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If I can't own it then I'm not buying it. Period, end. Full stop. This is why I don't use services such as Spotify. This is also why I still buy DVD's and Blu-

If I can't own it then I'm not buying it. Period, end. Full stop. This is why I don't use services such as Spotify. This is also why I still buy DVD's and Blu-Ray. You can make fun of me all you want but at least I own these things and I don't have to keep paying for them ad infinitum. That's also why I use software such as LibreOffice and Gimp. These tools are installed on my machine and I can use them whenever I want for as long as I want. I don't have to keep paying to continue using them. I pay them when I upgrade. Bottom line, I'm not against paying for things so long as I own them. I'm against subscribing to durable goods. At the rate this nonsense is going Ryobi is going to start demanding a subscription for me to continue using my mitre saw. Nonsense!

adlpz 4y ago
I believe it makes sense to pay a subscription for fungible, consumable things. That includes running water, access to the internet, electricity and also, for me, music and media in general. It's very rare for me to want to own a TV show or particular music album, I kind of just browse and consume and move on to something else. Maybe for some very specific movies or albums I rewatch/listen to a lot I'll go ahead and purchase them individually. But the key is that in none of those valid cases I'm purchasing anything outright. Once I do, I expect no subscriptions for it or any of it's features. Otherwise what was the point of buying it? Just let me rent it.
Sohcahtoa82 4y ago
> This is why I don't use services such as Spotify. This is also why I still buy DVD's and Blu-Ray. Heh...I'm very much the opposite. I don't want DVDs and Blu-Rays taking up space, especially since I rarely watch a movie more than once or twice. I'd much rather pay for Netflix. When it comes to music, while I have a few favorite bands, I also like the discovery that something like Spotify has, where I can just tell it to play a bunch of music from a specific genre and not have to purchase individual songs/albums and create playlists and folder structures to organize it all. Music streaming is here to stay. If Spotify dies, it'll be because it's getting replaced by something else, and then I'll just switch to them. > Bottom line, I'm not against paying for things so long as I own them. I'm against subscribing to durable goods. Agreed. I think the difference is that I'm not really interested in buying music, and instead, I'm perfectly happy renting access to a massive music library. > At the rate this nonsense is going Ryobi is going to start demanding a subscription for me to continue using my mitre saw. Nonsense! 100% If something costs $0 for the company to maintain, then there's no valid reason to charge a subscription beyond increasing profits.
fragsworth 4y ago
Spotify will even remove your songs from you when the musicians change their minds about it. It's pretty annoying, but most people don't care enough about their music libaries to need to own a real copy. The convenience is real and for things like music the benefits outweigh the costs.
e40 4y ago
Spotify is one of the highest value subscriptions I have. For $16 (I think) my family gets music, all they can listen to, and 2 of us listen to it all the time.
vel0city 4y ago
As someone else mentioned, my movie and music subscriptions are about the highest value entertainment I consume. Most of that content is stuff I probably won't watch more than once or twice, but having fresh content is what I care most about. I probably watch at least 2-4 movies a week and a few episodes of some TV show. Each movie on Blu-Ray would probably cost at least $10, probably at least a season a month of TV so maybe $30-40 for TV? In total at least $150/mo if I were to buy that content on physical media for just video media just for things I'll probably never care to watch again. But in the end I just have two $10/mo streaming subscriptions at a time and maybe rent a movie or two for $5/ea, so probably $25/mo on average. Extrapolate that out for a year and that's $1,800 for plastic discs I'll probably never use again versus $300 for streaming. Across 5 years that's $7,500 extra to have a bunch of physical media I'll probably never put back in a player. Its even more insane to think about with music CDs. I probably listen to 20-30 new albums a month. If each of those were needing to buy physical CDs at $10/ea, that's $200+/mo. Instead, I pay Spotify $12/mo for two accounts between my wife and me. I still buy the occasional album or movie on physical media and treasure it. If I were to limit myself to only physical media it would drastically change my listening and viewing habits though, to an absolutely massive effect. I wouldn't listen to nearly as much music and I wouldn't watch nearly as many movies. If the library near me closed, I'd probably also not read nearly as many books.

adlpz 4y ago

I believe it makes sense to pay a subscription for fungible, consumable things. That includes running water, access to the internet, electricity and also, for me, music and media in general. It's very rare for me to want to own a TV show or particular music album, I kind of just browse and consume and move on to something else. Maybe for some very specific movies or albums I rewatch/listen to a lot I'll go ahead and purchase them individually. But the key is that in none of those valid cases I'm purchasing anything outright. Once I do, I expect no subscriptions for it or any of it's features. Otherwise what was the point of buying it? Just let me rent it.

Sohcahtoa82 4y ago

> This is why I don't use services such as Spotify. This is also why I still buy DVD's and Blu-Ray. Heh...I'm very much the opposite. I don't want DVDs and Blu-Rays taking up space, especially since I rarely watch a movie more than once or twice. I'd much rather pay for Netflix. When it comes to music, while I have a few favorite bands, I also like the discovery that something like Spotify has, where I can just tell it to play a bunch of music from a specific genre and not have to purchase individual songs/albums and create playlists and folder structures to organize it all. Music streaming is here to stay. If Spotify dies, it'll be because it's getting replaced by something else, and then I'll just switch to them. > Bottom line, I'm not against paying for things so long as I own them. I'm against subscribing to durable goods. Agreed. I think the difference is that I'm not really interested in buying music, and instead, I'm perfectly happy renting access to a massive music library. > At the rate this nonsense is going Ryobi is going to start demanding a subscription for me to continue using my mitre saw. Nonsense! 100% If something costs $0 for the company to maintain, then there's no valid reason to charge a subscription beyond increasing profits.

fragsworth 4y ago

Spotify will even remove your songs from you when the musicians change their minds about it. It's pretty annoying, but most people don't care enough about their music libaries to need to own a real copy. The convenience is real and for things like music the benefits outweigh the costs.

e40 4y ago

Spotify is one of the highest value subscriptions I have. For $16 (I think) my family gets music, all they can listen to, and 2 of us listen to it all the time.

vel0city 4y ago

As someone else mentioned, my movie and music subscriptions are about the highest value entertainment I consume. Most of that content is stuff I probably won't watch more than once or twice, but having fresh content is what I care most about. I probably watch at least 2-4 movies a week and a few episodes of some TV show. Each movie on Blu-Ray would probably cost at least $10, probably at least a season a month of TV so maybe $30-40 for TV? In total at least $150/mo if I were to buy that content on physical media for just video media just for things I'll probably never care to watch again. But in the end I just have two $10/mo streaming subscriptions at a time and maybe rent a movie or two for $5/ea, so probably $25/mo on average. Extrapolate that out for a year and that's $1,800 for plastic discs I'll probably never use again versus $300 for streaming. Across 5 years that's $7,500 extra to have a bunch of physical media I'll probably never put back in a player. Its even more insane to think about with music CDs. I probably listen to 20-30 new albums a month. If each of those were needing to buy physical CDs at $10/ea, that's $200+/mo. Instead, I pay Spotify $12/mo for two accounts between my wife and me. I still buy the occasional album or movie on physical media and treasure it. If I were to limit myself to only physical media it would drastically change my listening and viewing habits though, to an absolutely massive effect. I wouldn't listen to nearly as much music and I wouldn't watch nearly as many movies. If the library near me closed, I'd probably also not read nearly as many books.