I think most people consider a subscription to be something that you pay for on a recurring basis. obviously you can "subscribe" to channels on YouTube without

I think most people consider a subscription to be something that you pay for on a recurring basis. obviously you can "subscribe" to channels on YouTube without paying anything, but I'd say this is outside the typical usage of the word. if I bought a game in 2005 and it received some patches, I wouldn't have considered myself a "subscriber" to a "service". no idea how this lines up with the legal definition, though.