Nuraphone - subscription based headphones

[Davie_GLA]

This keeps popping up on my phone etc. Having a read you pay £9 for what is supposed to be the most immersive sound experience known to man.

Any users / subscribers? Thoughts?

[xjay1337]

Why on earth would you rent some head phones

[Davie_GLA]

xjay1337 said:

Why on earth would you rent some head phones

Quite. They would have to be life changing.

[ging84]

xjay1337 said:

Why on earth would you rent some head phones

Didn't you read the site?
It's not a rent to own program, it's a subscription service, which seems to have the exact same cost as a rent to own scheme, with the added bonus that once you own them you can continue to pay them the same amount of money, or they'll remotely disable them.

I imagine in 15-20 years time this sort of business model will be considered a crime

[The_Jackal]

Havent these been around for years, even on the gadget show.
I guess they didnt sell many and some marketing genius has persuaded them to flog a subscription service because everyone else does it.
If people subscribe to razors and washing tablets, it will be easy money.

[cheddar]

Nuraphone Plus is better

[stevejh]

If I remember rightly they also replace the headphones with a new model if it becomes available during your subscription.

I've seen several reviews of them and they do look very good but there are several other very good headphones at the same price point (purchase price). I think I read somewhere that Sennheiser also offer a similar subscription service so it's not a new thing.

[Murph7355]

xjay1337 said:

Why on earth would you rent some head phones

I don't fully understand why you'd rent anything. But vendors seem to be pushing this hard - software like MS Office and Photoshop. Music? Why rent it?

[TuonoPants]

Murph7355 said:

xjay1337 said:

Why on earth would you rent some head phones

I don't fully understand why you'd rent anything. But vendors seem to be pushing this hard - software like MS Office and Photoshop. Music? Why rent it?

Everything is going this way in the B2B world, hardware vendors love it as is creates recurring revenue after the initial sale. And in the software/content world "cloud everything" means that we are being pushed away from owning music, films and anything else that can be digitised. I hate it but apparently "young people" love being able to access anything everywhere... so long as they have an internet connection...

But subscription based headphones? WTF? This really is stretching the idea to it's limits.

[xjay1337]

Murph7355 said:

I don't fully understand why you'd rent anything. But vendors seem to be pushing this hard - software like MS Office and Photoshop. Music? Why rent it?

I think it's because some people may only need MS Office for a month or two, so it may not be appealing to buy the full suite.
That being said only if you look at the Microsoft RRP.
With some smarts you can get the full office suite for a couple of quid. Not quite "legal" but no-one will come looking for you.

[mouseymousey]

Subscription services are what a lot of companies want now for the recurring revenue. They can be good for consumers as they generally have a lower up front cost but these headphones seem an odd deal.

They state you can get a new set every 24 months but there is no minimum contract length so if you signed up and a new model came out a month later I wonder if there is anything stopping you cancelling your 1 month old subscription and taking out a new subscription for the latest model.

If you genuinely want a set of these headphones and are likely to upgrade every 2 years anyway then the £9 a month deal works out a lot cheaper than buying - except you never own them!

Subscriptions work in a lot of use cases (even like the washing tablet example earlier as in theory you'll run out every month and need new ones anyway!) but the Nuraphone one seems a bit weird to me.

[anonymous-user]

cheddar said:

Nuraphone Plus is better

I think Neurofen Plus will help with the headache when you realise its like having an electric tooth brush in your ear.

A quote from an Amazon review.

[thebraketester]

I am guessing that these never really caught and and they are hoping a cheap subscription system will encourage people to buy them.

I tried them and didn’t really like them.

I’m out.

[Murph7355]

mouseymousey said:

...
If you genuinely want a set of these headphones and are likely to upgrade every 2 years anyway then the £9 a month deal works out a lot cheaper than buying - except you never own them!...

£9 a month every 2yrs is £216. That buys some very good headphones - a third of that does. And you then own them until you break/lose them/are at the airport browsing and simply decide to get new ones.

Load of old bks.

I fully get why vendors want to push everyone to the rental model. It's just like back in the 70s with rental stores aplenty on every high street. Only now goods don't cost anywhere near as much to buy outright.

What I don't get is why customers fall for it.

Software's the same. Office from 2008 will cover the vast majority of users' needs. No surprise why MS want you to be renting it through 365. That's a load of old bks too

As for Spotify etc...being old I prefer to know I own my music so that if I have no internet or the scheisters change their model/t's and c's I don't have to worry. I almost shed a tear when Tower Records closed on Piccadilly - some of my favourite albums were bought there with little memory from late the night before

[8bit]

ging84 said:

I imagine in 15-20 years time this sort of business model will be considered a crime commonplace amongst all consumer products and for reasons we cannot fathom, accepted freely by most people.

Fixed that for you.