store credit, prorated if need be.
Neither is radical. Stores already handle refunds every day. And if a company truly can’t offer either, it can use honest words: “rent,” “license,” “access.” Customers can then decide what that’s worth. Some will happily pay full price for a movie they can stream for years. Others will wait for the Blu-ray or borrow it from the library. Both choices are fine, as long as they’re informed ones.
I’m not against digital media. I love being able to pull up a book on my phone in a waiting room. I just want the checkout button to tell me the truth about what I’m paying for.
Until Then
For things you truly care about, a few habits help: favor stores that offer downloadable, DRM-free files; keep physical copies of the handful of movies and albums you’d hate to lose; and read the fine print before paying full price for a game that depends on someone else’s server. A digital library can be wonderful. It just shouldn’t come with a hidden off switch.
More on Contoh
- Every Gadget Should Come With a Software Expiration Date on the Box
- Show Me the Real Price. Every Time, Everywhere
- Your Library Card Is the Best Subscription You’re Not Using
Sources
- ABC7 News: Gov. Newsom signs law forcing digital stores to admit you’re buying media licenses only
- ZwillGen: From “Buy” to “License”: California mandates clear disclosures for digital good sales
- The FPS Review: PlayStation will no longer remove 1,300 Discovery TV shows from its platform
- TechSpot: French consumer group sues Ubisoft over The Crew server shutdown
- WRHI: Amazon to discontinue “Download and Transfer via USB” feature for Kindle users