I think a common factor on why torrents are having a resurgence and illegal streaming services are getting more traction, is subscription fatigue. Subscription fatigue doesn’t only contain itself to streaming services, movies or music, nowadays you’re also expected to subscribe to every app you download. Whether it’s a meditation app, a budgeting app (looking at YNAB that went from a one-time purchase to a really expensive subscription model), the Adobe suite, the MS Office suite, your Peloton bike that you’ve already paid hundreds of dollars for (referencing the earlier article on them establishing a startup fee for buying used bikes), or a podcast app where the money doesn’t even go to the podcasters themselves.
Is there a peak for this? I feel like subscriptions are becoming more of a rule than an exception. Having the ability to directly purchase digital goods seems more like a thing of the past. It’s just so stupid. But apparently people don’t care? They just keep paying for this? Apparently it’s still worth it for companies to establish a subscription model, even if there are no benefits for the customer, just the company. What are your thoughts? What can we do to stop it?
Or we could fix the system and I have the right information as customer to be able to purchase a headphones that lasts long and can be repaired.
I’d argue we need a market that provides more useful information to the customer.
For example I’d like to know what environmental impact my products have. How long I’ll be able to get replacement parts. Longer guarantees perhaps. The ability to upgrade. I’m not an expert on the details.
At the moment I’d prefer to own rather than to rent. Quite frankly what you’re imagining sounds dystopian to me because you lose power.