this post was submitted on 24 Oct 2024
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I'm usually against subscription services, but there are a few I use that I think provide enough value to justify the cost. Are there subscriptions you think are worth the money for you?

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[–] [email protected] 63 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I donate about $5/month to a bunch of nonprofits that I benefit from.

  • Debian project
  • openbsd project
  • wikimedia foundation
  • EFF
  • Internet Archive

My career wouldn’t exist without these folks, so it’s the least I can do.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I have 1% of my income that goes to open source projects

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Great selection. I feel if you have the means to do so, drop a few dollars their way each month. You'll likely spend more on a night out drinking anyway 😜.

[–] iAmTheTot 52 points 2 months ago (8 children)

At the risk of being crucified, YouTube Premium.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 2 months ago (2 children)

I like having no commercials on something by legitimate means, and unlike most streaming services, the content stays there once it's there. For the hours we use it, it's still a hell of a deal.

I adblock and sail the seas, but Premium gives what it promises without any real hassle. We use it way more than we used Netflix or Disney+.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Same, I have the Family tier and it just makes sense. At 23/month if all 5 slots are filled it works out too $4.60/month/person.

No ads AND no hassle with this and that instance going down or that app being blocked or browser shannigans

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

Same here. I'm mostly paying because at least some of the money goes to creators, and I don't want to have to constantly be fighting with the adblocker stuff. I watch a lot of youtube (perhaps more than is healthy) and realistically it does cost Google money to host it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

This is mine too. I use the hell out of it and YouTube music that comes with it. If we look at $/hr, then this is a no-brainer for me.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Same here. I use YouTube a lot so it's nice to have no ads, and the inclusion of YouTube Music is great and I've switched from Spotify because of it.

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[–] [email protected] 25 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Bring in the downvotes, but Spotify. I listen to music several hours a day, both old and new and it helps me discover lots of new music and even genres. For me personally, that's worth the money.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I feel the same. I like not having commercials in my music and being able to listen to a wide variety.

[–] xmunk 10 points 2 months ago

Also offline mode and list syncing. I would die on long flights if I didn't have music to listen to and my tastes change frequently.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

Same, I think it's worth it. I rarely listen to the radio, so I get to discover new music with them. And the offline play saves on data when I'm just going around the corner or something.

[–] Tazerface 24 points 2 months ago (1 children)
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[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Dropout.tv

Tons of amazing original content, and very cheap.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

I also really like Dropout. I will sub for a few months then put it on pause for a few months, so it's basically half price. The company allegedly treats its staff very well, they produce lots of good shows, very inclusive for queer, disabled, non-white etc people which I love. They also recommend password sharing and stopping your subscription if you can't afford / don't want any more. And all that obviously worked since I'm advertising for free for them 😂

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Joined for Dimension 20, stayed for basically everything else.

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[–] [email protected] 21 points 2 months ago

Amazon Prime; I run a business repairing things. I'm small enough that I can't afford to keep everything in stock for various makes/models. Getting it here quickly allows me to repair more machines faster. There are no places to get the parts I need locally.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I know this is the "wrong answer," but YouTube. I watch it a lot, and mostly on my PS in the evenings. If I only watched it in my phone or PC, I wouldn't bother.

I also pay for Spotify for my mom and I, and ProtonVPN/Mail for myself. Oh, and PS+, which I still think is bullshit. 🙄

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 months ago

It's only a 'wrong answer' because people here downvote on an ideological basis. If it works for you, then it's okay 👍

[–] [email protected] 16 points 2 months ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 11 points 2 months ago (1 children)

It's called a "house" and the subscription is "rent"

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

But does your so called "house" come with a drawbridge, castle or peasants? I think not!!! \s

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 months ago (2 children)

$20/year for Nintendo Switch Online. That's $20 more than it should be, but at least it's not nearly as expensive as the other consoles.

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[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 months ago

Ground News because I want to see what's going on in news across the media spectrum and they make it a lot easier.

Discord nitro classic because I don't have a better alternative and I get the features I actually need at half the price I'd pay for the normal subscription.

A VPN because none of your goddamn business.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 months ago

YouTube premium. Mostly for music but no-ads is nice.

I have the basic iCloud sub but it feels like a scam. I should at least get more storage if I buy more Apple products. If you have two devices your backups get too big for the free storage amount.

I offloaded a bunch of things from iCloud but it becomes a hassle for how cheap their subscription is.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Surprising this thread is so positive so I'll share mine I've gotten downvoted for before:
Discord Nitro.

I use it a lot as I'm active in a bunch of servers. I don't even pay for the expensive one, just the $3/month one and it's TOTALLY worth being able to make emojis of my cat and annoy people with them, here are my favorited and frequently used emojis:

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

MullvadVPN, Posteo, Bitwarden, Hetzner VPS, Hetzner Storage Box, Porkbun domain

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

Hulu. Best collection of shows for me, right now.

Spotify. I listen to music constantly, it's a necessity.

Libro.fm for audiobooks, and supporting my local book store.

My gym membership (lumping Zwift in there too). I exercise a lot, like 15+ hours per week. These are part of my chosen lifestyle.

Opensnow. The only phone app I pay for. It's a weather app but better if you're a skier/snowboarder.

RuneScape. I love OSRS and I enjoy playing in my downtime. I'm an adult, I can do what I want.

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[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago
  • Tidal ($5.82/month student), like my HiFi music, even if it's indistinguishable on most of the speakers I use
  • Nebula ($2.50/month), mostly the same shit as on YouTube but as-free (without adblock) and usually a bit early access
  • PIA (~$2.33/month), avoids a Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, Apple TV+, Discovery +, Paramount+, you get the gist+ subscription. You had a good thing going but you got greedy and fucked it
  • Recurring donation to Lemmy dev ($5/month), despite any of the devs political views, I appreciate the service and continued support of the software and recognize that dev isn't free,though I do need to sit down and set one up for my instance as well as my mastodon & pixelfed instances.

Some of these are yearly but reduced to monthly for ease of viewing

[–] [email protected] 9 points 2 months ago

A daily newspaper, a monthly computer science paper, internet, electricity, water, gas. That's probably it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

The Atlantic. Because of its magazine heritage, there's the perfect number of new articles per day (5 or 10), all top notch journalism and beautifully written. I look forward to reading a few of them each evening.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I pay monthly to a local makerspace. Its worth every cent.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago

ProtonMail, Nebula, Backblaze, Parcel, BigNews, Glass, my local paper, local coffee delivery.

I pay for Apple iCloud too but I'm trying to figure out how to get away from it.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Apple Music. It’s just easier than pirating music. You also get Apple Classical which is awesome as classical music can’t be indexed in the same way as regular music.

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[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago
  • YouTube Premium, because I listen to a ton of music but I also like listening to dorkier deep-dive video channels.
  • Disney+ w/ Hulu because I am a raging Marvel fanboy and like to be able to keep up with shows like Simpsons/Family Guy/Bob's Burgers.
  • Office 365. This is the most likely to get canceled at some point. I used to need Office for work, but now I mostly use the Notes app and Excel on my phone... and the 1 TB of OneDrive storage isn't as great a deal as it once was.
[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

Netflix, YouTube, Spotify, protonmail / drive / vpn, Usenet, bitwarden

That's about all I have.

Although I pirate 90% of what tv and movies we watch, I feel like I pay my fair share for internet stuff.

I might sub to a few local streaming sites from time to time. To catch up on tv.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago
  • Spotify: yes, you can download and set up your own music but spotify has a bunch of integrations that just work without any effort. I'm also using a student subscription (that will probably keep working forever) so it's not very expensive.
  • Mobile contract: mobile data is expensive compared to other countries but at least my current ISP has coverage everywhere. Too bad everything else about the company sucks.
[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (1 children)

as much as I hate to admit it. amazon. still if my wife passed I would likely not continue it.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago
  • meat delivery service. Organic butcher sends me meat everyweek
[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Just proton. VPN + drive + pass is great.

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 months ago

Mullvad VPN!

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Taxes. They pay fory wifes wage.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

"Hello, IRS? Yes, I'd like to cancel my tax subscription, please."

[–] [email protected] 7 points 2 months ago

With enough money you can.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 months ago

JetBrains IDEs.

[–] gigachad 5 points 2 months ago

A gym membership, my mail account (mailbox.org) and Spotify.

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