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Google Video end buying and renting program  (View post)

pacificdave [PersonRank 10]

Saturday, August 11, 2007
16 years ago7,622 views

It's been a while since I posted here but I'm going to throw some fresh meat out to you Google news wolves out there. Here's an email I just received from the Google Video Team:

Hello,

As a valued Google user, we're contacting you with some important
information about the videos you've purchased or rented from Google Video.
In an effort to improve all Google services, we will no longer offer the
ability to buy or rent videos for download from Google Video, ending the
DTO/DTR (download-to-own/rent) program. This change will be effective
August 15, 2007.

To fully account for the video purchases you made before July 18, 2007, we
are providing you with a Google Checkout bonus for $20. Your bonus
expires in 60 days, and you can use it at the stores listed here:
http://www.google.com/checkout/signupwelcome.html. The minimum purchase
amount must be equal to or greater than your bonus amount, before shipping
and tax.

After August 15, 2007, you will no longer be able to view your purchased
or rented videos.

If you have further questions or requests, please do not hesitate to
contact us. Thank you for your continued support.

Sincerely,

The Google Video Team

Google Inc.
1600 Amphitheatre Parkway
Mountain View, CA 94043

I'm pretty sure the email says it all.

Colin Colehour [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here]pacificdave, When you purchase videos from Google Video, do they not allow you to download a copy of the purchased video?

pacificdave [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Only the ones that didn't have a timer. Some expired after 24 hours. So they pretty much had ones you could buy and rent.

PierreS [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

That's the sad thing with copy-protected ou DRMized content.
You're at the mercy of the content provider/distributor.

Above 4 comments were made in the forum before this was blogged,

stefan2904 [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

will you be able to drm-login after 15. august?

Martin Porcheron [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Maybe this is signalling that the end of the Google Video upload programme is near.

Jared Cherup [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I knew this would happen when they said they were turning Google Video into a Video Search.

[put at-character here] Martin – Definitely.. why have Google Video upload when there's already YouTube?

Benjamin [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here]Jared: Because Google Video allows larger videos and better video quality. The 320x240 resolution of youtube videos is very low especially if you have text in your video it becomes barely readable. You can easily see this with the Google Developer Day presentations. Google Video allows 640x480 videos, high quality codecs and no limit of filesize when using the Google Video Uploader.

David Hammond [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

Google Video's player is better than YouTube's in other ways as well. With YouTube's player, you can't seek to a position in the video that isn't yet in the buffer. Seeking in generally seems more buggy than in Google Video's player. Also, there's a way to directly link to a certain position in a video with Google Video, but I don't think you can in YouTube.

I would be happy if they would just replace YouTube's player with Google Video's.

Robert Taylor [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

Pretty sad considering I spent well over $100.00.

Jared Cherup [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

[put at-character here]Benjamin – I'm aware of the better quality of video. But even Google itself hosts it's videos on YouTube now and not GVideo. I can see them easily not supporting this in the future. And full length movies that some people have uploaded to Google Video, I can see why they may phase it out. It's a wait and see kind of thing.

Adam Hodgkin [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

Noted here – and a suggestion about another Google service that maybe has had its time

http://exacteditions.blogspot.com/2007/08/google-videos-canned.html

Time to run a survey to see which Google services deserve to be pruned?

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

I like how Cory Doctorow likens it to buying DVDs:

<< Imagine if these were DVDs: one day, a man from Virgin Megastore shows up at your door and says, "We're taking away all your videos. Sorry! But we'll give you a credit to spend at a different store. Not a credit for videos, though. Also: it expires in 60 days." >>

:-)

From: http://www.boingboing.net/2007/08/10/google_video_robs_cu.html

James [PersonRank 0]

16 years ago #

Are you kidding me? How is no longer being able to watch content you paid for any kind of improvement?

Pretty poor. This is something I'd have expected of a provider such as Microsoft.

Thanks Google for reminding me that buying DVDs or just downloading from PirateBay is a better long term proposition if I don't want to get screwed.

James Xuan [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

<<With YouTube's player, you can't seek to a position in the video that isn't yet in the buffer.>> YouTube recently changed a bit. You can now do this. Also it doesn't say "loading" at the start any more. Also part of the change

Pierre S [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

One address:
http://defectivebydesign.org/

Don Williams [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

I loved the Google motto: "First do no evil," until, that is, it's CEO stated that 'evil' was what ever Larry Bin said it was!

Google is becoming a monopoly in the internet area and should be rained in. If it is allowed to purchase Double Click, it will have a whopping 80% of the internet advertising space so I am supporting Microsoft and Yahoo in their bid to stop this from happening.

Google is a company hell-bent on doing things their way, regardless of the pain or suffering they cause on others.

As bad and as much as I hate Microsoft and their dirty dealings, I'm afraid that Google is becoming even more of a threat. It takes in a tiny fraction of the money of a company such as Apple Inc., yet is valued at even more in market cap. Like Microsoft, their power is going to their head.

Down with Google!

James Xuan [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

"Larry Bin" lol! do you mean Larry Page? or Sergey Brin?

Don Williams [PersonRank 1]

16 years ago #

You got me, I meant Larry Page. My stupidity is why I'm poor and Larry Page is so damn rich.

Thanks for pointing my mistake out.

Colin Colehour [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Google has an update about how they are hoping to fix things:

<<
   * We're giving a full refund – as a credit card refund – to everyone who ever bought a video. We'll need you to make sure we have your most recent credit card information, but once we know where to send the money, you'll get it.

   * You can still keep the Google Checkout credit that you've received already. Think of it as an additional 'we're sorry we goofed' credit.

   * We're going to continue to support playing your videos for another six months. We won't be offering the ability to buy additional videos, but what you've already downloaded will remain playable on your computer. >>

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/08/update-on-google-video-feedback.html

DPic [PersonRank 10]

16 years ago #

Yeah i just read that-- it's possibly one of the most apologetic google blog posts ever

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