Over time, are subscription services more or less expensive?

[mrochester]

Than just buying your things outright?

What is your experience of switching between models? Has it cost you more or less?

 

[mrochester]

Depends on how often you buy the thing you subscribe to I guess. Like music, I used to buy loads of CDs and stopped in 2013 when I subscribed to Spotify. Costs £120 per year (though had 50% off as a student for a few years) but for me its worth it as I'm not buying music all the time now.

Short term some are good too like gaming ones where you can bash through a 20 hour game in a couple of months of a gaming sub then stop it so instead of paying £40 you pay £20 for example. Longer time less so if you wouldn't be buying the games full price anyway.

Some make very little sense as they come out more expensive than buying though like cars or meals.

Ultimately depends on whether you'd have bought the original thing for more over the time you subscribed and if you're happy not to own or keep a copy if you let the subscription lapse. Eg there's music I listened to in 2013 that I don't even remember so I wouldn't still listen if I'd bought the CD. But if I still wanted to play a game then I'd have to resub or buy it (but its probably cheaper now anyway).

I looked at how much I spent on music in the last 12 months and it was just under £40 (which was an expensive 12 months as the previous 12 months I spent £1.78) so £120 per year for a subscription service is far more expensive than buying outright.

Interestingly I don’t think of a game subscription service from the viewpoint of a game where there’s a campaign story you play once and never play again as I don’t ever play that type of game! The games I play (Cities Skylines, League of Legends) are the sort of game you play for hours and hours over a long period of time because they are almost infinitely replayable. It would cost a fortune to subscribe to these vs buying them outright.

 

[mrochester]

What are peoples experiences with regards to cars and software?

 

[mrochester]

I’m more interested in why the OP keeps asking the same question in multiple new threads?

They are different questions and discussion points?

 

[mrochester]

You return to this topic a lot, do you need some form of counselling?

No? I don’t see anything wrong with discussing the increasing ‘subscriptionisation’ of products and services that would traditionally be buy once and use for a time/forever.

I have seen a number of ‘subscription fatigue’ type stories in the tech press recently, especially in light of increasing prices and it’s interesting to examine exactly in whose interest it is for subscription business models to be pushed so heavily (I.e., who is getting the ****** end of the stick).

 

[mrochester]

The issue companies have with the old model is that they only get paid once, this new model ensures that they get a steady income stream for months and years to come, I have an Office 365 subscription which has no doubt cost me more than purchasing the Office Suite outright but the fact that I can store all my critical files (and also access them just about anywhere) is worth the monthly fee to me but I find things like Spotify and Amazon music rather expensive as I mainly listen to the radio now.

I think you are talking about 2 different products there. Cloud storage is a service you pay a subscription for, office is a product you’d expect to buy once and use forever. You could buy office once and then get a cheaper cloud storage solution from someone else.

 

[mrochester]

no they aren't. it's basically the same question rehashed and reworded. there has to be a reason you keep returning to this topic?

Im sorry you feel that way. Its an interesting and relevant topic.

 

[mrochester]

Not really Office 365 comes with Office applications that you can install on multiple machines (5 I think it is including Apple, I certainly have it on 1 desktop and 2 laptops) and also access to Onedrive from any PC with an internet connection (also I can access from my phone and ipad), would you get that level of accessibility by buying Office once, MS have rolled these products together and as a consumer I welcome that as it's an easy 1 stop shop for products that I use.

If you want to split it into 2 components then that is up to you but as a rolled up package I find it extremely useful and am happy to pay the £5.99 (I think that's how much it is) a month, other products I find are too expensive for how much I'd use it, I'll be cancelling my Spotify account soon as my 6 month new user code expires as I've only used it 4 times since signing up, I let my X Box live account expire as I don't play online anymore and haven't had a free game from them for years but I'll keep my EA Access account running as I play NHL, Fifa and Dragon Age games.

What are your thoughts on these services as you haven't provided your opinion yet, are they more expensive for you?

They are broadly more expensive. For instance, paying £6pm for O365 is more expensive than me continuing to use Office 2010 professional, likewise paying £120 pa for Spotify is more expensive than paying £40 pa for music. These services just seem to be designed to extract more money out of people and leave you with nothing to show for your money once you stop paying, effectively removing possession and ownership of things from you.

 

[mrochester]

You are not comparing apples with apples. As I've mentioned in the previous threads you've started, subscription services evolve. The O356 I subscribed to 3 years ago isn't the same as the one I have now, there's loads more features, indeed more products and less bugs. Office Professional 2010 may have less bugs due to patching but doesn't have the new products or features. Same with Spotify, the music available to me changes and increases, therefore I consume more.

Your problem is that you're erroneously equating the value of two very different models and then are surprised that they cost different amounts. This has been explained before, but your thinking hasn't changed, so what exactly are you after?

I had never thought of it from the perspective of because you pay more you consume more of it. I’m viewing it very much from the perspective of consuming exactly the same as you’d always done so (I don’t listen to any more or less music when I have access to a free music subscription service for instance).

 

[mrochester]

These threads

Do you not at least listen to a broader range of music?

If you're just listening to the same couple of dozen albums, then probably streaming services are not really for you.

Not really. Certainly I don’t listen to anything I couldn’t do without. I already have a music library of 2800 tracks which is probably more than enough listening for a lifetime.