Can we start to say that we live on a subscription?

Apple just showed " subscription to everything ". For warehouses. For games. For movies and series. Can we start saying that we live on a subscription?

Of course Tim Cook did not invent subscriptions for services - they have been with us for years, both in entertainment services (Netflix, Spotify, Xbox Game Pass) and in professional programs (Adobe, Avid, Office).

The direction of market development clearly shows that subscriptions are the future. The growing number of applications and services is available in this format, and video and music on the Internet no longer exists outside the subscription (and in any case has been marginalized).

We love subscriptions at Spider's Web. On average, we pay PLN 254 ​​a month for them , and in return we get constant access to constantly improved work programs and unlimited entertainment resources.

Now that Apple has entered the subscription world with full force, there is no doubt that the model is no longer back. Only rightly?

Subscription vs. ownership

Opponents of the subscription model have a single argument against subscriptions - we have nothing to own.

Instead of monthly fees for several / several websites, they would prefer to spend this money on individual, selected films, albums with music, magazines or games. Then put down the ones you liked and those that you did not like, sell or give away, thus regaining a bit of money spent.

There is some logic in it. Imagine that one of the suppliers suddenly pulls out the plug . HBO Go closes its doors before we manage to watch the last season of Game of Thrones. Spotify disappears from the market, taking with you the whole library of music that we listen to every day. The Xbox Game Pass disappears and suddenly it turns out that we have nothing to play.

That's all true, but I have one answer for this: what about it?

Access> Possession

It is difficult for me to understand why for so many people possession is still more important than access. I have tried to count how many goods I could buy for the sum of subscriptions that I pay each month.

Let's assume that we only look at entertainment services - VOD, streaming, e-books in Legimi. Together, there will be ... 150 zlotys. More or less. What can you buy for PLN 150?

Assuming that I want to have one of each medium, I can buy more or less one DVD movie, one music album and maybe two / three books if I hunt for promotion. And even if I bought everything in the promotion - say, PLN 19.99 apiece - I still have at most 6-7 cultural artifacts. Some of which I may not like, for example.

And I'm not even talking about games here. Because every player knows that currently we will buy a game for PLN 150 either from an independent developer, or on a promotion, or years after the premiere.

And in the subscription? For 150 zlotys a month I have access to unlimited resources of culture, entertainment and knowledge. I do not like one series? I start the second one. I want to listen to the new CDs of favorite artists? One click and now, I'm listening. For PLN 30 a month I have access to more books than I can ever read.

And that's true - I do not have any of them on the shelf. But thanks to that I do not have any clutter on the shelves. I do not bother with taking care of my items, looking for a buyer for what I did not like, choosing what to leave and what to give away when the place on the shelf ends. By paying for the subscription, I save time and nerves. And unless I can imagine collecting records with music or movies, in the case of books in physical form I only buy items that I want to return to often. Which first I could read in the subscription.

If someone "pulled out the plug" today, I would probably only shrug my shoulders.

Because there is always something new. The second one will be created in place of one service. The cultural heritage will not disappear - it will move to a different place to which I will have access. Because this is how the 21st century works. This is the age of access and the beginning of the end of the possession fetish.

Let's be honest for a moment with you - why really care about this, to have something on your own? Is the library in the home for expanding knowledge and cutting off the world, or is it ... it should look nice when friends visit us?

Of course there is nothing wrong with the latter, but in such a system let us make it clear - we want to have to satisfy our ego. Not because it is objectively better.

As for me, I will always choose to access everything for a low fee, than a limited selection of objects that I can own for the same money and which I do not have to like.

Likewise, I prefer to pay a monthly tool fee and instead receive constantly upgraded programs, with a technical support guarantee, than to pay once and after a few years have to pay again, because the program will turn out to be incompatible with the new version of the operating system or computer subassembly.

I regret that Apple News + will not be available in Poland . For a hundred times I would rather pay a fixed fee for access to hundreds of warehouses, than buy 2-3 newspapers for the same money, which I will probably not read from cover to cover, and which I will throw away or give away after all.

The only problem with the culture of access is that not everyone can afford it.

Isolated subscriptions are cheap. 20 zlotys for the whole music of this world in Spotify is a penny. PLN 40 for excellent original content from Netfliks? That's nothing. PLN 30 for access to a rich catalog of Xbox games? This is for free.

But let's combine these subscriptions now and it's already getting a lot of money. Let's add the software cost and the amount is also increased.

The constantly increasing number of services and programs in the subscription causes that many people will be excluded from this access culture. Pal poor music and movies - what if the important software will be available only in a subscription, and for example, entrepreneurs will not stand in a given month to pay for them and lose access to their main work tool, without which they can not earn money?

I am and I will be for access over ownership. But it can not be denied that the growing number of subscriptions and the increase in their prices is becoming a financial challenge that many may not be able to cope with.

Today, it means at most giving up a few comforts, no big deal. But tomorrow? Looking at the market trends, I will not exaggerate saying that quite soon our entire digital life may be for a subscription, because nobody will pay off to act otherwise.

And with all the admiration for access culture, I am not at all convinced that it will work out for good.

The question for the opening of the week is: can we start to say that we live on a subscription?

Do you prefer to buy into property or pay for subscriptions for services? Comments are at your disposal.



Can we start to say that we live on a subscription?

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