http://wololo.net/2012/09/06/what-will-happen-to-your-ps-vita-the-day-sonys-servers-go-down/

I posted this in gaming because it doesn't just effect Vita owners or Sony owners.  To a degree, this will probably effect us all.  I play every console.  I go from PS3 to 3DS to Xbox 360 without thinking twice.  If it's fun and I want to play it, I'm gonna play it.  Well, I grabbed a Playstation Vita and it's an awesome piece of hardware.  Unfortunately, my 32GB memory card has been full for some time, now.  I've been deleting and backing up my content to my PS3 or PC as the need arises.  I do have an additional 8GB memory card.  I'll explain later why this is a seperate headache for me.

Here's the gist:  With the Vita, even if I have something saved to my PC or PS3, I can't copy it to my Vita unless the Vita and the device I'm copying from are connected to the internet.  The day I bought The Avengers to put on my PSV, I downloaded it to my PS3 but when I later tried to copy it to my Vita to take to work, the PSN was down (for about 30 mins) and I wasn't able to copy it at all.  So, the PSN has been hacked in the past.  Remember the "ApocalyPS3"?  That was one full month of no online.  With the PSP, that wasn't a problem.  You could still copy your content.  With the Vita, we're dead in the water.  What you have is what you have and if you delete it, you have to depend on Sony's servers (which doesn't let you re-download movies, btw) to get your content back.

It's not just Sony.  I've downloaded a megaton of games for my 360, PS3, and now, the 3DS.  I'd like to think that the Nintendo Network, Xbox Live, and PSN/SEN will be available forever but.....what if something goes wrong?  What if they go out of business or get hacked?  I've probably got well over a $1000 (probably over $2000) invested in software for the PS Vita, alone!  Does it worry you guys that we are just a glitch in the Matrix away from not having access to the games we paid for?

Let's discuss.

I know the answer but I have to warn you, it involves shitting on your own face

You either lose access to it or they somehow update their services to allow you free access to downloading/transferring products without the need to be connected to their servers.

Digital gaming has become big this gen. When I first got my 20GB 360 back in 2007, I was a downloading fool! Trailers, games, pics, you name it. Well, with only 20GB of memory (16, really), it didn't take long to fill that HDD up. I had to delete some stuff.

Well, with purchased content, you can still find what you bought. It's a little cumbersome, though. I had purchased Double Dragon from XBLA a while back and when I got a new 360, the game had been pulled from the marketplace. After an hour of going through every thing I had ever downloaded (about 300 items at the time), I finally found it and was back in business. Copying from the HDD wouldn't work due to DRM. Still, it was a happy ending. At the same time, there was video content that I had gotten for free. I never deleted it. Despite this, when copying content from my 20GB HDD to my 60GB HDD (and again when I got my third 250GB Slim), there was trailers and themes that wouldn't transfer over AND weren't available to redownload.

I skipped TMNT 2 on Xbox Live and that game doesn't even exist anymore. I want it now but there's just no way for me to get it. We are entering an era that I, as a collector, am not 100% fond of. Something that I buy right now may not exist in any form ten years from now.

I see your concerns with buying digital media. Not too sure what I can say about your hypothetical situation if a company goes out of business.

However, the main thing I am concerned about right now is that Nintendo links the VC service with all the Nintendo systems. I should be able to play all the VC games that I bought on Wii on my 3DS and Wii U also. I believe the Miiverse integration with Wii U and eventually 3DS might bring this. However, I will not buy the same VC game twice (and they have already offered a few VC games on the 3DS that I already bought on the Wii). This is what I am most concerned about myself.  It would be nice to play my SNES, Genesis, TG16, Neo Geo, etc VC games on my 3DS.

Another example: I've got over 300 digital comics on my PSP. I used an 8GB memory stick to store them. At one point, I had to delete a few to make room for others. An entire card dedicated to nothing but comics but it wasn't enough. Anyway, Sony announced earlier this month (or maybe last month) that they were ending the service and that the servers would be shut down.

What I have on my PSP now will be all I have for the rest of my life. I've already had one memory stick go bad on me (but it was a cheap Sanyo brand stick). I guess I'd better copy my data on to Media Go. Certain things have become totally irreplaceable. I couldn't even buy them on a second hand market if I wanted to.

If such a thing ever occurs, I would have no qualms redownloading everything through piratebay or something like that.

The "joys" of copyrite laws. This is the reason why nothing should be copy protected past 25 years. There's a lot of things that'll never be made available again; because copyrite terms keep on getting extended when they're about to expire and the copyrite holder can't be arsed to release it again.