GOG games are DRM-free, so you will only lose ownership, if GOG ceases to exist and you don't have a local digital copy of your purchase. This would be similar to losing or breaking a DVD, only that you can get as many replacements as you want as long as GOG exists.

I don't know any example of legally aquiring DRM-free digital copies of movies or shows, but I think Bandcamp would be the music-equivalent for that.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (1 children)

"so you will only lose ownership, if GOG ceases to exist and you don't have a local digital copy of your purchase"

Then you don't own it.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

If the publisher ceases to exist and you lost the CD/DVD you don't own that media as well. Since you lost it. So the point you are trying to make in regards to GOG and Bandcamp is invalid. Those explicitly state that whatever you buy there is yours to own and keep.

GOG only has the convenience that you COULD get it back, if you lost it.

Anyway back to topic: This is the reason why I buy the media from digital distributors, download the media, crack the encryption, which I am allowed to do, because European Laws and this is my own bought copy of this media. I self-host it on a physical server I have access to and give no public access to it. I bought this thing to own, not to own the right of consumption.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Out of print physical media is still available, it's just out of print. This is why record/book/comic shops exist. Challenging to find? Sometimes, sure. But once something physical is put into the world, you don't have some copyright holder clawing it back.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

The same can be said about GOG and Bandcamp items. Most of them are easier to find than physical media, too. Thanks to the Internet Archive!

Digital Media is just another form of Media. It's a lot easier to copy, too. That's why the publisher's thought it necessary to implement DRM, just in the worst way possible. In fact they tried to copy-protect books! Here is a stack question and great answer about this.