Having my Nextcloud instance for file storage, podcast, syncing my phone and photos, etc.
Tidal for music is 10x better than Spotify if you need music streaming. Otherwise buy albums on bandcamp.
GeForce now. As long as you have streaming speed Internet you can play so many games, at such high quality.
Microsoft game pass, I haven’t tried it with the above because I don’t have great Internet (I’ve got grandfathered into the intro price of GeForce now, I’m not canceling it, I’ll have better Internet some day), but it’s better than browsing games at my blockbuster/warehouse/Hollywood video back in the day.
YouTube premium. I’ve only listen to ads when I’ve first turned on a new phone, every time I do I count my money as well spent. Add in YouTube music (much better than Spotify imo) and I’m good for 95% of my media input.
A hundred bucks a month on various content creators. Not listening to ads in my podcasts, not having to fast forward and rewind, and supporting the people who make my life happier, it’s a win win.
For Microsoft Game Pass I look for deals on cdkeys.com or eneba.com and get Ultimate for $6-7/month. Been doing it for years.
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Your highest quality local newspaper (includes online).
Volumio - Multiroom audio service. You install the os on a pi and hook up some speakers. The basic streamer is free for local files on a single device at a time. I paid $200 for a lifetime pass a few years ago. That gets you multiroom synced audio like Sonos and lets you add in streaming services.
Qobuz - Music streaming service. Much higher quality than Spotify, no shitty MQA like Tidal. They will have articles diving into a genre, band or record label with links to notable albums. It’s “station” playlists and similar artist recommendations are garbage but I’m more of an album person.
I like Qobuz, but it’s worth noting Tidal has discontinued their usage of MQA in favour of FLAC across the board.
I’ve never heard of Qobuz before but just signed up for the 30 day trial. Thank you!
Never heard of Qobuz. Been looking to replace yt music. Their algorithm is trash.
Ugh I miss play music. It was such a good service. YT music was a joke as a replacement.
Fyi, Tidal dropped MQA in July and moved to using FLAC. https://www.headphonesty.com/2024/06/tidal-officially-dumps-mqa/ I like Qobuz too, and I support and encourage their mission in the streaming world. But personally I find more of my favourite artists are available on Tidal than on Qobuz. Unfortunately I find the tidal “station”-style playlists are also garbage. Nobody has a chance to effectively compete with Spotify’s algorithm on that front.
Outstanding journalism from four independently-minded journalists doing their own thing.
Thanks for sharing, looks great.
Um subscription to what? Is none an ok answer?
I pay for my fibre, and my phone. They’re indispensable.
Oh and a VPN
I can see why people pay subscriptions for media, but people who pay subscriptions for software or services are a massive problem. If people refused to use a service as soon as it turned to a subscription model, the idea would’ve died out
Nope, folks are fucking stupid
I don’t think of phones as subscriptions but ok, yeah, they are somewhat needed, so fine, especially if you use it enough.
What’s wrong with paying a subscription for a service that requires resources to continuously operate, such as email hosting?
PBS, specifically the Passport that you can get through your local PBS. You get tons of content and you support public broadcasting
Proton Mail. High quality mail service where they don’t mine your emails for data to sell. It’s like 4-5 bucks a month depending on how you pay and it’s been worth every penny.
They are always giving you goodies as a bonus for being a subscriber. I second the proton subscription
- A privacy-respecting mail service: I use mailbox.org since it follows email standards, but I think many ppl like Proton mail/Tutanota. Recommend because they are privacy-respecting, and self-hosting email is way too difficult
- More of a yearly subscription per-se, but a personal domain from any domain registrar. Recommend because why not? There are so many cool things one can do with a domain: custom email, your own blog, professional website for job, …
- A VPS from Linode (or any reliable provider). Recommend because some things are better done on a VPS… and I want a public-facing IP that is not directly from my bedroom
- I used to have subscriptions to the local arcade. Recommend because I basically get cardio workout on the DDR machine (and it costs less than a gym. And easier to cancel)
Protonmail is great, it comes with cloud storage, a really good password manager, and a very fast VPN. The linux experience is mid for their apps, but great on MacOS or Windows.
People not coprotations.
In other words, things like Patreon or FOSS projects, where you subscribe to a “person/small group” to support whatever they do.
A reputable VPN, preferably with port forwarding (I use AirVPN, $5/mo and I have no problems with it.)
A Usenet provider and indexer (Newshosting is reasonable; nzbgeek offers a lifetime subscription)
Do you use the VPN to hide your traffic or to access foreign streaming sites?
Narc
Yes. And to watch porn when I’m visiting family in Texas.
Yea, this law was just christian bullshit
Wait, you can’t watch porn in Texas? 😂
I pause to appreciate their concern for my soul as I set my location to Kazakhstan and grab the lotion.
Yo, we don’t ask that kind of questions here!
Been listening to digitally imported since the winamp days! Never subscribed though. Good stuff!
Yeah, they’ve been around for ages and are still excellent. I’m also very glad they still support actual audio streams and don’t require some stupid app.
(No affiliation just a happy customer.)
I use the app haha I play it in my car during my commute.
Ha, you do you… But I’m glad they have alternative means to enjoy the streams.
If you like rock and roll then I recommend Night Flight streaming service. They were running a deal if you paid for the year it cost less than $5 a month
I’ll check it out thanks!
Nebula. It’s a video streaming service that is ad free and directly supports the creators.
It’s crazy that we live in a time where you have to add to your answer that it is ad free
As a fan of Jet Lag and the crew, it pains me how expensive it is outside the US.
I also have a Nebula subscription and recommend it as well. $60/yr or a $300 lifetime subscription.
Frequently you can get discount codes from the creators on there. I think I paid $20 this year.
Yeah I paid $30. Totally worth it.
