Surely you think this post is too materialistic, but I really would love that you can open your minds and try to understand my point. Also, is important to say that I’m just criticizing the companies that become products into services. And not subscriptions services that include different products once these products are on your hands, these are completely yours.
Well, leaved in clear my toughs, let’s start.
Every day more and more people are opting to subscribe and “have” just services instead buy a product. And yes, it can be worth in a small term, but can you save money in a long term doing it?
Nowadays you can see various companies like Spotify, Netflix, HBO, etc. getting big, very big, cash bags, only selling services, thanks our unreachable search of the best deal. I know it, could be cheaper spend only $ 9.99 for only one month on Spotify, than pay $ 29.00 for only 2 or 3 albums on X store.
But we need to recognize, the satisfaction of buy forever that thing for what you have been saving, can’t be reached easily.
Leaving aside all this sentimentalism. There are to have very clear that we aren’t the owners of these objects, we’re just rent them. Then:
You can lose all almost any time
If you don’t are a premium user or didn’t downloaded your music library to listen offline, and you don have any internet connection you lose everything.
If your credit card is freezer near the debit date, or if the company has a bankrupt, or you get fired, simple you lost all. If the system doesn’t work or it gets a successfully informatic attack when you start the client, you will see a typical “We’re in 10’, Sorry for the issues”.
You don’t have the whole final user license that a real owner would have.
- I’ll be more exact, almost the whole attack is to all the music streaming services.
Buying a song, you can do anything you want with the file, save on all your devices, play it in all the devices that can support the file format, store it in the cloud, use to add music in a video, edit it, almost everything you want to do, except for commercial use.
To make a comparison I’ll invent a experiments subject… So DogeMusic has born. Now with our new song (from DogeMusic library) the license cannot let us almost anything with our song, except play it, but only from its app, and only in the compatibles devices. Although have in mind that the website of DogeMusic could say “we’re on smarts TVs”, and you have a smart TV, but your OS it a little bit old, or your OS doesn’t have any compatible app. And you say, “well I’ll try it with my phone”, but your phone has a OS old version, and some features can’t be on your phone or directly the app isn’t compatible.
Now you finally get a new phone, a flagship with the latest OS with two years OS updates, and you very excited download the DogeMusic app, then you’ve been downloaded the songs to listen offline, you going out your city and… what happened? a bug, the apps restarts accidentally, you have to sign in again, and you don’t have any internet connection, and you lost “your” music (really this one happened to me with Spotify Dx).
Coming back to the supposed situations. You’ve decided move into other country, now you two options.
- Move into a country where you provider has come before. Nothing new can happen, everything OK.
- Move into a country where your provider has never come before. If you want to continue using the service, you would pay in a foreign currency and spend a little bit of extra money on taxes to your bank, or government. Or choose other provide and search your whole library again, but you’re only able to get all your music library back in your new provider only if the artist that have chosen uploaded their albums there, or these tracks aren't exclusives for DogeMusic.
I’d been very pointily with my opinion about music streaming services, but may be there similar situations with the eBooks, series, movies and games steaming services.
You’re leaving behind you the physic stuff for a lot of bits.
- If you don’t want to read the little books, and play the special content that CDs and DVDs often have or fill shelves with them, this would be an advantage for you. But if you liked all what I wrote, so you should re-think what you gonna do when the debit time comes.
Your library has a limit
- Again, against music streaming services. DogeMusic can give the possibility to up to 100k tracks on your library list, but with your owned songs, the only limit is your device memory.
You're not safe
- If the page gets an informatic attack, your personal data can be exposed.
Buy is perfect for your wallet (in a long term)
- In a long term buy is always cheaper than rent.
Well, I think that I’ve talked about all the disadvantages (even there are exaggerated situations). So I really want to know what you think, which option is better buy or subscribe? Can you see any disadvantage that I’ve forget?
Inspired by: https://www.lanacion.com.ar/2154072-que-es-la-economia-de-la-suscripcion-y-como-nos-esta-cambiando-la-vida
Thanks so much to: https://www.freepik.es