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Ask HN: Anyone tired of everything being a subscription now?

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Re: Ask HN: Anyone tired of everything being a subscription now?

#441

Post by quickthrower2 »

imhoguy wrote: post #111
outcoldman wrote: post #88

I just wish subscription model would be more friendly for the individual entrepreneurs. Have an hourly/daily renting model. For example, I pay for IntelliJ, which is my primary tool, and I see the value of what I am paying for. Right now, the price is ~200/year, and will be ok actually paying 10x of that as well. On other hand, I also used to pay for Sketch, Adobe Suite, Parallels, which I used only 1-2 months a year…

It is still better than it was before, imagine you had to buy Adobe PS as a beginner, or you could just pir.... now you know why subscriptions.

When they let you pirate, they let you on purpose, it is like an unofficial free trial, with the option to sue you to boot!

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tired of everything being a subscription now?

#442

Post by altereds »

crazygringo wrote: post #40

Not really, because I saw too many software companies go out of business because not enough people wound up upgrading to the next major version -- the ownership model of software can be awfully feast-or-famine for developers' income, it's a very tough/risky business model. Generally speaking, I'm happy to pay a subscription because this way I get a steady stream of all the updates, and it's much more likely the compa…

>Not really, because I saw too many software companies go out of business because not enough people wound up upgrading to the next major version -- the ownership model of software can be awfully feast-or-famine for developers' income, it's a very tough/risky business model.

If the Monthly Recurring Revenue is a make or break for companies that provide the software, then inversely the Monthly Recurring Expense would also be a make or break factor for customers or business using the service. Buy once may reduce the overall cost for customers and allow them to invest in upgrades only when their revenue is better.

There has to be balance and empathy for the customer too..

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tired of everything being a subscription now?

#443

Post by chillfox »

moonchrome wrote: post #359
Fire-Dragon-DoL wrote: post #308

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lastpass didn't deliver a single improvement, but they did double the yearly price

Switch to 1password or something else ? That's the nice part about subscription - when it's about to expire it's easy to switch. Just make absolutely sure you remove payment info from that scammer site - they charged me for a year after I canceled and supposedly "refunded me" when I went to support forums- but never actually saw money refund. Couldn't be bothered to go further but just the fact that they will charge…

How do you figure moving hundreds of passwords + shared passwords (requires other people to also move) from one solution to another is easy.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tired of everything being a subscription now?

#444

Post by thot_experiment »

bestnameever wrote: post #428
horsawlarway wrote: post #390

Earlier quoted context omitted.

These are mostly non-sequiturs, with some plausible cases. For example - I don't think subscription licensing for media is moral, and I think legally it's a rife place for some serious case law. Simple example - Recording shows for personal consumption (time shifting) is absolutely allowed under current copyright law. If I subscribe to netflix for a month and record every show I want to watch to my personal NAS... I'…

> But... what if I really do want a moral way to consume netflix content at a later date for a non-recurring, non-changed-at-their-whim cost? Well - sucks to be me because there's literally no way to buy it. I think that's also fairly immoral. I'm literally being held captive to a subscription for eternity, with no way to negotiate the deal, and the real loss of any catalogue item at any time with no recourse. Moral?…

Sure but buying a DVD isn't great either as it has a real destroying the earth cost for something that can be delivered to me using a negligible amount of energy digitally. I don't think there's a way of getting movies/tv shows reasonably in 2022, though I don't mind paying for, and do pay for subscription services such as Netflix, I just pirate the content anyway because it's a much better user experience.

At least it's still mostly possible to buy a set of *.flac files when you want some music.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tired of everything being a subscription now?

#445

Post by redox99 »

AlexandrB wrote: post #56
crazygringo wrote: post #40

Not really, because I saw too many software companies go out of business because not enough people wound up upgrading to the next major version -- the ownership model of software can be awfully feast-or-famine for developers' income, it's a very tough/risky business model. Generally speaking, I'm happy to pay a subscription because this way I get a steady stream of all the updates, and it's much more likely the compa…

It's so much worse when a subscription business fails. You can lose access to your data with very little notice to migrate. At least standalone software keeps working for a while after the company maintaining it is gone.

That's a cloud vs desktop distinction, not a subscription vs buy once.

If Adobe went out of business, you wouldn't lose any local stuff.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tired of everything being a subscription now?

#446

Post by trinsic2 »

crazygringo wrote: post #40

Not really, because I saw too many software companies go out of business because not enough people wound up upgrading to the next major version -- the ownership model of software can be awfully feast-or-famine for developers' income, it's a very tough/risky business model. Generally speaking, I'm happy to pay a subscription because this way I get a steady stream of all the updates, and it's much more likely the compa…

IMHO it feels like the subscription model in many cases (not all of them) protects a developer from having to innovate and deliver other products. In the real world you shouldn't expect to get unlimited income from one type of product regardless of Whether or not you are maintaining it. There is a saturation point.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tired of everything being a subscription now?

#447

Post by seanp2k2 »

crazygringo wrote: post #40

Not really, because I saw too many software companies go out of business because not enough people wound up upgrading to the next major version -- the ownership model of software can be awfully feast-or-famine for developers' income, it's a very tough/risky business model. Generally speaking, I'm happy to pay a subscription because this way I get a steady stream of all the updates, and it's much more likely the compa…

I feel that the “support / updates” subscription model allows a constant stream of income for devs while still allowing one to “own” a given version. There are things like Bitwig (DAW) that sell the initial product for $300ish and that comes with 12 months of updates and priority support. You get to “keep” the latest version that falls within that update window (and IIRC that means major versions, so you get any future point releases / security updates). If you want to renew, it’s something around $120-160 for another 12 months of updates. This seems more or less fair to me; active users who continue to benefit from updates contribute to development, and people who just need it for a while plus occasional users not getting that much value out of it get to use that again in the future if they need, without “losing” anything unlike with traditional subscriptions.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tired of everything being a subscription now?

#448

Post by seanp2k2 »

winternett wrote: post #433
pdntspa wrote: post #309

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> shuffle the songs according to highest streaming royalty for Spotify FTFY

It also happens with my music player when playing my own library of music, it has actually gotten that bad that even random no longer works as it should. This is why I kept all of my old CDs, Mp3s, and DVDs... One day we're going to have to boycott everything and it will be painful for those who only had subscriptions on entertainment & productivity apps. I'll load up windows 98 if I have to! I'll do it again!

If, by painful, you mean “the need to plug in that old HDD with 100k MP3s”, keep up ratio on private trackers, and end up finding tons of amazing music again, all completely free to do anything I want with, then sure :)

Squeezebox Server was awesome, and these days it’s way easier and more accessible to host a media server and playback in ways you want.

Re: Ask HN: Anyone tired of everything being a subscription now?

#449

Post by steve_adams_86 »

It depends. There are some products which are so excellent that I want to continue funding development because I know it’s an investment in a great tool from a great company.

Other products aren’t so compelling and I hardly even want or need it, but not having access proves to be inconvenient at times. I’ll pay for a month here and there. I’ll occasionally forget to unsubscribe when I don’t need it.

That’s where I’m a little torn. At least I can get access when I need it rather than paying a lump sum. At the same time, $25 for a month of access when I’m only using it for 2 hours feels like bad value as well.

Also, some developers out there aren’t doing subscriptions but I almost wish they would so I could continue funding them.

Definitely mixed feelings about it.

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