Learned the term recently and really enjoy it, subscription fatigue is the feeling we all have had now where we are just over how everything is subscription based.
Which one was the last straw or most annoying/frustrating to you?
When my paid Paramount+ subscription included unskippable ads.
I loathe the trend where I pay money and they still expect me to sit through ads. That’s why we all left cable to start with.
- argv_minus_one ( @argv_minus_one@beehaw.org ) English30•2 years ago
That’s why people switched to cable to start with. Broadcast TV had ads and cable didn’t.
People have depressingly short memories and a depressingly long patience for megacorporate thievery.
Ads on cable channels first happened in 1971. I doubt most people on here were born yet then.
by the time I had my own money I didn’t even think of getting pay tv because it was already running more ads than free to air.
Never had subscription fatigue because paid services have never been better than the free option in my experience.
What’s the point of paying for a subscription if you still get ads 🤷🏻
Marvelous strategy model.
I’m still refusing to pay for P+ in the UK. They nicked us about so much with Discovery, Picard and Lower Decks all being on Netflix and Amazon, then started pulling the rug from under us with Dis S3 and it appears maybe LD S4 this year. I’m not paying for a whole new service for one franchise no matter how much I love it. At least Disney got Marvel, Star Wars and all the Fox content before trying D+.
Yeah it’s such a shameless cash grab, I know corporations mug us off every day but it’s disrespectful when they’re so desperate about it.
Even worse when it’s regarding Trek, a franchise that’s always been critical of capitalism.
Imagine how we feel over here in NZ when we wanted to watch S2E1 of GH we actually got S1E3 of DOOL instead! Boy when the NPD were told about this I bet they ASAP’d their pants!
I hate acronyms.
Luckily I did the 6 month free trial and learned. 6 months is generous, ads are not.
I still haven’t forgiven Paramount+ for making me watch that train wreck of a Halo show.
Nobody made you watch that but you lol.
They tricked me! They said it was about Halo! I had no clue!
Adobe Reader needing a 5€ subscription for rotating pages. Fuck techno feudalism.
Oh my god I didn’t even know about that one. Why?? Browsers read them fine
Reading a PDF is something, editing is a whole other thing. For a while I had an Adobe Reader subscription it was the only one I know of that can edit a pdf were I can delete entire columns from a table. (It was a PDF generated by shitty sales software I was using)
- argv_minus_one ( @argv_minus_one@beehaw.org ) 8•2 years ago
Adobe: “You need to pay us over and over to edit PDFs! Suckers!”
Inkscape: “Hold my beer.” 
I still have not found a competent (free) program on android that lets me mark up a pdf. They all claim to, but most (including fully-paid Adobe) won’t let you turn off finger marking. MFers, I have a stylus; I want my fingers to pan/zoom and my god damned stylus to make a line. Why is that so foreign?
- argv_minus_one ( @argv_minus_one@beehaw.org ) English11•2 years ago
Because most phones don’t have a stylus.
Found this open source, docker based, self hosted app for editing PDFs a few months ago. Works well enough for basic operations the last time I tried it (though not sure if it can delete columns from tables): https://github.com/Frooodle/Stirling-PDF
Figured I’d post the link here in case it helps you or anyone else.
Yeah, I went with stirling. It has a lot of great features, but it’s lacking in actual editing. Adobe allows you basically to edit a PDF like a word file.
Alarm clock apps that require a subscription. Basically any app that doesn’t require backend server infrastructure to function should not be subscription based.
- argv_minus_one ( @argv_minus_one@beehaw.org ) English32•2 years ago
There are alarm clock apps requiring a subscription now? Good heavens.
It started with the Netflix enshittification. I have had a Spotify and Netflix account essentially since these services were available, and that was great. Now only the Spotify sub is worth it, though I started to loathe that one as well because it at some point deleted all my local files or replaced them with what it thought matched them in their database.
Also every fucking app, no matter how mundane, wants to sell me a subscription. I have a web based game boy emulator on my phone, it works fine but everything beyond the absolute basic functions is paywalled behind a subscription. Not even a one time purchase.
Bro. RetroArch, gambatte or MGBA core. Thank me later.
if you truly need something web based, eclipse is completely free.
This
- argv_minus_one ( @argv_minus_one@beehaw.org ) 13•2 years ago
If it requires a subscription, it doesn’t exist.
That attitude has served me well. So far, at least.
I don’t do mail though, I know some do and are successful but mail is too important for me (and everyone subjected to my technical whims) to fuck it up.
- argv_minus_one ( @argv_minus_one@beehaw.org ) 3•2 years ago
I meant software and media. With mail, somebody’s running a server and policing spammers, which costs time and money.
Netflix, and when they said I’d have to pay for password sharing for my stepkids, because they use my account when they’re at their dad’s.
That was the last straw. I cracked the shits, bought a couple of ex-enterprise servers, and setup … something different. I then cancelled all streaming services (I got wind of the second Disney hike coming).
The cool thing is they now email me with cheap rejoin offers, telling me about all the cool shows I need to be aware of. ;)
If you have kids, the PBS Kids video app is pretty alright. And free (in the US of course)
Man, I already had subscription fatigue with the very first thing I subscribed to with my own money as a kid. Ultima Online. My friend recommended the game to me, not telling me it required a subscription. I bought a boxed copy at the store, not seeing the super tiny print where it mentioned the subscription. I was then upset when I was installing it and it asked for a CC#. I was 12. I didn’t have a credit card. I had to ask my dad to set it up and give up my allowance for it.
As soon as I found out about emulated shards (shards being what servers were called) that were totally free, I started playing on those. And having way more fun because they kept the game the way I liked it, while EA kept trying to make it more like WoW.
Similar story here, but it was EverQuest.
Definitely Netflix with the password sharing lockdown garbage. Then I looked closely at my Spotify. I realized my yearly rewind was almost always the same artists at the top, so I pay over $100 a year to listen to the same music every year. I bought the album’s I like and I feel so at peace now that Spotify can no longer tnrow shitty podcast recommendations in my face.
Oh I’m the opposite. I listen to so much music I’d be spending so much money on it.
My dad is the same and he spent thousands on CDs and later on iTunes for his music collection. Spotify and other subscriptions definitely saved him money.
I’m the same. I think Spotify is a great service if you constantly seek new music and listen to a variety of artists and genres. However, I still find it shitty that they constantly remove tracks, especially from smaller relatively unknown artists. Half of my playlists I made 10 years ago have their tracks disabled.
iirc a lot of tracks and albums get removed if it’s later found out that samples or royalties weren’t cleared on the record. For instance Death Grips’ “Exmilitary” mixtape was removed a few years ago because a lot of samples on the mixtape weren’t cleared with their original creators.
Yeah it’s usually copyright disputes, because some of the tracks have stopped being available in my country for some reason or another. But what if I do enjoy that particular remix and it gets taken down? I have tons of tracks like that. Spotify makes a great case of what happens when you’re not the one in control of your music library, and it won’t completely replace music collection for me.
Yeah IP lawyers ruining my music collection is why I started keeping my music offline for the first time in over a decade.
It’s not just copyright issues. When Spotify loses the license to carry the tracks, they’re gone.
YouTube music doesn’t recognize music as music
The important part is that people have options, and as long as these options exist, I can’t complain. But if some day in the future, everything becomes a subscription, then I will riot.
And it sure seems like more and more services are going that route. I want to ditch Adobe for example and use Affinity instead, but if they ever move to a subsciption model too, I’ll change careers and become a garbageman.
Probably pays better than any design agency anyway.
Around the time when netflix started to suck, and new subacription services popped up everywhere.
Then a lot of other things that shouldnt rely on a aubscription started getting it. Random apps with a pro mode. The pro mode was now a subscription… its dreadful.
I refuse to get a subscription i would “need” to keep around fpr years.
Here we have 1 video streaming service for a month or two every once in a while. Never two at the same time.
YouTube premium raised their prices. I had got it back when Google music was the thing. Then they raised the price. Then they raised the price again. Then they raised the price again. The last price raise gave me the motivation to check out Spotify and newpipe.
I haven’t looked back.
I did exactly the same thing. I miss Google Music. I also miss Songza which they bought, integrated into Google Music and then killed it off anyway.
I’m still grandfathered in from the Google Play Music days, paying $7.99/mo for YT Music + YT Premium. I will never interrupt that subscription and lose that price, haha.
You likely lose that price in December. I got an email telling me so and I believe it applies to all of us grandfathered in. Here’s the relevant part of the email:
As a long-standing and valued member, you are currently paying a lower rate for Premium than the rate available to new subscribers. To show our appreciation for your loyalty, we’re giving you at least three extra months at your current price before the price increase will impact your plan. Your price will not increase before your December billing date. Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to notify you again at least 30 days before the new price is effective.
Hmm, what was the subject of that email? I don’t see one like that, but I want to be sure.
“YouTube Premium Price Update”
July 20
Yeah, interesting, I don’t have that email. I guess I’ll find out if my subscription rate increases in December!
*legacied
The term grandfathered in has a pretty fucked racist origin.
Had to investigate, and turns out you’re right about the origin. The original grandfather clause was meant to exempt blacks from voting. See https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grandfather_clause
I’m not a fan of term banning, however. We still use the number 9 even though Hitler said it a lot.
Yeah but Hitler did not create the number 9. Slight difference. There is also no other term to express the number 9.
Legacied means the exact same thing and does not have the racist origin. There is certainly no ban on using ‘grandfathered in’ but there is no real reason to use it since it does not convey anything that the term legacied already does.
I am also in that tier. They are raising the prices weather you like it or not.
Reply since it won’t let me edit.
From my email:
“To continue delivering great service and features, we are increasing the Premium plan price to $13.99/month.
As a long-standing and valued member, you are currently paying a lower rate for Premium than the rate available to new subscribers. To show our appreciation for your loyalty, we’re giving you at least three extra months at your current price before the price increase will impact your plan. Your price will not increase before your December billing date. Don’t worry, we’ll be sure to notify you again at least 30 days before the new price is effective.”
When I couldn’t just purchase a season of a tv show (Drag Race). You should just be able to buy a show or movie if you want to watch it.
The most recent season was exclusively on Paramount +. I guess they had exclusive right because it wasn’t available anywhere else. It was 3.99/month with a discount so I figured I’d keep it as long as the season aired. I was fucking amazed that there could be twenty fucking commercials in an hour show. If I wanted to skip backward or forward I had to watch three more ads first. Two weeks before the season finale they raised the price to 5.99 so I cancelled it. I didn’t need to watch it that badly. Their other content was shit, all nineties MTV and made for tv movies. When I signed up they advertised Yellowjackets so I was going to watch that. But no, that’s another subscription to Showtime.
It was the cheapest subscription I’ve had but the most aggravating experience, because it’s not about the money. It’s about feeling like I’m getting fucked over with every goddamn thing I buy lately.
- Fizz ( @Fizz@lemmy.nz ) 20•2 years ago
Old school runescape charging $120 a year. I get that they make new content but that’s the cost of a AAA game each year.
It’s only $80 USD if you buy the full year at once but yeah it’s definitely on the expensive side. I get more fun out of some $20 games than I do out of RS.
- Fizz ( @Fizz@lemmy.nz ) 5•2 years ago
I would be happy paying $60 a year for my main and then I could justify paying some extra for my ironman to be members.
I never made it past Netflix. Once the quality started sliding and prices went up, it was back to the high seas for me. I guess I still have to pay for a VPN service though 🤷
This is basically my experience as well.
Tho I won’t be paying for a vpn service anymore now that PIA sold out, I’m going to set up the automated stuff and subscribe to Usenet indexers or whatever (I haven’t had a lot of time to look into it yet, but I have a bunch of info saved from a very kind person who helped me) instead because they will do what I want a lot better, automatically, and less risky apparently - no uploading and no seed ratio to maintain.
Beyond that, I do have a ps+ premium account because I will easily play $86 worth of games in a year (already have in the 2 months I’ve had it, with no effort of going to a place and hoping to find the games used. Im a collector, but I’m also not well off financially) but I otherwise go out of my way to avoid subscriptions and recurring payments.
If I need to pay for it more than once to have a better experience than FOSS, piracy, or just not having it, I’m not interested.
I paid $100 for a Plex lifetime subscription 10 years ago, not a penny since. I rave about the service to people, and get friends to sign up to use mine - and I always tell them if they like it, buy it outright. It’s stable and worth it, and if it dies tomorrow, I’d still be pleased with my purchase. If that hadn’t been an option I probably would have switched a long time ago when I learned there were FOSS options.
I’m with Windscribe and as far as I know they’re pretty secure?
Yeah I’m doing a mix of torrents and Usenet at the moment, cos I only started learning about usenet a month ago. It’s not as complicated as I thought it would be, but it does take a couple of hours to sit down and nut it out. It’s definitely not cheaper than a VPN though.
I have been thinking about building a server too, if only for the fun of it. I like learning more about computers. I’d probably just go with Jellyfin though, it seems to have a good reputation plus I’m a big fan of FOSS software.
I feel like I have to beg my friends to use my Plex server. Like what the hell? I’m offering you ~1000 movies free, and all you have to do is register for a Plex account, but for some reason registering for Plex is way too hard and confusing (even though it’s the same process as any other service).
Whatever, guess I’ll enjoy my movies myself then. 🤷
Same. The struggle is real.
That’s crazy. A friend of a friend runs a Plex server, and I’ve seen how much is on there. If he offered me access I’d be all over it.
- argv_minus_one ( @argv_minus_one@beehaw.org ) English18•2 years ago
None, because I never subscribed in the first place.
Most of my media consumption is video games, and I often revisit decades-old games, so only temporarily having access to a game is not acceptable. Neither am I interested in paying more than once to retain access to content I already paid for; that’s a scam. Perpetual license or GTFO.
I don’t generally watch movies, but if that ever changes, I’ll be buying them on disc, keeping them, and ripping them so I can play them on my Linux PC. If I can’t rip a disc because available tools can’t break the DRM, then the disc is defective as far as I’m concerned, so I’ll most likely return it for a refund without watching the movie.
I’d like to credit early-2000s Slashdot for teaching me to think this way. If everyone did, a lot of today’s problems wouldn’t exist, including the subscription scam we’re discussing in this thread. Shame what happened to that website and its community, but it was good while it lasted.
Evernote. I’m not sure why I even stayed with them for so long; probably the pain of moving after so many years. Switched to Joplin before they doubled their fees for zero new (useful) features.
Have you heard of our Lord and Savior, obsidian?
Tell me more!
Yeah, I dropped EN years ago, when they doubled (at the time) the fees after acquiring Skitch. I floated around trying to make other things work, then found Joplin in the past year or so. Haven’t looked back.
Netgear. Being told to “subscribe” for basic customer service made me get a whole new modem cause I’m not putting up with that bullshit