Subscription Fatigue ?

[Guest]

I've just read this article on Cnet "Apple, please, I am consumed with subscription fatigue" by Scott Stein. Yes, I know that the article is from last March ^o^

 

Quote

 

Apple, please, I am consumed with subscription fatigue

How much a month would you pay? How much can you pay before sinking into an abyss?

After Apple's services-focused event this week, I felt a wave of sadness. It continued when I went home, and during dinner, and as I tucked my kids into bed. Later, I sat on the sofa as my wife talked to me about how much we spend, and how we need to reconsider our budget. I was steeped in melancholy. What was going on?

The subscriptions. It was the subscriptions.

Apple's whole event was about subscription content. Services you can have, for just the cost of... well, we don't know how much all of them will cost yet.

I was already thinking about cutting back on my subscriptions. And so was my wife. She'd started looking at our spending, and all the things that we've been paying for that we've not been thinking about. The gym membership we don't use. Apple Music. All three streaming services we have. (Do we need Amazon, Hulu and Netflix? I don't want to get rid of them.)

I pick up my phone. I scroll and scroll, as if it will calm me down. I see an advertisement for the Criterion Channel. I love Criterion! Another channel. Wait, how many can I pay for? I'm drowning in them. The night of the Apple event, my wife and I spent hours poring through credit card statements, and I felt my stomach turn.

I have subscription fatigue. Subscription anxiety. Subscription dread.

It's a feeling that's started overwhelming me slowly over time, little by little, turning from mild concern to waves of depression. And Monday was my breaking point. I'm looking over the monthly bills I don't want to acknowledge, the costs of living I've slowly piled on, and it makes me want to cry.

 

Apple's betting everything now on subscriptions. Or not everything, certainly, but Apple would like us to pay up. Just a little bit more. Here, there. Apple News Plus is $10 a month. We don't know about Apple Arcade for gaming, or Apple TV Plus for shows. Then there's iCloud. Apple Music. The cost of the devices themselves. Phone service.

Suddenly, or more than ever, we're subscribing to everything. We rent the world we live in. Micropayments everywhere.

Apple doesn't seem to acknowledge this subscription overload. And in the middle of it all, dangled like a magic carrot on a string: a credit card, of all things, promising better budgeting.

We're heading toward a future where we rent everything, and it's unsustainable.  

 

I've hit peak subscription fatigue. My wife has, I have, and many people I know have. We're heading toward a future where we rent everything, and it's unsustainable. Right now I'm staring that daily rent in the face and realizing I don't think I can hurdle it. It's a disturbing feeling. It's a sad feeling. It's something like the dystopian nightmares of George Saunders and Gary Shteyngart rolled into reality. Super Sad True Subscription Story.

With all the shows, the music, the games, the magazines, the endless apps, there's a limit. Everyone has budgets, and financial concerns, and ceilings. Maybe I can keep better track of my subscriptions with my Apple Card. But this glowing world of happy things is a rentable luxury, and Apple's not giving any clear sense of how to make any of it work with your wallet.

It's not just Apple, though. It's everything. The shows I like come and go from services I borrow. The albums I listen to are held in a cloud, and it's completely transient. If I stop paying, I have nothing. The games on online services, in some cases, are gone when I'm done. Subscriptions to Office 365, or Adobe Creative Cloud. Subscriptions to a world we're only buying time from.

What do we have? Is ownership a myth in the first place? Do we just turn to dust in the end? Maybe it's all temporary. But subscriptions are a slow sad death to me, a promise of a world I can't keep forever.

And I don't want to add any more.

 

 

 

This article reminded me how fed up I feel with Microsoft, and Adobe, and my phone plan provider who is also my internet provider and if I choose so, my TV subscription provider and it reminded me of another thread I read here about which music provider people have.

 

For me the Coup de grâce was when I moved in my present flat and... they started the different plans for TV subscriptions. Before I was paying 150€/year All In and all of the sudden I would have to pay 110€/year, plus 9,99€/month for renting the box, plus 11,99€ for the cinema plan, plus 7,99€/month for kids anime, plus 9,99€/month for Discovery plan, plus 12,99€/month for News plan and, as it was a new flat, I had to pay 110€ for opening a new contract.

I was "Huh ? But I already have a yearly subscription, why a new contract? I'm moving in my new flat! I want a transfer!".

I really felt being considered a cash cow and sent them to hell! After I looked at the different options available I decided to not get TV subcription. So now I have a beautiful TV being displayed in my living-room, used to watch DVDs and maybe soon to be a computer screen and to play my (and my daughter's) games

 

And then I saw Adobe get their products on subscription too... I was furious! I want an install DVD (eventually a downloadable install file or an ISO), not a subscription!

And then Microsoft went the same way with their Office pack.

And other software companies followed on the "subscription line".

 

And most of the time they "forget" to inform about all the implied limitations that go with the wonderful "always the latest software available" subscription plan...

 

So... What about you? Do you also have "subcription fatigue"?

[Origami Cactus]

Have noticed it too. Adobe has gone downhill, can't buy the Creative suite anymore, now it is only 60$ a month subscription. I would much rather pay 3k now, not 300k over the course of my life to use it.

 

Great alternatives to Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator/Indesign is the Affinity Suite, onetime payment, and better software too.

 

 

[IAmAndre]

4 minutes ago, Origami Cactus said:

Have noticed it too. Adobe has gone downhill, can't buy the Creative suite anymore, now it is only 60$ a month subscription. I would much rather pay 3k now, not 300k over the course of my life to use it.

 

Great alternatives to Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator/Indesign is the Affinity Suite, onetime payment, and better software too.

 

 

Unfortunately I can only agree with that as the new Adobe offers are crazy expensive although I need them for my work. On the bright side I must admit that Adobe does some effort to make their service better with a good customer support, cloud storage and stuff but yeah the price is pretty hefty so you must charge your clients more to compensate.

[vanished]

6 minutes ago, Origami Cactus said:

Great alternatives to Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator/Indesign is the Affinity Suite, onetime payment, and better software too.

How have I never heard of this before, there's so many videos and lists and instances where people try to think up good alternatives and I like to think I've seen a few

[Origami Cactus]

1 minute ago, Ryan_Vickers said:

How have I never heard of this before, there's so many videos and lists and instances where people try to think up good alternatives and I like to think I've seen a few

Idk, i have seen it recommended a ton, i personally use the Affinity Photo, it is better than PS in some aspects. When my free creative suite ends i will also pick up the Affinity Designer probably.

[Guest]

14 minutes ago, Origami Cactus said:

Great alternatives to Adobe Photoshop/Illustrator/Indesign is the Affinity Suite, onetime payment, and better software too.

Thanks for the tip! First time I've heard of it. I'll definitely try it and maybe even purchase it.

 

I'm so fed up with Adobe, you can't even imagine... I was looking to get the Lightroom and Premiere Pro at student price, but WTF!!!  Even the Student subsscription is so expensive! She's only 13!

I already found Krita for her and her manga drawing, a free and great software.

[Princess Luna]

9 minutes ago, Cora_Lie said:

I'm so fed up with Adobe, you can't even imagine... I was looking to get the Lightroom and Premiere Pro at student price, but WTF!!!  Even the Student subsscription is so expensive! She's only 13!

And yet Adobe's clueless why their software is so heavily target by piracy

[rcmaehl]

Between all subscriptions (not including internet), I'd prefer to pay no more than $60-75/month, with the fewer the better. I'm currently at about half that. I won't say that there's not applications I'm getting via alternative methods, especially for my wife, but with that company making 3.62 billion Net Income and $9.03 billion Revenue as of 2018, I'm sure they'll survive.

[rcmaehl]

1 hour ago, Cora_Lie said:

For me the Coup de grâce was when I moved in my present flat and... they started the different plans for TV subscriptions. Before I was paying 150€/year All In and all of the sudden I would have to pay 110€/year, plus 9,99€/month for renting the box, plus 11,99€ for the cinema plan, plus 7,99€/month for kids anime, plus 9,99€/month for Discovery plan, plus 12,99€/month for News plan and, as it was a new flat, I had to pay 110€ for opening a new contract.

I was "Huh ? But I already have a yearly subscription, why a new contract? I'm moving in my new flat! I want a transfer!".

I really felt being considered a cash cow and sent them to hell! After I looked at the different options available I decided to not get TV subcription. So now I have a beautiful TV being displayed in my living-room, used to watch DVDs and maybe soon to be a computer screen and to play my (and my daughter's) games

 

And then I saw Adobe get their products on subscription too... I was furious! I want an install DVD (eventually a downloadable install file or an ISO), not a subscription!

And then Microsoft went the same way with their Office pack.

And other software companies followed on the "subscription line".

 

And most of the time they "forget" to inform about all the implied limitations that go with the wonderful "always the latest software available" subscription plan...

 

So... What about you? Do you also have "subcription fatigue"?

If you MUST have TV, slingTV is supposedly okay. It's not the best but it's not filled with a bunch of rental charges and other MSP bullcrap.

Adobe is just full of it. Especially with their double-talk emails that makes it look like they're going to sue your ass.

 

Office isn't THAT big of a deal for me. OpenOffice, LibreOffce, and Google Docs are usable alternatives as long as you don't get too heavy on custom formatting.and there's nothing major that's changed between 2016 and the modern version. 

God help us all if Windows or Mac ever go subscription model; I'm sure the tech industry would rain down wrath upon them, but hey, you gotta kick-start the year of the Linux Desktop somehow.

[Origami Cactus]

1 hour ago, Cora_Lie said:

Thanks for the tip! First time I've heard of it. I'll definitely try it and maybe even purchase it.

 

I'm so fed up with Adobe, you can't even imagine... I was looking to get the Lightroom and Premiere Pro at student price, but WTF!!!  Even the Student subsscription is so expensive! She's only 13!

I already found Krita for her and her manga drawing, a free and great software.

Yeah. I only use the adobe stuff because it is free for me atm, but the prices for the subscription after the school ends are insane.

Affinity should have free trials for the software, for your use Affinity Designer seems like a great fit.

 

[Teddy07]

 Sorry

[Guest]

8 minutes ago, Teddy07 said:

It is entirely the consumers fault because they want everything without thinking if they actually need it. I have no pitty for these people. 

I'm sorry, but I don't see your point.

 

Edit: Could you please develop your point?

Edited August 19, 2019 by Guest

[rcmaehl]

1 hour ago, Teddy07 said:

It is entirely the consumers fault because they want everything without thinking if they actually need it. I have no pitty for these people. 

I can't angry react using the forums built-in reactions so I'll do it here

[Monkey Dust]

The cost is the biggest part of subscription fatigue, but there is also all the accounts with their (if you're following best practice) different passwords. If you want to log into your account to manage it I, and I'm sure many others, have to reset the password every fucking time. Plus it's more companies holding your data, making it more likely one or more of them will get hacked.

 

 

[Seldszar]

Im fine with my subscriptions. I have amazon, spotify, and cancelled netflix recently. I don't understand how people can get millions of them and forget. Its on the summary of your card every month. I guess Im in the minority for having 1 credit card only and looking at the summary? Crying over it like the author says seems a bit much.

[Teddy07]

@Cora_Lie

@rcmaehl

Sorry I didn‘t understand the initial post and should have thougt more before writing. I removed my post

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, Teddy07 said:

@Cora_Lie

@rcmaehl

Sorry I didn‘t understand the initial post and should have thougt more before writing. I removed my post

Sure ^o^ No problem It can happen to anyone ^o^

[Yeroh]

I hate subscription services. With the exception of a few good implementations, companies are using them to trick people into seemingly small recurring fees that quickly add up to a sum greater than the usual purchase price would‘ve ever been.

 

Take Microsoft‘s Office 365 as an example, it‘s „just“ 7€ per month, but over a three year period (IIRC the product cycle for the office suite), it adds up to a sum greater than every office license I would‘ve previously purchased for lifetime use. 252€ vs. what, 100€ in the past? Granted, if you adjust for inflation, there‘s a little less of a difference there. But other than that, is the addition of a little cloud storage worth double the price?

 

Again, to me it‘s a way to trick and scam people, and I try to avoid any subscription service like the plague. 

[TetraSky]

The only thing I'd ever think about paying a subscription for.... Is things like netflix, where content is actually being produced, with server costs being high, etc... But for softwares? Fuck that.

 

Companies love subscriptions, because it's basically a steady stream of revenue for them. But for the consumers... it often offers very little of value. Like the features that are quite often seen with this subscription services as an "added value".

Do you need that couple GB of "cloud storage" with that software you're paying $5 or $10 a month for?

Do most people really need 24/7 support?

 

I get that developers "need to eat" and that subscriptions offer a lower barrier of entry for people.... But it's also quite often synonymous with Always Online and "we can take this away at anytime so don't get too attached".

I much prefer making a single big purchase, than 20 small ones that end up costing me more over time.

[PlayStation 2]

Modern subscription services for software tend to offer jack shit while simultaneously being too pricey for what it is.

Lemme take YouTube Music for example. You pay $10 a month to stream music from YouTube ad-free and what does that get you? The same audio quality as if you listened to that shit for free to begin with off of YouTube. The same 128kbps AAC audio files or 160kbps VBR Opus audio files that you'd stream from the get-go. You don't get any upgrades, no 256/320kbps AAC streams or 320kbps Opus streams, just the same mediocre audio quality that listening to it on your desktop or phone to begin with would get you, except you pay to listen to it with your phone locked.

Or how about YouTube TV? I swear on my fucking life that AT&T U-verse's 720x480 streams are higher quality than what YouTube TV offers for 1080p60 streams. 

Modern subscription services wear me out, and for what? Nothing. Literally nothing.

[Joluch]

I think Linus in the recent Techquickie episode on "Why Piracy Will Never Die" touches on this as well, although from the angle of the consequences of this subscription fatigue.

 

I'm actually a bit scared of how much this "subscription model" is now everywhere, often without another alternative pay model. SaaS is already bad enough for many consumers, but now everything is going towards the "as a service" subscription route, even for physical goods like desktops. It's not that a subscription model is inherently bad, but it puts more responsibility on to consumers, and it makes it easier for companies to take advantage of consumers.

 

I remember when I was working at my college's endowment fund as a call center fund raiser, we were always pushed to get alumni to sign up for donation subscriptions instead of a one-time donation, even if it's for a smaller amount. The reason is of course, people forget to cancel, so in the long term, we get more money. The thing is, it's usually the people who can least afford it but still wanted to donate that sign up for the subscriptions, since they don't have enough to make a larger one-time donation. Quite often these would be recent graduates still looking for a job or more elderly alumni on a fixed income, these groups are also the least likely to notice and cancel active subscriptions too.

 

After that experience, I've tried my best to avoid subscription payments, but it's becoming more difficult now as everything is becoming a "service".