• I understand what you’re saying. Like I said, I have no problem paying for software, but the subscription model for EVERYTHING is getting ridiculous. I can’t keep track of the subscriptions I have now, let alone add more. I buy apps regularly. If I have to start paying a subscription to for all of my apps I’ll go back to a flip phone.

    • The problem is really the internet part of it. It’s one thing when you’re talking like “a calculator” app - it’s different when you’re talking about an app that makes api calls to a server. Both ends of that aren’t static.

      I get subscription overload is a thing - but the biggest problem too is that the platform owners don’t even give you the capability as an app owner to “sell” an upgrade like in the olden days.

      I think a solid question to ask, all of this said, is why every subscription has to be $10-20. They don’t, and certainly some part of that is definitely greed.

        • Been asking myself the same question.

          Even here, servers cost money or moderation takes time, something we’re all limited on.

          It’s really rather depressing, cuz I fear the days of the “fun-ternet” is over.

      •  crank   ( @crank@beehaw.org ) 
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        31 year ago

        Well as you mention the app platforms are not setting themselves up in a flexible way. They should have all matter of payment models available. The problem is monopolies.

        Something i have wanted for a long time is that services/apps with overlapping user bases could have some sort of group deals where you get an overall discount by paying for a package. When i de googled i was looking around at all the paid replacement services and if i did a total replacement it would have been like $150/m due to high cost of individual services. These companies should collab because they all have overlapping user base. I ended up paying for only a couple of the most important because I am a casual user for other stuff. I would have been willing to spend more in total if i could have had low-use access to a diversity of services. Then who knows maybe i could have been upsold on something after a while.

        I guess it isnt worth the transaction costs to take less than $10. But that is where platforms have the capacity to be useful.