In addition to be unfriendly for users, with all the subscriptions it starts to be expensive for users.
Like where you would have bought a fixed price app before like 50$ now for the same things you will have to pay 10$ a month without even the possibility to resell the app later.
And look at things like the Xbox, you can't play a multiplayer game (that you bought) even just with your friends without having to pay a 10$ racketeering fee to Microsoft. And once you have no choice anymore, companies tend to insanely increase the fee yearly.
I’d love to see a ‘micropayments’ model. Instead of a monthly subscription, you pay a fair price based on usage. So instead of however much a month for Netflix, you pay maybe a fraction of a dollar to watch a movie. Or to listen to a song on Spotify, you pay a fraction of a penny. Maybe I’d be happy to pay WSJ a few cents to read this article if it were a quick and painless user experience.
With this I don’t have to juggle subscriptions and pay for something I don’t use. Companies could set the rates at a level that would generate the same amount of revenue.
I think you're the only one who wants that, though. They've tried that again and again and nobody uses it.
Though I can't quite put my finger on why, psychologically, I'm so less willing to fork over $3.99 to Amazon to watch a movie when I was perfectly happy to fork over that same $3.99 to Blockbuster for a physical block of plastic that I had to bring back in the same state they gave it to me.
While physical media feels more valuable because you can hold it, share it with people etc, I'd suggest you didn't pay $3.99 for the video at Blockbuster, you paid for the event of going to the store, browsing the titles, maybe discussing with your friends/family what you want to see, grab some popcorn, there's trailers on the TVs. It feels a lot more special than just scrolling through Netflix
And it’s not nostalgia. You can go to the blockbuster in bend Oregon that still exists and see that it’s simply fun to walk around and see the movies. It’s just that in the back of your mind you know you can stream everything you find from somewhere.
> Companies could set the rates at a level that would generate the same amount of revenue.
How would you even begin to compute this though?
If you have 1 million users paying $15 a month in the subscription model then you're making $15 million (minus taxes, processing fees, etc - spherical cow, no wind resistance for the rest of these examples).
How would you even begin to know what to price a per-vice price across the board to match that with 1 million users?
One of the things I've noticed around here is that there are a lot of new automated car washes popping up. They have two ways you can pay - per wash and monthly subscription. The car wash always prefers that you pay a monthly subscription That keeps their income steady, means they don't have to send home workers by the middle of the day if there's not enough work for them, and on days when it's raining they're not losing money by staying open.
Remember the whole micro-payments thing that the web tried? It failed miserably. The issue isn't spending 10 cents versus 10 dollars, it's the hurdle of getting anyone to spend anything at all.
The subscription system is a good way to generate income for developers, but it is somewhat unfriendly to users. Users will always forget the products they have subscribed to before, and users will feel that they have lost a lot of money in vain. Sometimes, some users will report you due to automatic subscription issues, resulting in the payment account being banned. I hope there will be revenue models other than advertising, subscriptions, alliances, and donations. Every product needs to find a good revenue model.
The shift from one-time payments to subscriptions has felt to me like the shift from email to Slack/Discord. I can't keep up. Just saw an ad on TV about an app, just to keep track of your subscriptions!
Thank goodness for one-time payment software+apps, and physical media!
This is one of the main reasons why I avoid subscriptions like the plague. The overhead of keeping track of them is so much more work than its worth. The other reason is that I generally prefer to avoid fixed recurring expenses, particularly small ones.
> Thank goodness for one-time payment software+apps, and physical media!
I agree. I am glad there are still options that I consider reasonable.
I try to mostly immediately cancel on signup now. At least for yearly ones. Too easy to get caught in the 75% off and auto renew at full price trap otherwise
I like how OpenAI API price model work, you pay X amount then use the service until you run out of the charged amount then you can charge it again.
Actually it is how Telecom companies price model worked since decades, and probably the most fairly model, you are not charged while not using the service and the service provider get paid up front instead of at the end of the month
That’s for the all access package with news, talk, and sports. If you just want music it’s $10 a month, which is much more reasonable. Plus, it’s been my experience that if you’re willing to call them and go through the charade of threatening to cancel they’ll give you a better deal.
I will typically advocate for digital envelope budgeting in general, but certainly this practice helps keep you informed of your subscriptions so you "feel" them every time.
This comes to no surprise due to my personal views.
I much rather want to be reminded to losing money, then having to remember to stop losing money. One naturally gives me peace of mind, the other is just stressful.
In addition to be unfriendly for users, with all the subscriptions it starts to be expensive for users.
Like where you would have bought a fixed price app before like 50$ now for the same things you will have to pay 10$ a month without even the possibility to resell the app later.
And look at things like the Xbox, you can't play a multiplayer game (that you bought) even just with your friends without having to pay a 10$ racketeering fee to Microsoft. And once you have no choice anymore, companies tend to insanely increase the fee yearly.
I’d love to see a ‘micropayments’ model. Instead of a monthly subscription, you pay a fair price based on usage. So instead of however much a month for Netflix, you pay maybe a fraction of a dollar to watch a movie. Or to listen to a song on Spotify, you pay a fraction of a penny. Maybe I’d be happy to pay WSJ a few cents to read this article if it were a quick and painless user experience.
With this I don’t have to juggle subscriptions and pay for something I don’t use. Companies could set the rates at a level that would generate the same amount of revenue.
I feel people don't want the feeling of expending money when using a service. It just makes using the service feel bad.
Although that's how electricity and water "subscriptions" work.
Electricity and water are things that we don’t mind (or even want) people using less of. The same can’t really be said for Spotify etc.
And my electric company/water company offer ability to pay single amount per month which is average of your 12 month bill.
So it’s clear people dislike that model as well.
> pay a fair price based on usage
I think you're the only one who wants that, though. They've tried that again and again and nobody uses it.
Though I can't quite put my finger on why, psychologically, I'm so less willing to fork over $3.99 to Amazon to watch a movie when I was perfectly happy to fork over that same $3.99 to Blockbuster for a physical block of plastic that I had to bring back in the same state they gave it to me.
While physical media feels more valuable because you can hold it, share it with people etc, I'd suggest you didn't pay $3.99 for the video at Blockbuster, you paid for the event of going to the store, browsing the titles, maybe discussing with your friends/family what you want to see, grab some popcorn, there's trailers on the TVs. It feels a lot more special than just scrolling through Netflix
And it’s not nostalgia. You can go to the blockbuster in bend Oregon that still exists and see that it’s simply fun to walk around and see the movies. It’s just that in the back of your mind you know you can stream everything you find from somewhere.
> Companies could set the rates at a level that would generate the same amount of revenue.
How would you even begin to compute this though?
If you have 1 million users paying $15 a month in the subscription model then you're making $15 million (minus taxes, processing fees, etc - spherical cow, no wind resistance for the rest of these examples).
How would you even begin to know what to price a per-vice price across the board to match that with 1 million users?
One of the things I've noticed around here is that there are a lot of new automated car washes popping up. They have two ways you can pay - per wash and monthly subscription. The car wash always prefers that you pay a monthly subscription That keeps their income steady, means they don't have to send home workers by the middle of the day if there's not enough work for them, and on days when it's raining they're not losing money by staying open.
flattr is dead, probably for a good reason. Maybe it was unfeasible, maybe it was greed, but it was there and worked.
Remember the whole micro-payments thing that the web tried? It failed miserably. The issue isn't spending 10 cents versus 10 dollars, it's the hurdle of getting anyone to spend anything at all.
https://www.cnet.com/tech/tech-industry/micropayments-the-bu...
The subscription system is a good way to generate income for developers, but it is somewhat unfriendly to users. Users will always forget the products they have subscribed to before, and users will feel that they have lost a lot of money in vain. Sometimes, some users will report you due to automatic subscription issues, resulting in the payment account being banned. I hope there will be revenue models other than advertising, subscriptions, alliances, and donations. Every product needs to find a good revenue model.
The shift from one-time payments to subscriptions has felt to me like the shift from email to Slack/Discord. I can't keep up. Just saw an ad on TV about an app, just to keep track of your subscriptions!
Thank goodness for one-time payment software+apps, and physical media!
This is one of the main reasons why I avoid subscriptions like the plague. The overhead of keeping track of them is so much more work than its worth. The other reason is that I generally prefer to avoid fixed recurring expenses, particularly small ones.
> Thank goodness for one-time payment software+apps, and physical media!
I agree. I am glad there are still options that I consider reasonable.
I try to mostly immediately cancel on signup now. At least for yearly ones. Too easy to get caught in the 75% off and auto renew at full price trap otherwise
Looking at you The Economist
I like how OpenAI API price model work, you pay X amount then use the service until you run out of the charged amount then you can charge it again.
Actually it is how Telecom companies price model worked since decades, and probably the most fairly model, you are not charged while not using the service and the service provider get paid up front instead of at the end of the month
https://archive.is/QCCGm
$25 a month for a satellite radio sub is insane. That along since most people have a phone no wonder they're losing subscribers.
That’s for the all access package with news, talk, and sports. If you just want music it’s $10 a month, which is much more reasonable. Plus, it’s been my experience that if you’re willing to call them and go through the charade of threatening to cancel they’ll give you a better deal.
I will typically advocate for digital envelope budgeting in general, but certainly this practice helps keep you informed of your subscriptions so you "feel" them every time.
The irony of this article being behind a subscription paywall is hilarious.
-- "Continue reading your article with a WSJ subscription"
the joke practically writes itself
A bit like that Wired article about how the web became unreadable: https://i.imgur.com/xZFeFa3.png
(2023) Discussion (68 points, 52 comments) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35546133
I just set up a reminder to cancel every 3 months. At least I have to dismiss it.
This comes to no surprise due to my personal views.
I much rather want to be reminded to losing money, then having to remember to stop losing money. One naturally gives me peace of mind, the other is just stressful.