Subscription Fees or Single Payment

[pistonheadforum]

It's been over the past 10 years that many things have moved from single payment to own to subscription fees.

In the old days you would purchase DVDs and own them for good. Now it's Netflix, Amazon etc and all the films are available but it's a monthly cost.

Back in the day it would be a single purchase for Space Game and it would be yours for good with very few (if any) updates. After 24 months Space Game 2 would be out with a better graphics and it would be the same deal. Now it's on Steam or similar and lots of frequent updates. Until they stop development at least.

For cars it would be save up and whack down some cash for a car. Now (trigger warning) maybe people go PCP and have a new car that they swap every 3 or 4 years.

Gyms and clubs were always a subscription so nothing really much changed there.

What's you opinion has this been a good change or do you hanker for the old ways?

[colin_p]

As the chief WEF lizard has said,

"You will own nothing and be happy"

[x5tuu]

I hate the subscription model and avoid it where possible.

Where possible I buy digital versions of whatever I need.

I do have a Google One cloud subscription but think that’s about all now.

I used to have prime, Netflix, Disney+, Discovery+, Nintendo online, PSPlus, etc. and now all media gets pulled into my Plex media server and is on my one demand.

All PlayStation and Nintendo games are bought physically and all software on my Mac I buy lifetime licenses for.

[Turn7]

I’ve said it before, we are renting more and more of the things we used to own and cherish.

It’s easy to die a death of a thousand cuts with all these stupid bloody subs these days.

[shtu]

This thread highlights the exact problem with subs - removal of consumer choice,

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

Had an expensive month? In the past, you could compensate by putting off non-essential purchases for a bit. You could do that with small things to large, eg, put off buying that shiny new car for a year.

That just won't work with subscriptions. You're on the hook every month without fail, and if the supplier pushes prices up, tough.

[spookly]

When Netflix first appeared it had loads of content and was a good price.
Over the years the content has got worse and worse while the price goes up and up. I've cancelled. Not because I'd really miss the money, but because I don't like being taken for a mug. I now have a media server with all the movies and TV I want ripped/downloaded.

A lot of people stopped piracy as for a while Netflix and their competitors were more convenient and reasonable value. Not any more. I know lots of people going back to the high seas to get their media.

I'm still yet to ever have a PCP car. I've had a few leases when there's been good value on offer. But usually I own my cars outright.

[Jasandjules]

It annoys me greatly that even MS Office is now rented. Used to be you paid your couple of hundred and it was yours. Now I rent it at £118 pa...

Cars I still buy outright. I have seen the people rent those doorbells though?!?!?

I have no interest in being beholden to paying monthly for things, I buy what I can outright.

[Hoofy]

Depends what it is. I can't possibly own all of the Netflix catalogue, for instance. So it's down to price and what I'm actually getting. Although tbh I can go without Netflix, Disney+, Amazon Prime Video etc.

Another example, for photo editing, I have Photoshop 6 which is now 24 years old and I'm happy with that. I get free Canva or Adobe Express for quick and dirty image creation. I know some people who subscribe to Canva and are happy with that.

A car? Well, I can see the benefits if someone wants to own a brand new car on some kind of lease thing, but leasing a £1.5k shed doesn't make sense unless it's like £5 a week. Actually, I might go for that if it includes services etc.

[shtu]

Jasandjules said:

It annoys me greatly that even MS Office is now rented. Used to be you paid your couple of hundred and it was yours. Now I rent it at £118 pa...

And that "bought" version was largely fine for many years, as the document formats really don't change much over time, so you could buy a copy and that was your total spend until you decided on an upgrade.

(The version of word on this machine is a decade old and it does what's required.)

[anonymous-user]

The only subscription I have now is Spotify
All the music I want, for less than the price of 1 CD a month (in old money)
Basically free with my phone contract (discount via a friend)

[x5tuu]

Jasandjules said:

It annoys me greatly that even MS Office is now rented. Used to be you paid your couple of hundred and it was yours. Now I rent it at £118 pa...

Cars I still buy outright. I have seen the people rent those doorbells though?!?!?

I have no interest in being beholden to paying monthly for things, I buy what I can outright.

You can still buy a “proper” office license - I bought mine for about £20.

[mikey_b]

Surely the likes of Spotify and Netflix give you a library of millions of sings and films for the cost of an album or DVD a month. The cost of acquiring an extensive CD collection is far more, for far less music, than the cost of Spotify. And with streaming, you can access to your entire >50m song library wherever you go.

In all honesty, this is one of those things where a subscription service makes far more sense.

[monkfish1]

Jasandjules said:

Cars I still buy outright. I have seen the people rent those doorbells though?!?!?

I have no interest in being beholden to paying monthly for things, I buy what I can outright.

Until this week, i didnt even know rent a doorbell was a thing!

I have no subscriptions to anything either, unless you include a mobile phone.

[anonymous-user]

monkfish1 said:

Jasandjules said:

Cars I still buy outright. I have seen the people rent those doorbells though?!?!?

I have no interest in being beholden to paying monthly for things, I buy what I can outright.

Until this week, i didnt even know rent a doorbell was a thing!

I have no subscriptions to anything either, unless you include a mobile phone.

My doorbell features in the 1975 Argos catalogue! Free Blink Cameras monitor the perimeter (well legacy free, until they’re not)

[Turn7]

mikey_b said:

Surely the likes of Spotify and Netflix give you a library of millions of sings and films for the cost of an album or DVD a month. The cost of acquiring an extensive CD collection is far more, for far less music, than the cost of Spotify. And with streaming, you can access to your entire >50m song library wherever you go.

In all honesty, this is one of those things where a subscription service makes far more sense.

Quality over quantity tho….

I’ve moved over to Spotify but really don’t like having what was my own collection on iTunes ,that I’d built up over many years….

[redrabbit29]

monkfish1 said:

Until this week, i didnt even know rent a doorbell was a thing!

FFS, seriously man. No one is "renting a doorbell".

Those who pay Ring are doing so for cloud storage of their recordings and movement activations.

In that regard it's a very handy and reliable CCTV camera which alerts on movements and also provides functionality of a doorbell.

[croyde]

When I was a kid, most people rented TVs, cookers, fridges and other household appliances

I have a Switch with numerous non physical media games.

I've not used it in years but I can't sell it with the games without giving out my Nintendo details.

Made a mistake there as I should have bought the physical discs. Cost the same.

[fourstardan]

redrabbit29 said:

FFS, seriously man. No one is "renting a doorbell".

Those who pay Ring are doing so for cloud storage of their recordings and movement activations.

In that regard it's a very handy and reliable CCTV camera which alerts on movements and also provides functionality of a doorbell.

Go over to the thread about the 40% increases on Ring Doorbells and that will show what subscription model means.

I used to go into a shop and buy music/dvd's/magazines, ye good olde days, now I subscribe and the only challenge is lack of control over what I'm paying for. It can work in favour, I was on Spotify for years, they increased the prices and my subscription payment details didn't work for some reason so it stopped working, a move to Youtube music (And added no Adverts to YouTube itself) for 2 quid extra now gives me the same music (mostly) and no annoying adverts on YT that I use a lot.

TV has been better on subscription model for donkeys years, I remember when Cable TV came in, god knows how much it cost a month but it had tiered options to buy and people were hooked.

I could go on, but I think im siding on the Subscription for short term benefit.

[x5tuu]

croyde said:

When I was a kid, most people rented TVs, cookers, fridges and other household appliances

That’s a fair point - my parents always rented their TV / VCR / separates HiFi / etc. back in the 80s and early 90s and it genuinely worked really well for them.

[Skeptisk]

x5tuu said:

croyde said:

When I was a kid, most people rented TVs, cookers, fridges and other household appliances

That’s a fair point - my parents always rented their TV / VCR / separates HiFi / etc. back in the 80s and early 90s and it genuinely worked really well for them.

That is because they were expensive compared to average earnings and people preferred to have it now and pay more rather than go without until you had saved up to buy one.