I really wanted to rant about the subscription model but…

I started writing a whining complaint about the increasing move to the subscription model. This was mostly inspired by a diary app I had been using that one day decided to switch from being an app I would happily pay up to £10 for, one off, to one where I would potentially pay hundreds thanks to a switch to the subscription method. It is a fairly simple app that really doesn’t need a dedicated team and constant upgrades. But now, because they have a team with monthly salaries, they obviously feel the need to change everything all the time to justify the subscription. Kind of a vicious circle. I returned to just writing in a Word document and one of my first journal entries was bitching about a journal app.

I then thought about other subscriptions I was going to complain about but when I looked at them, it is actually a pretty good deal. And it seems to be the future. This actually annoyed me a little as I was already a couple of hundred words into a rant but was forced to change my view. I am changeable, it is why I am so fascinating.

Netflix

In days of yore, I used to easily spend £20-30 a month on DVDs and box sets. Before that, I would be adding to a ridiculous pile of VHSs that slowly degraded till they were unwatchable or thrown out when I moved/bought the DVD version. Now I can watch, for example, 4 seasons of Peaky Blinders in a week and it costs the same as a single box-set. Added to this is the fact that Netflix is now making loads of great stuff. My main concern is that with the great fragmentation of video streaming happening now and in the near future, I will have to pay for other services and it will cost me, well, £20-30 a month. I recently subscribed to Amazon Prime just to watch Good Omens and the Boys. I will probably subscribe to Disney+ to watch things like the Mandalorian. My accounts are in the UK and happily, services like Amazon Prime are currently absolutely fucking awful in places like Asia. So far, if you live abroad, Netflix is the only decent option (outside local services), so that is saving me a fortune.

Spotify

I used to buy a ton of CDs in days gone buy. Now I don’t think I have a device that even plays them. I think my Playstation might but will need to check once I can find a CD. I was not going to subscribe to Spotify when it first came out as I had the genius idea of buying £10 worth, or an album, every month on Google Play. Soon after, I bought an album that had a good review and hated it. The same happened two months later. I had a folder full of music I burned from CDs years ago, so no biggie. Then I got a free month on Apple Music and gave it a go. It was a revelation. So many albums. Everything I could wish for… except after a couple of weeks I started to find there were weird omissions when I was in a particular mood and hankered after something more niche. And not even that niche. I couldn’t listen to much Dead Can Dance and some Faith No More albums had about three songs I was allowed to hear. I was sold on the model though and so switched to Spotify and their free trial. Which had everything. I am now trying out tons of new music and it is superb not having to buy individual albums when trying out a completely new genre – I am currently getting into jazz, for example, and am trying a ton of musicians just to see what I like. All while chilling at home or on my commute. Ahhh technology.

Microsoft

I was kind of annoyed when I found they had switched to a subscription model just to use sodding Word. But then I found I had the option of spending £50+ (I can’t be bothered to check current price) to own it but you get no updates. So I could do what I have always done and just buy a new copy every couple of years and email stuff to myself. Instead, I thought I’d maybe do that later and subscribe for now. I am still subscribing to Office and am actually using Excel and One Note a lot too. They sucked me in…

What I will probably never subscribe to

When I was younger and payday was a huge monthly bonanza where my bank account briefly popped above zero, I would head to the shops and buy DVDs, CDs, books and comics. Apart from writing, the next thing I do most is reading and this has been the case since I was 10. I have hundreds and hundreds of books and comics and I still buy lots of them in print. But I also buy them digitally because it is so damned easy. I know what I like however and do read things more than once. Books and comics I love and will read again – hard copy. Cheap thrillers and random comics that I would normally give away after reading – digital. My month is a mix of the two and some of the scifi stuff I like hasn’t even been digitised (Logan’s Run for example.). Plus, I like the way a book feels. Unlike CDs and DVDs, I enjoy having physical books around. Thank fuck I never got into vinyl.

So I discovered in the course of a complaint that a subscription isn’t all that bad. I want to do my own book covers and will try Photoshop and Design soon and I don’t need to buy them, I can try them for cheap. I am going to get in classical music, or at least try, and so I will get recommendations on Reddit and check out what I like. This is the future I guess. It turns out I am ok with that.