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I just went to the O'Reilly site to check on a ebook I thought I "owned" and I saw this notice:
"In March 2020 the Members Library will be shutting down
Please download any ebook, video compilation, or other content you wish to save prior to March 2020." 
And, the notice is on the Library Sign-in page [^], so if you don't have to sign in, you won't see it.
Funny part is this blurb at the top of my library (emphasis mine): "Every ebook and video you’ve purchased through your O’Reilly account is available below. You get lifetime access to these products, and we will alert you when they are updated." I guess their lifetime is way shorter than mine. 
O'Reilly used to be my go-to publisher for books. You could almost never go wrong buying a Nutshell book. I was surprised when they stopped selling their own books. Now they can't even be bothered to keep the space for ebooks they promised to give you "lifetime access" to.
Their entire focus seems to be shifting to trade conferences and the so-called O'Reilly online learning, which is their subscription access service, formerly Safari.
I know books are "passé", and I'm probably dating myself by still wanting to read them, but this seems like another great service dying in favor of subscription pricing.
Anyway, enough ranting. 
Bottom line, if you have ebooks on O'Reilly and you want to keep them, be sure to get them downloaded prior to March.
Alan
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ajhampson wrote: You get lifetime access to these products
Ha ha, silly you. You thought lifetime referred to YOUR lifetime. Nope. 
Social Media - A platform that makes it easier for the crazies to find each other.
Everyone is born right handed. Only the strongest overcome it.
Fight for left-handed rights and hand equality.
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Same goes for lifetime warranties.
Always ask what the lifetime is for the product.
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If the product dies, then your support dies as well. That's simple to understand.
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Then don't blatantly promise me "lifetime" access! Keep the promises you make. Novel concept these days, I know. 
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It sounds as if you are expecting them to relate to your lifetime.
That's a complete misunderstanding. They are relating to the product they sold you.
When that product dies - which seems to be what has happened in this case - then you have no longer access.
O'Reilly couldn't possibly track the lives of each and every customer. Their products is all they care about.
For being slightly more serious:
This is a major reason why I am not using streaming services, neither for music, movies nor books. If it is not worth my time listening / watching / reading a second time (or more), then it wasn't even worth the first time. I always want the option to return to the same work. To me, "spoiler" is a silly concept: When I know that the butler is the murderer, I find great pleasure in re-reading from page one to see how cleverly the author step by step provides small clues, without revealing any more than absolutely needed. Even if I know the final chords of a tune, I enjoy the singer's voice on the second hearing. And so on.
During the first years of streaming, disk space was expensive. After some time, movies were taken out of the catalogs (I guess some of it had to do with publishing rights as well). Every time I came across lists of movies unavailable after a certain date, I could check 2-6 of them: But they are still available in my bookshelf, and will remain available for as long as I want, at no additional cost!
Today, disk is cheap, but rights questions remain. The Norwegian National broadcaster ("NRK") makes a major part of their productions over the last 60 years freely available, tagged "Available until: Always". Last newyear, contracts with the artists' organizations (actors, musicians, and all the others) was about to expire. To renew the contracts, the artists were demanding a doubling of the compensation for the next period. They came to an (undisclosed) agreement a couple days before the old contract exprired. If no agreement had been made, that would have been the end of "Always".
So, not only do I buy physical media music, movies and books - I've got around 4000 books in my shelves, 1500 CDs and 3-400 DVD/BDs: I also record a lot of radio music, often live, unavailable on CD. I save great shows and movies from the NRK archives / free streaming services. (Norwegian law explicitly grants me the right to do so, for privat, non-commercial purposes.) I will continue to do so, and continue to buy music, movies and books on physical media.
Two other reasons for going to my bookshelf rather than to the Internet: First - which books I read, and read again, which chapters I read is nobody's business! I know that it is impossible to completely avoid monitoring, but I strive towards reducing my electronic traces as much as possible. This is related to the second point: A survey of books been banned in the USA, the land of freedom, counted 1500+ titles. Often, it was not a nationwide ban, but the book only banned from public institutions like schools and public libraries. Yet I learned that several of the books in my shelves would have earned me a prison sentence if I moved to the USA and brought the books with me.
Over the years, quite a few artists have left the USA: While not thrown in jail, they have been actively "silenced" by commercial interests, religious groups, political movements, and sometimes the public autorities. I am quite sure that if streaming had been available in the 1940s, you wouldn't find many Charlie Chaplin movies in the catalogs. During the Viet Nam war, the Simon and Garfunkel "Silent Nigth / 7 O'Clock News" was banned from all major radio networks. Today, the White House takes steps to stop the publishing of unwanted books.
There are lots of examples from other countries as well (certainly including Norway!), but less widely known. In my shelves you can find books and movies banned in Norway. In some cases, the ban was lifted since I bought them. In other cases, I bought them while legal, but later "withdrawn" (I can keep my copy, but it cannot be sold).
Owning my own copy contributes not only to evade monitoring, but evade censorship as well.
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Member 7989122 wrote: Their products is all they care about.
That was actually my point (hidden in all the grousing  ): O'Reilly used to be one of the best book publishers, because books were their product. Now their business seems centered around conferences and the subscription model.
I understand the book market probably isn't what it used to be, and companies have to adjust to survive. I just really don't like the subscription model at all for books, music, or video.
As an aside, I am with you on owning physical copies. I have nearly all my music on physical CDs. All the video I care about is on DVD or BR. My book collection is also pretty big. I mainly buy e-somethings for the convenience of being able to travel with a collection in my tablet or phone. I try really hard not to get e-anything that I can't download and keep a copy of.
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Does an agnostic, insomniac, dyslexic stay up all night wondering if there really is a dog?
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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11. You shall not bark.
"Five fruits and vegetables a day? What a joke!
Personally, after the third watermelon, I'm full."
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Is a person into flagellation, necrophilia, and bestiality flogging a dead horse?
(I'll get my coat)
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Quote: (I'll get my coat)
Right! You are banished from the forum. Banished! Banished! Banished for ever! 
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Not until we've searched his coat - he could have stolen CodeProject members in there!
Didn't you wonder what had happened to Death By Chocolate, Dalek Dave, Christian Graus, and Mike Martin? He may be trying to smuggle them out for a life of slavery on SmackOverdose.com!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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The contents of my coat pockets are:
1 Timex digital watch (broken)
1 unused tissue
1 soiled
Boots (black)
Belt (black)
1 black suit jacket
1 pair black suit trousers
1 hat (black)
1 pair sunglasses
$23.07
(Bonus Internet points for those identifying the origin of the list)
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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Is that a 4 str, 4 stam leather belt? 
(World of Warcraft joke)
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Just an ordinary black belt. Nothing to do with gaming or martial arts.
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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The Blues Brothers, 1980; those were the contents Jake Blues had when he was released from Joliet.
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We have a winner!
Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four. If that is granted, all else follows.
-- 6079 Smith W.
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OriginalGriff wrote: Mike Martin
It's always Mick Martin.
Michael Martin
Australia
"I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible."
- Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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Let us paws and pray fur revelation.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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Not especially funny, but quite clever:
"A Christ is for life, not just for dogmas."
(Apols to those outside the UK who may not be familiar with the phrase, originally from an animal welfare ad, A dog is for life, not just for Christmas)
And no, that's not an invite to hijack this thread onto a religious debate 
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That's the short version - the longer one adds "With luck, there will be some left for Boxing Day"
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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Yes. And I can recall a long night when a few of us imbibed heavily of the ethanol and cannabis evil spirits, and by morning had contrived a perfectly viable religion rooted in the worship (and frequent treats as offerings) of a German Shepherd named 'King'. King was a talented dog, with an artistic bent. When we took him to the mountains for a bit of R&R, he would circle our campsite, evaluating the arrangement of inanimate objects. Then he would pick up a rock, look over the site, walk to a better location for the rock and deposit it there. This would continue for hours, as King skillfully rearranged the landscape to His liking.
In retrospect, I'm thinking that the pooch we knew as King was really a projection of a multidimensional demigod into three-space, much like Frankie and Benjy Mouse in the holy scripture of Deep Thought. In His full manifestation, King was probably arranging planetary systems in distant universes, in accordance with the principles of intergalactic Feng Shui.
Will Rogers never met me.
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Is it “for f*** sake” or is it “for f***s sake”
It’s for a work e-mail so it’s important I get it right as I want to sound professional
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Time to buy PoolParty! They know Semantics
In Word you can only store 2 bytes. That is why I use Writer.
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Please respect our host and use proper terminology on CP: for Chris sake!
"Five fruits and vegetables a day? What a joke!
Personally, after the third watermelon, I'm full."
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