But it terrifies me that you say it like it's nothing and like this digital "purchasing" thing is something new (I am not disagreeing, on the contrary.)
I have avoided and have never bought anything digital for those reasons, but it really is depressing that these things have not been solved by now.
It should be terrifying! You’re handing your hard earned money to a company in exchange for access to something narrowly defined in a 100 page Terms of Service document, written by company lawyers, giving them tons of escape clauses, with no input from you. You’re smart to avoid the trap, but unless other people do also, in large numbers, nothing will change.
I have avoided and have never bought anything digital for those reasons, but it really is depressing that these things have not been solved by now.