What are some things you are subscribed to that make a service worthwhile in keeping?
I only have a few I can say is worth-it but worth it in a more conserving sense, like pumping-the-brakes kind of deal. Not something you would want on all of the time.,
- Amazon Prime.
People may be split on Amazon for activist reasons or what have you, but I find it difficult to argue against what benefits that is brought from it. I sparingly use Prime and get it only when I have things I want to shop for that will be best used with it. I don’t personally use Video, Music or what have you.
- All Streaming Services (Only if you have a work-around)
Subscribing to any base streaming service plan with ads is worthless, but worth it if you use an HDMI cable from PC to TV or whatever configuration. Then watch through a browser that kills advertisements.
Worthless Subscriptions
Spotify
You’re only paying for the privilege to skip songs which should be a basic right of usage. Podcasts still aren’t exempt from advertisements. Features provided aren’t really that exciting to use.
Sirius XM
I just re-subscribed to this for $1 and might be personal taste, but I listen to the comedy channels. I don’t go anywhere else because I find that the music-based channels played things I don’t typically like or can vibe with.
Discord Nitro
You’re just paying for cosmetic junk which also all have separate price tags and other useless profile things that some of which, obstruct profiles so it is pointless. Only provides minor perks to video, audio and file capability. You also get to use emotes, that you can barely see anyways, in any server you’re in (unless mobile).
All news-based ones
Why pay for journalism that is all but dead and biased these days?
X-Box Game Pass
Bit 50/50 on this one. On one hand, trying out so many games is a perk, but, it also works against itself because you could be isolated by choice and what limit you have to work with.
Gym Memberships
Very parasitic and predatory. They all lock you into contracts and pretend that they’re like your car dealership or even your apartment landlord into these year-long subscription models. They prey on you not using their facility, they charge you annual fees and other fees you don’t know about. The only way out of them is to pay the remaining balance of the subscription or other scheming means. Very few out there actually let you cancel.
I think jurnisilm is worth it if you are funding good publications such as 404 Media and Wired (mixed but mostly positive).
Drug Science. A campaign to improve drug literacy and advocate for novel therapy, harm reduction, decriminalisation and legalisation via podcasts, mass meetings and seminars by experts in neuroscience, psychopharmakinetics, pharmacology and related fields.
Wikipedia, duh. It works because it’s free of advertising and corporate influence. That costs money and I am a happy subscriber.
Electronic Frontier Foundation. A campaign to defend our right to privacy and freedom from exploitation in the digital space.
Sustrans. A campaign to maintain, improve and extend the alternatives to using cars and make a humane and ecologically sustainable transport network.
I try to minimize how many I have. I consider Internet/Phone utilities so not on the list.
Debrid service: Pirate VOD streaming for very cheap hooked to to Stremio which also gets me access to live TV broadcasts. I use Premiumize personally since RealDebrid revealed their true colours under legal threat. Slightly higher price but they’re a package deal with debrid, vpn, cloud storage, couple other things I don’t use.
Amazon: I use their free Prime trials to buy Zeolite cat litter (simply not available within Canada and I think it’s unfortunate because it’s the best and cheapest long term) and then cancel right away so it doesn’t renew. I try to buy from Canadian stores or at least non-USA as much as possible now. They offer free Prime trials aggressively to get people back on month subscriptions even if you cancel all the time. When Prime is active, I redeem all the free games giveaways on Prime Gaming. A shit ton BTW, way more than Epic gives out. Usually they’re keys for GOG and Epic. Some on Amazon’s own client. Heroic Launcher supports all 3. I’m not regularly subbed yet I’ve redeemed 443 games across those three, although that also includes Epic’s own giveaways from their own client which are separate from what Amazon gives away. Will I play any? Yes, a tiny % of them lol. Not a lot of shovelware either. Mainly however, it’s for cat litter :P
HelloFresh: Temporary, learning to cook /w my roommate and fix my shitty diet which caught up to me. Actually saving money because I ate take out and ordered delivery all the time before this. Bad habits. This has been going well.
That’s it. I have 3 but only a Debrid service is a regular.
I have the space for a home gym and built one with used hardware, I agree memberships are a negative experience when you go to cancel them at least where I live.
I don’t stream music besides from my Youtube playlist on ReVanced. Generally I either pirate via rutracker or buy music on Bandcamp as vinyl and/or digital. Buying vinyl gets you the digital release anyways as well quite often. I also stream internet radio. My main is CKUA and roadhome.fm
Also refused to pay for console online play memberships, with one exception where I played the crap out of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe online for 3 months in a row once all the DLC track packs were out, then cancelled again. I stick to PC gaming generally. I don’t think it’s justified for corps to charge for online play and I’ve mostly stuck to my guns on that shit. I made that decision in response to Xbox 360 vs PS3.
VPN for sure. Amazon you can use without Prime. Just wait until your total purchase hits $35 and delivery is free. I don’t have it myself, but I heard Youtube Premium is worth it because you get youtube and youtube music, so essentially 2 services for the price of one.
used to be 25$, they figured people spent alot more when its 35.
While Spotify is the last service I would choose anymore for my music provider, it only lets you skip songs? Definitely not true. Like any major music service, it lets you build a library, listen to unabridged albums, make playlists, etc. Not sure where this point is coming from.
Music streaming from a provider that prides themselves on artist support like Deezer or Tidal also have all these features. Music streaming is one of the few services I struggle to imagine not paying for.
I personally use Apple Music since they actually pay relatively decent per stream and obviously integrates well.
You only read one line in before shilling apple? Lol
I am not sure why people subscribe to Music streaming services. My ex said it was to discover new music, but I do that via YT and friends. Other than that I just have 10 to 20 GB of music on my phone. No subscription, always available. Connects to all my devices. I just don’t get the point. Maybe if I didn’t have a PC it would be slightly more difficult to set up and add/remove music. But other than that?
Because you have an enormous library of music, available on any device, instantly without having to download it and transfer it to the device you want to play it on. Also collaborative playlists are pretty sweet, and artist radios to help discover new music based on an artist you like. The vast majority of people don’t want to get their PC out to do all this stuff manually.
Spotify completely stopped me pirating music, never looked back.
