Learned the term recently and really enjoy it, subscription fatigue is the feeling we all have had now where we are just over how everything is subscription based.
Which one was the last straw or most annoying/frustrating to you?
Old school runescape charging $120 a year. I get that they make new content but that’s the cost of a AAA game each year.
It’s only $80 USD if you buy the full year at once but yeah it’s definitely on the expensive side. I get more fun out of some $20 games than I do out of RS.
I would be happy paying $60 a year for my main and then I could justify paying some extra for my ironman to be members.
My mobile plan. The standard is signing for 24 months. I can’t really choose a plan that suits me, they stick virtually unlimited calls (which I barely use), and add mobile data that I can’t use up either. Settling for less barely reduces my bill if at all for whatever reason. On top of this, despite me signing for a set fixed amount to pay, they decide to “index” an extra 10-15% every year due to “unforseen circumstances” like inflation. And every time I sign a new contract I get an extra 10% on top of my bill for the same features I don’t use. Oh and they add a “happy call” where the call signal sounds like a piercing annoying very low quality melody, despite me denying the service. Switching to another telecom doesn’t really remedy the problem, the other two on the market here seem worse than mine in every respect.
Looking at the prepaid features, we’re looking at a 40-50% reduction in monthly fees, just paying for what I use, whenever I want to use it. It’s needlessly annoying switching from a subscription to a prepaid plan. You’d have to switch telecoms for a month and switch back to the one you like the most if you want to keep your number.
So yeah, as soon as my contract expires, I’m done with renewing. I’m sick of this.
We PC gamers do not tolerate that nonsense. Join us!
Same, they removed one of the big reason I played on PS3, I’ve had a 360 too but never paid gold for the online, now I’m PC all the way, it wasn’t too hard because I always preferred PC.
I bought a new PC in 2021 (because building was hard due to supply shortages) and it came with GamePass Ultimate. When I combined my existing Xbox Gold subscription, it gave me something like 1.5 years worth of GamePass Ultimate, which was really great! Once that subscription expired, I had saved up for a year worth of another subscription up front, but noticed they only offered month-to-month at that point. I realized I wasn’t playing GamePass games enough to warrant the subscription (might have been different if I could install on my Steam Deck, not through a Windows install or streaming).
Once that GamePass subscription came up, and then Netflix started cracking down on password sharing that I was sharing with my sister in the next city over, it made me question a lot of recurring subscription. For streaming TV shows/movies, I think going forward we’ll have one service subscribed to but bouncing around to catch up on shows that my wife and I may want to watch. For GamePass, I’ll probably resubscribe once Starfield comes out.
Your idea for resubcribing to gamepass is an idea everyone should use for every subscription. Only pay for a subscription if there’s something on it that you want and stop paying for it when there’s nothing on it that you want.
Adobe
Just watching all these new subscription services for everything gave me the fatigue and started my self-hosting and actually-owning-things journey, even just paying for Netflix (when I still did) was too much for me, it didn’t have everything I wanted, if it did it would remove it after a year or so, and every couple years the price would hike.
Alarm clock apps that require a subscription. Basically any app that doesn’t require backend server infrastructure to function should not be subscription based.
There are alarm clock apps requiring a subscription now? Good heavens.
HBO Max and Spotify were the only streaming services I paid for. I had HBO Max since the first few months of it’s launch but when they raised the already high fee I cancelled it. Shortly after they changed it to Max, definitely don’t regret it. HBO Max used to feel special but that specialness died.
To be honest, sporify is the only one I actually use. But I get a fuck ton of use out of it. I used to be able to use Netflix without paying for it. Bit it just didn’t really work for me
Ignoring anything I subscribe online for and can’t cancel example (Just cancelled my cable internet was more painful than ID like)?
Any service that tries to auto deliver me another product in a monthly and won’t let me order one without the auto replenish. (Example: Meal services and the like you tubers like to promote, but I’ve been seeing many things attempt this lately)
I had a free Google Workspace account used for my family email since the inception of the program. Over a few years it went from free to USD$12 per user, with increasing restrictions put upon it.
From that point onwards, I never trusted any product from Google, and will never consider any in future. It’s a company with no internal consistency, and has the motto of “we will do anything that’s evil if it helps make us look better than Apple”.
Yes I’m still salty about it.
Most recently tho, Netflix.
I never made it past Netflix. Once the quality started sliding and prices went up, it was back to the high seas for me. I guess I still have to pay for a VPN service though 🤷
This is basically my experience as well.
Tho I won’t be paying for a vpn service anymore now that PIA sold out, I’m going to set up the automated stuff and subscribe to Usenet indexers or whatever (I haven’t had a lot of time to look into it yet, but I have a bunch of info saved from a very kind person who helped me) instead because they will do what I want a lot better, automatically, and less risky apparently - no uploading and no seed ratio to maintain.
Beyond that, I do have a ps+ premium account because I will easily play $86 worth of games in a year (already have in the 2 months I’ve had it, with no effort of going to a place and hoping to find the games used. Im a collector, but I’m also not well off financially) but I otherwise go out of my way to avoid subscriptions and recurring payments.
If I need to pay for it more than once to have a better experience than FOSS, piracy, or just not having it, I’m not interested.
I paid $100 for a Plex lifetime subscription 10 years ago, not a penny since. I rave about the service to people, and get friends to sign up to use mine - and I always tell them if they like it, buy it outright. It’s stable and worth it, and if it dies tomorrow, I’d still be pleased with my purchase. If that hadn’t been an option I probably would have switched a long time ago when I learned there were FOSS options.
I have a PIA account… I didn’t hear what happened. What changed?
I read something about they are under new ownership and keeping logs now, despite saying they don’t (they aren’t in a privacy-friendly sort of place). This was like 6mths ago. I can’t find anything about it now, so I’m not entirely sure what’s true, but it’s enough to spook me on it either way.
Additionally, for me at least, the service was being blocked a ton more than used to happen (couldn’t access a lot of the sites I was using it for) and it doesn’t seem the client has been updated in ages.
It’s probably fine, but it’s not worth it for me anymore.
Ah ok. I’ll certainly keep my eyes and ears open and bounce too if needed. Thank you!
I feel like I have to beg my friends to use my Plex server. Like what the hell? I’m offering you ~1000 movies free, and all you have to do is register for a Plex account, but for some reason registering for Plex is way too hard and confusing (even though it’s the same process as any other service).
Whatever, guess I’ll enjoy my movies myself then. 🤷
That’s crazy. A friend of a friend runs a Plex server, and I’ve seen how much is on there. If he offered me access I’d be all over it.
Same. The struggle is real.
I’m with Windscribe and as far as I know they’re pretty secure?
Yeah I’m doing a mix of torrents and Usenet at the moment, cos I only started learning about usenet a month ago. It’s not as complicated as I thought it would be, but it does take a couple of hours to sit down and nut it out. It’s definitely not cheaper than a VPN though.
I have been thinking about building a server too, if only for the fun of it. I like learning more about computers. I’d probably just go with Jellyfin though, it seems to have a good reputation plus I’m a big fan of FOSS software.
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It started with the Netflix enshittification. I have had a Spotify and Netflix account essentially since these services were available, and that was great. Now only the Spotify sub is worth it, though I started to loathe that one as well because it at some point deleted all my local files or replaced them with what it thought matched them in their database.
Also every fucking app, no matter how mundane, wants to sell me a subscription. I have a web based game boy emulator on my phone, it works fine but everything beyond the absolute basic functions is paywalled behind a subscription. Not even a one time purchase.
Bro. RetroArch, gambatte or MGBA core. Thank me later.
if you truly need something web based, eclipse is completely free.
Enshittification didn’t kill Netflix. What killed it was all the studios pulling their content licenses so they could start their own Netflix. Enshittification happened afterwards as Netflix desperately tried to make itself constantly profitable. They killed a lot of good shows and messed with the algorithm that showed people what they actually wanted to see.
I know what happened, I was there… Guess I should have used a different term for all the content being in one place for a good price shifting to being in a dozen places for exorbitant prices each than enshittification.
I’m torn between feeling bad for Netflix because they tried to do something cool and got the rug pulled out from under them as soon as it started to work, and mad at them for fucking up their algorithm and studio so badly
If it requires a subscription, it doesn’t exist.
That attitude has served me well. So far, at least.
I don’t do mail though, I know some do and are successful but mail is too important for me (and everyone subjected to my technical whims) to fuck it up.
I meant software and media. With mail, somebody’s running a server and policing spammers, which costs time and money.
Weather apps.
omg even weather apps now? 🤣😭
They’re one of my exceptions. The API/data needed for weather apps to function is not free (at least in the US), with the possible exception of NOAA, though I’m not sure if they offer an API for apps to use.
That’s why the developers have to pass the cost on. If you’ve got a free weather app, you’re probably paying for it with ad views. I’m personally not interested in doing that, so I chose an app I liked that lets me choose which source I want to use and customise the display.
Another thing I have a subscription for is a flight tracker. Operating ADS-B receivers is also not free, nor is additional data some apps get about delays and the like.
I also have a WoW subscription because servers are an ongoing cost (not factoring in continual development and new features even within a single expansion) but won’t keep paying for single player games. My purchase should cover development costs and the cost of fixing bugs.
Other stuff? Nope. I’ll spend a few dollars for useful utilities, but everything seems to be free with in-app purchases now, so most of the stuff I’ve got is grandfathered in from when you paid a reasonable fee that covered development costs and you weren’t hounded.
Official NOAA app is $1.99 a year. Worth every penny. Only subscription I’m happy to pay.
Wunderground FTW! It also lets me tap into my local home weather station, as well as those of my nearby neighbors and the weather forecasting is far superior to whatever the hell came with my phone.
Wunderground was awesome until IBM bought it
While many weather apps use published NOAA/NWS data, there’s no official app. Not sure who you’re paying lol
I use Weawow. Free, no ads, Aurora reports no trackers.
Just an fyi, your comment posted 3 times.
Haha I feel that. It’s gotten to a point that we don’t even know what subs we have and don’t have. Just decided to get a new card and let them run out. The seas have been nice to return to.
Pro-tip if you’re sick of paying for streaming: Stremio (app–I run on NVIDIA Shield) + Torrentio. Totally free and will have everything you ever need. For a few dollars, Real-Debrid adds more/faster stream options, but it’s purely optional/nice-to-have.
I would counter-argue for Jellyfin + Radarr-suite. I just like better Jellyfin’s interface.
Honestly, the streaming way is less bothersome and with almost immediate results, so there’s a lot of beauty in it.
I am a picky bastard so I want to make sure I’ll be able to watch everything in 4K, without waits nor interruptions. Plus I watch a lot of old stuff that takes a while to get: American Gothic took me 6 months to get, I tried getting the DVD set first but realized the latter episodes weren’t included.
I’ve seen it mentioned, but never tried it. I’ll have to read up on it, thanks!
