Zero for me. No Netflix or anything here, I'm not into subscription based services.

But if you do have subscription based services, what might be the better ones out there?

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[–] 27 points 10 months ago (5 children)

I have Spotify premium but I'm not sure I can count it because they haven't charged me anything in over 6 years. Only reason I haven't canceled; I already ain't giving them any money 🤷‍♂️

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  • [–] [S] 18 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Umm, winning!!!

    What dark magic is this? 🤔

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    Damn I shouldn't have cancelled mine. They had stopped charging me for a few months for whatever reason and I actually didn't realize until I went to cancel. I didn't think I'd be able to get away with it for that long.

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  • [–] 26 points 10 months ago* (3 children)

    Anna's Archive, VPN, Search Engine, Email Host, Server Hosting, I also do automated scheduled donations to FOSS and Fediverse projects if that counts.

    I'd much rather pay for a service that doesn't log or share my data with advertisers than use a free service which treats me as a product to sell to advertisers. Sometimes that means self hosting and sometimes self hosting is cheaper or easier to scale or do offsite, even if simply collocating.

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  • [–] 15 points 10 months ago (4 children)

    Domain names and webhosting, the Proton suite, Ente (photos), and Qobuz (music). Basically all the stuff that lets me get away from companies like Google and have some modicum of privacy.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Qobus looks interesting, thanks for sharing

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago

    Qobuz is good and has the best morals (as far as companies go) for music streaming. Only reason I opted out was because it doesn't have all the weird indie music I like to listen to but I'm hoping if I wait a year or two that will be better.

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  • [–] 14 points 10 months ago

    I have a bunch but I don't think I'd recommend any of them, necessarily. Mostly they are familiar names and you either want them or don't. I do pay for Bit Warden. And I would like to anti-recommend Nord VPN for shitty practices. I donate monthly to my Lemmy server.

    That's about it.

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  • [–] 13 points 10 months ago (8 children)

    Dropout, mainly for dimension 20.

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 10 months ago (6 children)

    Someone mentioned Dropout earlier, may I ask what that is/for?

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago

    It's an improv comedy group that has their own streaming service, formerly known as CollegeHumor. Dropout has become fairly popular in the last couple years for a number of reasons, but basically they're funny and all-around decent folks.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Video streaming service with 100% original content. It’s what remains of Collegehumor. The content is great, they don’t block password sharing, share profits with the cast and crew, and release a large amount of content for free on social media platforms.

    They’re the only streaming service I am cool with paying for and even if you’re not a fan of all the content, they are absolutely worth the support IMO.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    There is not a single thing, other than some episodes of dimension 20, I haven't watched. Including kingpin Katie!

    Kinda wish that drag queen sleepover thing got more traction though. But Parlour room has become one of my favorite things of all time! Wish I had some IRL friends to play tt games with.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    I'm so jealous of you getting to experience game changer for the first time!

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  • [–] 11 points 10 months ago* (11 children)

    Definitely gonna get normie-shamed by some of you guys, but we've got:

    Spotify premium (family logins shared with sister and parents, so I'm sort of stuck with it)

    Amazon Prime (all our photos are in their Unlimited photo storage - it just works and links in with our firestick seamlessly so that the fam can actually look back at the photos easily)

    Express VPN (got it for privacy, stayed for the porn which is blocked in the UK)

    Audible (forgot to cancel)

    YouTube premium (have actually just cancelled now that I can use the Albanian VPN trick)

    Starlink (hate Elon, but live rurally so no choice)

    Finally, IPTV which is illegal and £80 a year but gives me everything.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago

    Spotify: I switched my whole family to Tidal. It's cheaper for a family of four, you can migrate your playlists and such, music quality is better, and they aren't a shitty company. Plus one free month to try it before they bill you.

    I had to find a different podcast app though. That was a pain.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (3 children)

    Idk how much expressVPN costs, but there are almost certainly cheaper options

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (2 children)

    Any suggestions? ExpressVPN works pretty well on all my devices, but I'm open to alternatives

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (3 children)

    Man, they love people like you.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (1 child)

    Out of curiosity, what would you recommend?

    Spotify costs very little and is installed in 3 separate households, but if you've an alternative then I'd delighted to hear it.

    Amazon prime photos just works. I've a Synology NAS that I was using with Plex but it's clunky AF. We've got firesticks simply to access our IPTV, but it also means we can view those photos easily.

    Starlink - there's literally no alternative where I live.

    YouTube - had premium, but through an Indian address so cost me £2.99 per month.

    Audible - no justification, just a subscription to a service we used.

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  • [–] 10 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    The only one I pay for is Dropout.

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  • [+] 8 points 10 months ago (7 children)
  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago (5 children)
  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    Jesus

    Is it an expensive subscription? ;)

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  • [–] 8 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    One of those "pay what you want models" but backed by peer pressure when they pass the collections basket around. Also, supposedly, you miss features if you go free-to-play, but all those features are end-game anyways as part of the afterlife package and supposedly you can use the confession DLC hack just before you reach end-game so the rest doesn't really matter.

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  • [–] [S] 11 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    No, we don't subscribe to imaginary services around here.

    The letter J wasn't even invented until the year 1524 Anno Domini, therefore Jesus never existed.

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  • [–] 8 points 10 months ago

    VPN and domains

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  • [–] 8 points 10 months ago

    Fucking ZERO. Oh yeah.

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  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

    Hmm. I pay for letterboxd pro because I like stats and watch a ton of movies. I pay a yearly fee to porkbun for my domain name. I pay Kagi for search because it's so much better than the free alternatives. I pay a couple usenet providers, and a few sponsorships on github, but that's about it.

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  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    PBS, iCloud+, Sunbeam because I like its UV tracking capabilities, and Transit because I use it a ton (nearly 1,800 miles on transit with it last year).

    PBS is actually the most expensive one at $5/month, but if I’ve got two pennies to rub together one of them is going to PBS.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    Transit is great, maybe see if your transit agency is willing to pay for it, mine does and that's why I started using it in the first place.

    I had to screenshot after my 1am trip home from work on New Year's Day because it was the first and only time I'll ever be #1 on my local route, lol.

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  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago
    [–] 7 points 10 months ago

    I'm a coomer so I use patreon for some creators for a total of 10€ a month

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  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago

    None, and planning on keeping it that way

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  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

    One VPS (need to grow this one) $10/month

    2 tiny websites $2/month

    Bitwarden Family $3.33/month

    A few domains $10/month

    And M$ Family 365 because it's the easiest way for my elderly parents to backup their photos. $8.33/month

    Oh and proton VPN I think it's $5/month

    That's about it.

    $38.66 a month.

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  • [+] 6 points 10 months ago (1 child)
  • [–] 6 points 10 months ago

    Zero. I don't even pay for my internet service, it is paid by my employer.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago*

    Zero traditional.
    Stremio, RD, great IPTV, and torrent ability.
    Haven't missed anything in over 15 years.

    Cost-wise (per annum, usd) iptv is <$80, RD + torbox $90, Stremio $10

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago (2 children)
    • End to end encrypted cloud (for sharing private stuff), European.
    • Not E2EE cloud, for public sharing and for general purpose email. European.
    • Encrypted email. European.
    • When I need to use one, a VPN. European.
    • Web hosting. European.
    • Password manager, not European (but I'm slowly switching).

    I used to also pay for Kagi (best search engine I've used) but I gave up on it... at least for now.

    I'm subscribed to a few print newspapers and magazines, those also give me access to their digital versions at no extra cost but since I never read them online (there is not tracking when reading print, and I prefer it that way), I don't count those as online subscriptions.

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago (1 child)

    You described Kagi as the best, but also gave up on it. I am curious why? Is it just not worth the price?

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago*

    Is it just not worth the price?

    I am curious why?

    Yes, it's worth its price (IA may quickly change that by rendering search engines less... central, one day) it's the best search engine I can think of. So, why giving up on it? Easy: I'd rather spend my money on non-US tech companies, at least for the time being:

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago*

    Depends what counts as paid. I donate to wikipedia, Archive.org, lemmy.world and a forum I use daily. My wife has Netflix and Disney Plus. I could use her accounts, but I'm going through a phase of having no interest in streaming.

    I have a webhosting account with a service some guy is running out of his garage. I agreed to pay for it, but he hasn't charged me in fifteen years despite me mentioning it from time to time. Now I'm just enjoying commercial-level webhosting at no cost. No, I won't tell you who my host is. Sorry. 😜

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago*

    One VPS on Hetzner. Storage Share (managed Nextcloud), again on Hetzner. Sometimes Mullvad VPN if I need it for a month, otherwise IVPN if needed for a week. I host my own media like films, shows, music using Jellyfin and photos using Immich. I pay for email, I use mailbox.org. I own a lot of domains. That's it, I think.

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago

    Just one. A vpn

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    proton and bitwarden

    might be open replacing proton with a different vpn and separate mail service but i dont really see the need

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  • [–] 5 points 10 months ago

    Kagi, domain registration, RadarOmega (really good weather radar), Zenarmor (for my router running opnsense), SaucePlus, Tuta, Mailbox.org, SimpleFin (for self hosted budget using real time data with Actual), Backblaze B2. I think that's about it.

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago

    I used to have Spotify but they kept increasing the price and the app was so bloated and frustrating to use just trying to listen to my local music. Ripped all the songs with zotify and now I use musicolet as my player

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago

    I pay for Spotify and a VPN. And even Spotify I'm currently questioning because they've started replacing some of my liked songs with totally different but similar seeming versions that might be AI generated.

    I don't need anything else.

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago

    Technically Plex is a paid service (that I wouldn’t recommend) but I have had a lifetime pass for over a decade so.. if that doesn’t count, zero.

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago
    • domain names
    • e-mail hosting for those domains
    • a virtual private server to host websites
    • cloud storage for backups (in case the house burns down)
    • seedbox
    • claude code

    That looks like a lot when I type it all out. I guess about $50/mo.

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago (5 children)

    Currently Spotify but I'm looking for alternatives, deezer is looking promising for me.

    Also DAZN because it's the only way for me to watch NHL games in the UK, I know I can watch streams live for free but most of the games I want to watch aren't on until 3AM which isn't practical and there isn't a reliable way to get games on demand without paying. I miss LazyMan!

    Other than that, nothing. Can't stand the fractured streaming service market, if there was somewhere I could watch whatever I wanted for one fee (like how Netflix was at the beginning) that wasn't owned by Disney or Amazon, I'd consider it but currently the most convenient way for me to watch what I want is to torrent it.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (2 children)

    I paid 5 bucks to a service that ported all my Spotify to YouTube, then I downloaded them and now host it all on a jellyfin server. I'm a prolific music consumer, and even after getting every album for every single song I liked on Spotify, I can still fit it all on an SD card in my phone.

    Seriously, going full pirate on this has been so life changing and stupidly easy.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (1 child)

    Seems like quite a roundabout way to pay for fairly poor quality audio files, couldn't you just have torrented the files you wanted instead and got better audio at the same time?

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  • [–] 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (2 children)

    I generally try to avoid subscriptions, but I do have:

    • Proton VPN
    • Dropbox
    • Youtube premium (they're still charging the student rate years after I graduated, and I mainly watch on a Google tv dongle so it's hard to block ads)
    • Dropout TV
    • Final Fantasy 14

    I also have a monthly donation set up for MaxFun, since I am a fan of MBMBaM and The Adventure Zone.

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  • [–] [S] 1 point 10 months ago (1 child)

    Fuck, you remind me I should erase and cancel my Dropbox..

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  • [–] 1 point 10 months ago

    Yeah, I only use it because proton drive keeps duplicating a bunch of my files with merge conflicts and lacks a Linux desktop client. I'm getting ready to spin up a nextcloud instance or similar but needed something in the meantime

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    Criterion channel, and proton VPN+email

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    iCloud, Spotify family, Bitwarden password manager

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    Proton for email. Tidal for music, though I don't really support them or love their app so probably won't be with them for long. Sleep with me podcast, a necessary sleep aid and I just like to support the person.
    I subscribe to a couple of different artists/comedians too but that's mostly because I can afford to and prefer to support people directly.

    For streaming: Crave because Canada, and they just earned every penny I've ever given them with Heated Rivalry. Just cancelled Netflix, but my partner still pays for Disney though I'm trying to get him to cancel that too. I think those are our only two streaming services.

    I'll be looking for a VPN this year so I can take to the seas again eventually but streaming from free websites is working well so far so I haven't worried about it too much.

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Zero rn, but might be getting Amazon Prime soon.

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  • [–] 7 points 10 months ago* (2 children)

    I been battling with my wife about cancelling prime. If we didn't have a child on the way it would be a no brainer.

    The overnight delivery is nice but more often than not it's actually two day shipping. Their delivery times have been so unreliable that I'm actually convinced they just blatantly lie to get you to buy a preferred product regardless of how long it will actually take to get it to you.

    Evidently there are ads now for their programming. I didn't have prime for the streaming but it was the only source of classic Christmas movies this holiday, right up until they cut away mid sentence for 5 minutes of unskippable ads. I almost cancelled it right then.

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  • [–] 2 points 10 months ago

    Yea, would've canceled prime if not for the rapid delivery. I do notice that the delivery times have stretched out to 2 days.

    can't comment on Prime video, since i don't use it much, but i don think the ads in a paid service is a pretty scummy thing to do.

    The main driving force for me to cancel is mostly the way they treat their workers, but the sad thing is that it seems that dependency on amazon is gone up nowadays, with most malls/ stores closing (Fry's Electronics is one that I can name off the top of my head)

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago*

    The VPN came with the bank account, but I do pay for Spotify (I barely use it but my wife does). And that's pretty much it. 👍

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    Just Proton and Qobuz, really love them

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  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago (3 children)

    Spotify for my partner. Anyone know any good alternatives for those who like listening to a constant stream of new music?

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  • [–] [S] 5 points 10 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 3 points 10 months ago

    Mullvad VPN and Proton Mail Plus (mainly just to use my Proton account on Thunderbird)

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  • [+] 2 points 10 months ago (1 child)
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