Constantly Changing Formats

I was looking at my Amazon orders yesterday, and I noticed that my order for the last Harry Potter DVD (the DVD/Blu-Ray/Digital Copy combo pack) now said "Ultraviolet Digital Copy." Ultraviolet digital copy? I've never heard of that. I noticed though, alarmingly, that many, many commenters said "don't buy ultraviolet " and other such negative statements. Their implications are that that is a digital copy that can't be downloaded (only streamed), expires after a year, only works on certain equipment, and is of an inferior quality. Needless to say, this did not please me at all! So I did a little research on my own, and now I'm still not sure what the deal is, but I guess I'll find out soon. This is because all the Blue-Ray copies come with this Ultraviolet digital copy, so I can't choose not to get it. I'm still miffed though because it is not what I ordered. So what does this have to do with libraries? Well, Warner Brothers which owns the Harry Potter movies and is part of this Ultraviolet project, also is being very aggressive toward rental companies like Netflix as well as libraries. In this article from TechDirt you can read that Warner Brothers is imposing a 28-day embargo on the ability of the rental companies AND libraries to loan their movies. On top of that, libraries will only be allowed to purchase copies that do not contain bonus copies or the extras! What could possibility be the harm in libraries have copies with those features? The company obviously has the right to make money off it's product, but this is a first - and it doesn't bode well for the future. There was a time that when libraries purchased materials, it meant that they kept those materials forever (as long as there was the equipment to run the material). However, as we move to a subscription model, we pay for what we have access to - over and over and over again. And when we can no longer afford it - or when the vendor decides that we don't have the rights to it any more - we don't own it anymore. That might be okay for most items, but for an institution trying to preserve some sort of cultural record, it could prove to be a disaster in the long run.