Piracy: ꜱᴀɪʟ ᴛʜᴇ ʜɪɢʜ ꜱᴇᴀꜱ

54716 readers

238 users here now

⚓ Dedicated to the discussion of digital piracy, including ethical problems and legal advancements.

Rules • Full Version

1. Posts must be related to the discussion of digital piracy

2. Don't request invites, trade, sell, or self-promote

3. Don't request or link to specific pirated titles, including DMs

4. Don't submit low-quality posts, be entitled, or harass others

Loot, Pillage, & Plunder

📜 c/Piracy Wiki (Community Edition):

💰 Please help cover server costs.


Ko-fi	Liberapay

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

db0@lemmy.dbzer0.com

sunbrothersco@lemmy.dbzer0.com

dataprolet@lemmy.dbzer0.com

Flatworm7591@lemmy.dbzer0.com

RandomLegend@lemmy.dbzer0.com

296

Apps that shouldn't be Subscriptions (discuss.tchncs.de)

submitted 11 months ago by kirk782@discuss.tchncs.de to c/piracy@lemmy.dbzer0.com

186 comments fedilink hide all child comments

What is the most useless app that you have seen being given as a subscription?

For me, I tried a 'minimalist' launcher app for Android that had a 7 day trial or something and they had a yearly subscription based model for it. I was aghast. I would literally expect the app to blow my mind and do everything one can assume to go that way. In a world, where Nova Launcher (Yes, I know it has been acquired by Branch folks but it still is a sturdy one) or Niagara exist plus many alternatives including minimalist ones on F Droid, the dev must be releasing revolutionary stuff to factor in a subscription service.

Second, is a controversial choice, since it's free tier is quite good and people like it so much. But, Pocketcasts. I checked it's yearly price the other day, and boy, in my country, I can subscribe to Google Play Pass, YouTube Premium and Spotify and still have money left before I hit the ceiling what Pocketcasts is asking for paid upgrade.

Also, what are your views on one time purchase vs subscriptions? Personally, I find it much easier to purchase, if it's good enough even if it was piratable, something if it is a one time purchase rather than repetitive.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] buskbrand@lemm.ee 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

But a subscription to remove ads? Your app doesn't need an external server to do that.

This is kind of a bad example because the value proposition is different but still very clear - the default version of the app provides a regular income stream to the developers. If you don't like that, you can choose to provide an alternative income stream instead.

It is still unfair because the subscription cost is usually many times more than what the ads will earn for a single user - but it's a matter of quantity at that point, not quality.

The Adobe case is still a much better example, IMO. Yes, they may offer regular content updates worth subscribing for, but their products could still work perfectly well as one-time purchases without access to the content stream. The only reason they didn't is that they don't have enough competition to be worried about customers moving away.

[–] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

This is kind of a bad example because the value proposition is different but still very clear - the default version of the app provides a regular income stream to the developers.

No, I was quite intentional about that example. My assertion remains: if they're not providing regular value, then I don't feel obliged to provide them with regular income.

I don't hope that they go hungry or anything. I just don't think it's my responsibility to subsidize them forever just because they made an app for me once. I've got bills to pay too.

[–] buskbrand@lemm.ee 2 points 11 months ago

Ok, yeah, upon reflection I think I agree with you.