14 DAY TRIAL // Google recently announced that it decided to shut down the download to own/rent programs that allowed consumers to buy a certain clip from Google Video. Obviously, this means that all the users who bought content from Google's video technology are no longer the owners of the clips as they will become unplayable. Because many of the users were quite disappointed by the announcement, the Mountain View company decided to make a few changes to the initial notification. First of all, Google will provide support for the acquired clips for an extended period of six months. Although the product doesn't allow you to buy any other video, all the movies bought from Google Video will remain accessible through your computer.
"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," Bindu Reddy, Google Video Product Manager, explains another modification to the initial statement. "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."
It seems that this important change of the Google Video closure plan started from the consumers' reaction who informed the Mountain View company that the Checkout credit might not be enough for some of them. "We should have anticipated that some users would see a Checkout credit as nothing more than an extra step of a different (and annoyingly self-serving) kind. Our bad," the Google employee added.
Obviously, some of the users were shocked that the content acquired by them will become unplayable and that what was supposed to be owned by them is going to become unavailable. However, the closure of the paid flavor of Google Video is probably the next step to a new improved version of the video platform, but nobody knows exactly what happens next.