Asklemmy

netflix in 2016/17 when they upped the rates AND made vpn=ing much harder.

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.

My first subscription was World of Warcraft, back in vanilla and when I was a dipshit high schooler only starting to get a feel for things like managing money.

And even then, right out the gate it felt like bullshit. Did it anyway cuz peer pressure, but back then and ever since, subscriptions almost all feel like blatant ripoffs.

The phone game. Egg inc. It just updated offering a subscription for in game bonuses.

The first subscription I turned off is my gym membership 10 years ago. That was the first time I realized I was paying for air. With a few hundred dollars spread over years, I've amassed a pretty stellar home gym with machines and weights. Granted, the trade off is space.

In the digital age, really nothing. The wife has Netflix but nothing on that service does shit for me. I get a screen of Max from a close friend and in return she has access to my Plex, and I let her make requests when I go sailing the seas. Max has some ok stuff.

Anyhow, I do everything not to have a subscription to anything, minus my VPN. I also still buy blurays. Conversely, I haven't bought a physical video game in at least 5 years - so I've succumbed to convenience in that regard.

Not subscription, but the first service I thought "wtf is this money-making model?" was Plants vs Zombies 2. The game wasn't that good. And, oh, my most recent guilty pleasure is Monopoly Go; it's entertainingly boring?

Apart from that, I've tried to keep subscriptions that I really like or use constantly:

• ~~UberPass~~ Uber One (mainly for when depression hits)
• Deezer (just because I get 20% discount)
• Kagi (first month atm, but it has a minimum % of trash results)

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

I used to pay for software subscriptions. I had a subscription to Substance 3D software and then they sold their company to Adobe 🤮 so now I 🏴‍☠️

also stopped paying for Spotify after the Rogan deal. I still use the free version for the "discover weekly" playlists, and I can't tolerate ads so I use an app called Mutify which mutes the ads as soon as they start playing which is a godsend

never paid for any streaming subscriptions and never will, VPN+piracy+Plex is an objectively better experience. no ads, no content removal, no paying $$$ to rich psychopathic ghouls

2020 Design. The software costs $1500 a year.

Cable TV.

This Google 1 shit. I love my Pixel phone, but they give shit for memory options so that you are forced to pay for the experience of Gmail and saving media. Pisses me off that I can't just save it to my phone.

I guess I’m in the minority because I don’t mind subscriptions much. If I think it’s unreasonable I just won’t pay for it. Nobody is forcing me to.

Everything kind of. Netflix, Dinsey, YouTube, Prime, HBO, Spotify, Apple Music and so much more. I rather sail the seas.

When Sony Plus became required for online play on the PS4. Xbox already had similar going on at that point. The last console I have ever bought was a PS3 as a direct result of this.

I signed up for Netflix years ago. When they decided to make it cost more to let my parents share the sub I pulled the plug.

At one point I had
Spotify, Wow, Runescape, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Disney+, Amazon, and Doordash. I didnt even realize it but one day I was just like, why the fuck am I paying for all this. Cut it allllllll away. Now I just have Spotify and HBO. Not as bad and if I want to watch something on the other platforms I cancel HBO. One streaming service at a time.

Sync for Lemmy. I was looking forward for the app, but the subscription to remove ads made me stick with Connect instead.

Literally when there was only netflix and then Disney+ came out

My mobile plan. The standard is signing for 24 months. I can't really choose a plan that suits me, they stick virtually unlimited calls (which I barely use), and add mobile data that I can't use up either. Settling for less barely reduces my bill if at all for whatever reason. On top of this, despite me signing for a set fixed amount to pay, they decide to "index" an extra 10-15% every year due to "unforseen circumstances" like inflation. And every time I sign a new contract I get an extra 10% on top of my bill for the same features I don't use. Oh and they add a "happy call" where the call signal sounds like a piercing annoying very low quality melody, despite me denying the service. Switching to another telecom doesn't really remedy the problem, the other two on the market here seem worse than mine in every respect.

Looking at the prepaid features, we're looking at a 40-50% reduction in monthly fees, just paying for what I use, whenever I want to use it. It's needlessly annoying switching from a subscription to a prepaid plan. You'd have to switch telecoms for a month and switch back to the one you like the most if you want to keep your number.

So yeah, as soon as my contract expires, I'm done with renewing. I'm sick of this.

Just watching all these new subscription services for everything gave me the fatigue and started my self-hosting and actually-owning-things journey, even just paying for Netflix (when I still did) was too much for me, it didn't have everything I wanted, if it did it would remove it after a year or so, and every couple years the price would hike.