Subscription service: Difference between revisions

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A '''subscription service''' is an ongoing transaction agreement between the customer and the company, where a user usually pays on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis to use the services provided by the company. In many cases, this model is used where a company has a sustained cost of doing business, some of which include cloud storage, VPN's and many other SaaS products.

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==Why is it a problem?==

===Subscription-based economy trend===

Subscription service revenue was estimated at "$3 trillion in 2024, up from estimates of around $2 trillion in 2023"<ref>[https://whop.com/blog/subscription-statistics/#:~:text=metrics%2C%20and%20more.-,Subscription%20Economy%20Statistics,%242%20trillion%20in%2020231. "100+ Subscription Statistics for 2025"] - whop.com - accessed 2025-01-23 ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260210224358/https://whop.com/blog/subscription-statistics/ Archived])</ref>. Subscription services are becoming more prevalent. The replacement of permanent ownership with subscription services has some negative impacts that can harm consumer rights.

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===Licenses as subscriptions===

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 ([http://web.archive.org/web/20250818080626/https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/licence Archived])</ref> Licenses differ from subscriptions in that they are permanent, whereas subscriptions are not. 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 may also apply to large groups of people, e.g., 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.

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 ([http://web.archive.org/web/20250818080626/https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/licence Archived])</ref> Licenses differ from subscriptions in that they are permanent, whereas subscriptions are not. 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 may also apply to large groups of people, e.g., 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 Creative Suite activation#Removal of Adobe Lightroom perpetual licensing|Adobe has done]], possibly because subscriptions are more profitable. The term "license" is likely vulnerable to redefinition, as ownership is.

===Subscription inflation===

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 A '''subscription service''' is an ongoing transaction agreement between the customer and the company, where a user usually pays on a weekly, monthly, or yearly basis to use the services provided by the company. In many cases, this model is used where a company has a sustained cost of doing business, some of which include cloud storage, VPN's and many other SaaS products.
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 ==Why is it a problem?==
 ===Subscription-based economy trend===
 Subscription service revenue was estimated at "$3 trillion in 2024, up from estimates of around $2 trillion in 2023"<ref>[https://whop.com/blog/subscription-statistics/#:~:text=metrics%2C%20and%20more.-,Subscription%20Economy%20Statistics,%242%20trillion%20in%2020231. "100+ Subscription Statistics for 2025"] - whop.com - accessed 2025-01-23 ([http://web.archive.org/web/20260210224358/https://whop.com/blog/subscription-statistics/ Archived])</ref>. Subscription services are becoming more prevalent. The replacement of permanent ownership with subscription services has some negative impacts that can harm consumer rights.
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 ===Licenses as subscriptions===
-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 ([http://web.archive.org/web/20250818080626/https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/licence Archived])</ref> Licenses differ from subscriptions in that they are permanent, whereas subscriptions are not. 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 may also apply to large groups of people, e.g., 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.
+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 ([http://web.archive.org/web/20250818080626/https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/english/licence Archived])</ref> Licenses differ from subscriptions in that they are permanent, whereas subscriptions are not. 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 may also apply to large groups of people, e.g., 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 Creative Suite activation#Removal of Adobe Lightroom perpetual licensing|Adobe has done]], possibly because subscriptions are more profitable. The term "license" is likely vulnerable to redefinition, as ownership is.
 ===Subscription inflation===