Larry Magid: Paying forever? Subscriptions are taking over tech

There was a time when you only bought things and once you owned them there were no additional fees For years I owned my copy of Microsoft Office and got to use it indefinitely only upgrading when I decided I demanded a newer version Now for the bulk users it s a subscription model Although there are discounts for teachers and students greater part individuals typically pay around a year for Microsoft Personal Families can subscribe to Microsoft Family for about a year which covers up to six people If they stop paying they can no longer use the utility Before about people paid around for a perpetual license Technically you didn t own the application but you owned the right to use it indefinitely When Microsoft issued a new version you could decide whether to pay for the upgrade or keep using your old version Related Articles Magid Internet Governance Forum focuses on protecting kids Magid The disappearing off switch Magid Designing digital safety with youth in mind Magid Using ChatGPT for everyday tasks Magid Make sure you prep all your tech for advance Subscriptions The same is true for Adobe products like Photoshop Illustrator and Premiere Pro Instead of paying hundreds of dollars at once you can now subscribe to all or chosen of Adobe s products for between about and a month depending on what products you need There was a time you could buy a Quicken CD for between and but now you subscribe for between and a month depending on the version and any discounts being offered The same applies to protection application from the likes of Norton and McAfee Instead of buying it you pay an annual fee Streaming storage It s not just system When Apple introduced the iTunes Music Store in you could buy music for cents a song or an album I still own and listen to particular of those songs in my car where I can store music on a USB drive and listen even if I m in the middle of nowhere with no cellular access But with the exception of occasionally buying CDs at concerts to assistance artists I haven t purchased music in years Instead I pay about a month for a streaming facility like Spotify Apple Music YouTube Music or Amazon Music Even facts storage has shifted from owning external drives DVDs SD cards and other physical storage systems to cloud-based services like Dropbox iCloud Google One and Microsoft OneDrive Leasing And it s not just system and apps There s a growing tendency to lease physical items Car leasing has been around for decades but it s growing in popularity not just because it can sometimes be better for cash flow or tax reasons but because the tool in cars is changing rapidly making it attractive to be able to easily get a new one every three years or so Smartphones too can be bought outright or you can subscribe to a plan where you pay by the month For an extra monthly fee you can get a new one every year or so It s more expensive than a one-time purchase but you consistently have the latest instrument With cars phones and other physical items you should weigh the benefits of leasing including paying extra for an upgrade option versus buying and reselling or trading in when you re ready for an update Peloton and similar companies sell bikes and treadmills but much of their value comes through subscription services for classes and content The same is true for fitness trackers such as Fitbit that offer an annual subscription plan for advanced features Proprietary supplies There are also devices that you buy outright but still have to pay to use Specific coffee makers for example require proprietary pods that you can only purchase from the manufacturer Particular printers and refrigerators include chips in their cartridges or filters to prevent you from using less expensive alternatives although there are sometimes strategies to get around those restrictions Generative AI services like ChatGPT might even help you find compatible products or workarounds to go around these frustrating attempts to lock you into a single brand Subscription pros and cons Like a lot of things in life the subscription model comes with benefits and drawbacks The obvious downside is having to keep paying on an annual or monthly basis rather than paying once and owning it forever Depending on the pricing model you could easily pay plenty of times more over the subject of your usage than if you bought it outright And even though system was sometimes updated with new features or safeguard fixes the basic user interface typically didn t change much so once you learned how to use a product you didn t have to relearn it because the application maker decided to change the way it works However there are a few substantial benefits to the subscription model The greater part obvious is that your product is consistently up-to-date As a Microsoft subscriber I not only get regular shield updates but new features and services as they become available But being up-to-date could mean new features and tactics of doing things that require you to relearn how to use it In a large number of cases these are cloud-based products that you can use on any device just by signing in so you don t need to install them on each device you re using Also depending on the licensing agreement I may be able to use the same application on different devices or share it among family members although that was sometimes true with purchased application depending on licensing agreements For example I can use my Microsoft account on my Windows PC my Mac my laptop both my iPhone and Android phone and my tablet Certain cloud-based services also make it easy to collaborate with others At my nonprofit ConnectSafely we use Canva a web-based institution for graphic design and video editing and because both the solution and our files are stored on Canva s servers it s easy for colleagues to work on the same projects without having to transfer files Storage and collaboration Various of the subscription-based products also come with storage so you don t have to worry about saving or backing up your files as long as you have internet access And despite the tendency to charge for these services particular are free such as the services available with a standard Google account These include Gmail Drive Docs Sheets Slides Meet Chat and Calendar along with GB of free storage You reliably have the option to pay for additional storage if needed And the Google products make it very easy to collaborate You can even have multiple people simultaneously edit the same document spreadsheet or slide deck in real-time but you have to be careful not to trip over each other Even though I pay for and occasionally use Microsoft products I am much more likely to use the Google apps because of their ease of use automatic cloud storage and collaborative features Convenience hidden costs In the end whether it s system music fitness equipment or even the filter in your refrigerator the shift from ownership to subscriptions isn t just about mechanism it s about control Sometimes it makes life easier sometimes it saves you time and sometimes it costs you more The challenge is knowing when you re paying for convenience when you re paying because you have no other choice and what you re trading in attention and privacy for products that claim to be free Related Articles ChatGPT helps write San Jose mayor s speeches Now he wants a thousand city workers using AI Trump s auto safety pick promises rapid self-driving deployment Tesla failed to stop autopilot misuse safety expert testifies Hyundai s Supernal startup laying off in California as it pivots flying taxis to production Trump administration pulls billion from California s high-speed rail Larry Magid is a tech journalist and internet safety activist Contact him at larry larrymagid com