Subscription service: Difference between revisions

Subscriptions differ from [[Purchase|purchases]] in that when a person purchases a product it is expected that they permanently own the product and have full control over it while a consumer's control over a subscription product/service ends when they stop paying or cancel the subscription; in other words a consumer temporarily controls a subscription product only <u>after a subscription has been purchased</u> while a user owns a product if they <u>purchased the product</u>. Subscriptions can be beneficial for consumers in that they act as a sort of "trial period" where a product or service is accessible for cheaper than it would be if they purchased it to own. Some subscription plans even guarantee their customers frequent updates that would otherwise require a secondary purchase. Subscriptions can also be negative for consumers, many companies see subscriptions as a way to extract more revenue out of their customers rather than a trial period, in addition some companies have even [[Retroactively amended purchase|retroactively amended purchases]] such that consumers lose access to a product they previously "owned".

Instances of companies using the terms "ownership" and "own" when referring to subscription products and services have become prevalent. These instances are at the bare minimum misnomers: consumers do not own something if they have to pay subscription to use it. The redefinition of language could be seen as a malicious attempt by companies to lessen the severity of the loss of ownership that consumers are now facing.

A [[License]] grants rights to use a product or service<ref>[https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/licence "license"] - oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com - accessed 2025-01-23</ref>. Licenses differ from subscriptions in that permanent licenses exist while no subscription is ever permanent, in addition many companies choose to make temporary "licenses" last longer than subscriptions as [[Adobe]] does<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20250123232818/https://www.adobe.com/howtobuy/buying-programs.html "Adobe Buying Programs"] - archive.org - archived 2025-01-23 </ref>. Licenses also may apply to large groups of people, I.E. a student license granted to students for free. The concern here is that [[License euthanasia|permanent licenses are being phased out]] using the retroactively amended purchase strategy as [[Adobe Lightroom: Perpetual to Subscription Transition|Adobe has done]] possibly because subscriptions are more profitable. The term "license" is likely vulnerable to redefinition as ownership is.

Subscription inflation occurs when companies increase subscription prices often arbitrarily. This practice has been seen with Netflix subscriptions where in 2025 "The standard monthly subscription without advertisements will climb from $15.49 to $17.99, and a standard monthly subscription with ads will increase one dollar to $7.99, Netflix said."<ref name=":0">[https://abcnews.go.com/Business/netflix-raises-prices-us-plans/story?id=117971949 "Netflix raises prices for all US plans. Here's what to know."] - abcnews.go.com - accessed 2025-01-23</ref>. Subscription inflation need not be done to recoup lost revenue as this Netflix subscription price increase actually occurred after a year of "a stellar earnings report"<ref name=":0" /> meaning that Netflix has the resources to improve their service without raising prices. Subscription inflation has and will be used solely to raise company profits by forcing consumers to pay more for what may be an unimproved service.