A bit of bad news for Google Video users: the media you rented or bought from the web giant's online store will no longer be viewable after the site is shut down by the parent company.

Google said there will be no refunds for any of the transactions, but compensation will come in the form of credits in Google Checkout, the company's online paying service.

The decision to shut the site down came after top officials decided that the Google Video service has become irrelevant due to the success of YouTube, which it also owns and uses to sell videos.

The move was branded as a big mistake by analyst David Card of Jupiter. He also added that the shutdown and the no-refund policy are making consumers more wary of digital media purchases.

"We've seen a physical format-device combo go out of manufacture before: wax cylinders, 8-tracks," says Card. "But can you think of any consumer-purchased medium that actually becomes unusable while there are players that still work?"