What are some things you are subscribed to that make a service worthwhile in keeping?
I only have a few I can say is worth-it but worth it in a more conserving sense, like pumping-the-brakes kind of deal. Not something you would want on all of the time.,
- Amazon Prime.
People may be split on Amazon for activist reasons or what have you, but I find it difficult to argue against what benefits that is brought from it. I sparingly use Prime and get it only when I have things I want to shop for that will be best used with it. I don’t personally use Video, Music or what have you.
- All Streaming Services (Only if you have a work-around)
Subscribing to any base streaming service plan with ads is worthless, but worth it if you use an HDMI cable from PC to TV or whatever configuration. Then watch through a browser that kills advertisements.
Worthless Subscriptions
Spotify
You’re only paying for the privilege to skip songs which should be a basic right of usage. Podcasts still aren’t exempt from advertisements. Features provided aren’t really that exciting to use.
Sirius XM
I just re-subscribed to this for $1 and might be personal taste, but I listen to the comedy channels. I don’t go anywhere else because I find that the music-based channels played things I don’t typically like or can vibe with.
Discord Nitro
You’re just paying for cosmetic junk which also all have separate price tags and other useless profile things that some of which, obstruct profiles so it is pointless. Only provides minor perks to video, audio and file capability. You also get to use emotes, that you can barely see anyways, in any server you’re in (unless mobile).
All news-based ones
Why pay for journalism that is all but dead and biased these days?
X-Box Game Pass
Bit 50/50 on this one. On one hand, trying out so many games is a perk, but, it also works against itself because you could be isolated by choice and what limit you have to work with.
Gym Memberships
Very parasitic and predatory. They all lock you into contracts and pretend that they’re like your car dealership or even your apartment landlord into these year-long subscription models. They prey on you not using their facility, they charge you annual fees and other fees you don’t know about. The only way out of them is to pay the remaining balance of the subscription or other scheming means. Very few out there actually let you cancel.
Why pay for journalism that is all but dead and biased these days?
Have you though about why it’s dead? It has always been biased, it’s human nature.
While Spotify is the last service I would choose anymore for my music provider, it only lets you skip songs? Definitely not true. Like any major music service, it lets you build a library, listen to unabridged albums, make playlists, etc. Not sure where this point is coming from.
Music streaming from a provider that prides themselves on artist support like Deezer or Tidal also have all these features. Music streaming is one of the few services I struggle to imagine not paying for.
I personally use Apple Music since they actually pay relatively decent per stream and obviously integrates well.
You don’t need the subscription to do all that. At least not in the browser.
Looking at their site, doesn’t seem like that’s the case. Again, I agree with the Fuck Spotify sentiment. But there are still inaccurate points being made.
It will let you shuffle anything for free, but not let you play what you want, when you want.
You only read one line in before shilling apple? Lol
?
I’m confused. I read the whole post. You also said podcasts aren’t exempt from ads and the features aren’t exciting to use. I don’t personally listen to podcasts. The service is still useful for streaming and downloading music. And what exciting features are there supposed to be?
I’m just confused at calling Spotify a “Worthless” subscription. While I admit that pirating or buying CDs is a preference for some, neither of those are as convenient as streaming.
As for shilling Apple Music, I said it’s what I personally use after mentioning both Tidal and Deezer and services that pride themselves on it, which my provided article supports. I just personally use it because I like the UI and iPhone integrations. None of what I said was an attack against the original post, just confused at the description of its features that weren’t factual.
How are you gonna call someone an Apple shill when your first service listed as “worth it” is fucking Amazon? Lol.
Internet Service Provider and basic utilities. That’s pretty much it. Everything else can be pirated or bought per item instead of through a subscription.
Look at this fat cat with an ISP sub. I do everything through mobile data.
Me too.
4G speeds are actually pretty good.
Worth it: the medication I need to live.
Not worth it: the medication I need to live.
I’ll assume the gym membership part is some large chain US gym or something? I couldn’t disagree more.
I have a membership to a smaller gym and it’s a great deal in my opinion. Cancel anytime, no deals, no discounts, just a price and access to a facility. It’s one of the most pure and simple subscriptions I can think of.
Nebula is worth it. Youtube plus, or whatever it is now, is not.
Tidal is worth it. Qobuz may be more worth it? Spotify is not; but preferably buy from bandcamp whenever you can.
Other than that, just, nothing.
Have you ever actually had a gym membership? Most gyms I’ve belonged to had reasonable membership terms. Only one tried to get me to pay for the remainder of my one-year contract. The loophole was you could leave if you said you were moving out of town. They just took my word for it and that was it. Others just needed 30-days notice.
It’s a trick question. They’re basically never worth it.
VPN and a private email provider like Protonmail?
Here’s a good, free VPN https://riseup.net/en/vpn
Protonmail is already free, not sure why you would subscribe to it.
I hadn’t thought of those as subscriptions but I just use cheap VPS instead of a VPN vendor. Also I wouldn’t use Protonmail especially since the recent incident where they (temporarily) booted some journalist email accounts. But I’m happy with fastmail, which tbh is on the expensive side.
I also have a cheap MVNO cell phone plan and I guess that is worth it since I do use the phone. My home internet is definitely not worth it though, and I should get rid of it.
I consider anything with a reoccurring payment as a subscription, even if it’s technically just upkeep for a provider you use (domain renewal might be another example).
I haven’t tried fastmail, although I haven’t heard anything bad about it. How does it compare to proton?
Not worth it, but more or less needed:
- Rent (700€)
- Electricity (100€)
- Internet (60€)
- Hetzner Storage Box for Backups (25€)
- Domains (~10€)
- External IP addresses (16€)
- Donations to FOSS and content creators (idfk anymore)
Going against the trend here, but i wouldn’t be without spotify. We use the family sub, so I’ve got separate accounts for the family and for our smart speakers. My parents also use my account. We listen to a lot of music and podcasts, and it just works.
Beyond that the only other sub i have is Amazon prime, which we’re kind of stuck with as all our photos are in the cloud using their service. It works pretty well and the fire TV does a slideshow so we actually look at them from time to time.
The rest of the streaming subs we’ve had in the past are long gone. IPTV does the lot, which I use through express VPN.
You can use Pandora for internet radio and youtube when you want to look up specific songs.
Spotify never had a use, but the useful idiots kept shilling it to each other so that’s why it’s popular.
On the phone it just works. I’ve loads of playlists going back years. The playlist creation features make it super easy, suggesting related songs to what you’ve got already. I’ve tonnes of vinyl and CDs and a media server, but for convenience, commonality and variety I have no regrets
I am not sure why people subscribe to Music streaming services. My ex said it was to discover new music, but I do that via YT and friends. Other than that I just have 10 to 20 GB of music on my phone. No subscription, always available. Connects to all my devices. I just don’t get the point. Maybe if I didn’t have a PC it would be slightly more difficult to set up and add/remove music. But other than that?
They don’t want to admit they’ve been conditioned to waste their money on things they could be getting for free.
I guess with the gym it depends on whether you use it or not. The one I joined got a lot of complaints about not letting you out of your contract, but I never tried to get out of my contract and I used it all the time. For me it was definitely worth it. They never charged me a fee on top of what they disclosed at the very beginning. That would’ve been aggravating.
For journalism, I pay for 404 media because it’s journalist-owned, but it’s pretty niche in its scope.
My issue with Amazon Prime other than hating Bezos is that it was too good at all the things that drew me to it in the first place. Keeping track of everything I like to buy and free shipping and a speaker that I could just talk to and order stuff made shopping so convenient! It led to a lot of overconsumption. I would just browse my recommendations out of boredom and if something caught my eye I’d hit the one-click button and it would be on my porch in a day or two. I started to accumulate piles of crap I didn’t need and hardly ever used. I decided that spending money ought to be a bit inconvenient.
Nothing wrong with paying for biased journalism, as long as it’s high quality.
New York times and walk street journal both publish a bunch of propaganda, but also have high quality stuff and I find it worth subscribing.
and I find it worth subscribing.
Tool mentality.
Worth it: Cleaning service if you or they have a structured approach where they clean every dang thing over the course of 6 months, instead of dusting your blinds weekly.
Worth it: Hot sauce of the month.
Worth it: Leetcode/Linkedin only as long as you’re on the job market
Not worth it: most streaming that you never watch.
Not worth it: HVAC service plan that costs >300 a year or where they just change filters.
Not worth it: Most any “influencer guru” premium access. Especially financial.
streaming is never worth it, and the service providers are bleeding money just to keep it afloat.
Counterpoint: Dropout.
1000%, dropout is fantastic and more than worth the $5/mo I pay
