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.

  • entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
    34·
    7 months ago

    UltimateGuitar.com

    It used to be entirely free and the vast majority of its tablature was uploaded by community members for free.

    The app used to be a one-time purchase. Thankfully I did purchase it back then and they grandfathered me in with a lifetime pro membership, but I can’t blame the people who would never want to use the site/app when they’ve effectively paywalled a ton of community content.

    • criitz@reddthat.comEnglish
      7·
      7 months ago

      Agreed. I bought the lifetime membership back then and I still have to deal with ads and upsells. Unfortunately they are still the most comprehensive tab source.

      • njordomir@lemmy.worldEnglish
        2·
        7 months ago

        Its crazy to think of a subscription for something like community sourced tabs. They’re often literal text files. You could host thousands of them off a thumbdrive. :)

    • Nommer@lemmy.worldEnglish
      4·
      7 months ago

      What the fuck. I used to go there for tabs all the time when I picked up guitar. Sadly I stopped playing but to hear that that website is all pay walled now is disgusting.

      • entropicdrift@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        4·
        7 months ago

        It’s hard to find the right balance. I know I only want to pay once, or heck never, but I want these upgrades and updates too.

        I try to use as much FOSS as is reasonable for my daily usage. For things I use a lot I’ll donate to the developers if they allow it, with the exception of Mesa and Proton since Valve fund their development and I buy games on Steam a good portion of the time.

        In general I try to support projects that are made in that open and sharing spirit of the early internet rather than getting baited into more disingenuous traps like what happened with UltimateGuitar.