A practical reality that dawned on me one day has changed my perspective on this situation a bit: it's the fact that I no longer have my VHS or cassette tapes.

A practical reality that dawned on me one day has changed my perspective on this situation a bit: it's the fact that I no longer have my VHS or cassette tapes. I got rid of them at some point. So the idea that purchases of physical media result in me having a thing forever, while digital purchases are inherently temporary at the behest of companies like Apple, Google, or Amazon, doesn't really hold up to what I (and many others) actually experience. Because my physical purchases are also, eventually, temporary. Will these companies do something, or go bankrupt, such that one day I no longer have access to my "purchases?" Maybe? Probably? Who knows. And if they do, I hope laws or class action lawsuits step in to mitigate the issue... But it ultimately feels a bit Chicken-Little-ish to me to suggest this is some kind of disaster. We've all re-bought our favorite books/movies/shows/music in various formats as time goes on. Our digital purchases will be no different.