So, if someone steals your Mercedes, they've actually stolen Mercedes's Mercedes? It's not your car, you don't owe them anything, right?
Big companies make big contracts with small letters. I'll try to resume what happens:
- you pay as much or more (with the add ons) as if it would be yours
- you'll own a DEBT as high as bought to use a product that in fact is from the company for what benefits the company
- everything that happens badly to that product (stolen, burns, etc. ) their lawyers will say it's your fault but the company "forgives" you because you will pay (or already paid) the debt that includes the USE of that car.
The same thing with games, music, movies bought online versus physical copies:
- when you buy a physical copy (disappearing) you own that asset and you can sell it second hand, it's yours
- when you buy online, you can USE it but almost all the time you can't sell it again second hand AND if the company shutdowns the service, your money is gone, the asset is gone (well, if you are lucky to have it already downloaded you may still play it).
I give the example where some not so big book stores online went down and so your paid books. The ones you had on your e reader are still available, the ones on the cloud are gone and so your money. My physical bookshelf will have them "forever" until a fire / flood destroys them.
Sadly most European and North American authorities don't give a cr@p about the issue... money money money is all that matters. In some years "our" cars, phones, houses are not ours. They will be twice as expensive but still from a company that is kind and let us used them...
