And they say subscriptions are a rip off. I counted how much I would have to spend wanting to have everything "owned"

Apparently subscriptions are a rip off. Instead of paying once and have, we pay every month and at any moment we can lose access, because what we pay for is not ours. How is it really? I counted how much it would cost me to "own" what I have on my subscription.

To own or to have access? This question divides consumers from a good few years, as subscriptions gradually took possession of our digital life. Personally, I am a great supporter of the so-called "Access culture" - instead of owning several music albums, DVDs or books, I prefer to pay monthly for almost unlimited access to their unlimited resources.

Many people, however, disagree with this philosophy , calling subscriptions for the rip-off. Are they right?

To check this out, I decided to calculate how much I spend on culture under subscriptions and how much I use access to all these riches.

In this list, I take into account three categories: VOD, music streaming and books. In the VOD category there is Netflix and HBO GO (a total of about PLN 70 / month), streaming is a family subscription in Spotify (about PLN 30 / month), and books are Legimi in a package with a reader (about PLN 50). months.).

One of the crowning arguments of supporters of owning culture is "after all you will not watch all the serials / you will not listen to all the albums / you will not read all the books". And right - you can not grasp the enormity of culture to which we have access. But are we surely using so little of what is available in the subscription to justify buying everything on the property?

I checked it on my own consumption.

How much would I have to spend on CDs to create such an extensive music library as I have at Spotify ?

For the purposes of this list, I will only count the albums (entire albums, not individual singles) that I have stored in the library. I do not count occasional playlists or individual artist songs that I have not added to my favorites.

At the moment, exactly 268 albums are added to my Spotify library. Of course, I do not listen to them all regularly (as I would not listen to CDs), but at least 20-30 of them play every month. I do not include albums listened to by my relatives to whom I subscribe.

Let's be a little bit more fair that I have accumulated these albums the entire time I use Spotify, which is around 5 years.

60 months x 30 PLN = 1800 PLN

Now let's take a look at how much I would have to pay for the same collection of "owned", whether in an analogue form or in a digital form to be downloaded to the disk. Album prices vary greatly, depending on whether you are talking about an old or a new release, but generally fall in the ceiling of 15 to 50 zlotys. Let us assume, therefore, that the average price of one disc is PLN 30. So many monthly family subscriptions in Spotify.

268 albums x 30 PLN = 8040 PLN

The more stubborn disputant could argue that "yes, but the CDs will be yours forever, and you will still have to pay for the subscription." And full consent. Let's count, however, how much water in the river would have to pass to match the price of the subscription with the cost of buying music "for ownership". Assuming, of course, that I will not add one more album to my library in Spotify all this time:

It's been 60 months, I spent 1,800 PLN on Spotify. Let us assume, therefore, that PLN 6,240 from PLN 8040 was to be balanced, which would cost the entire collection.

6240/30 = 208 months. 208 months = around 17 years. Let's add the first 5 years in Spotify and it turns out that in order for the cost of the subscription to be equal to the cost of a music library bought for ownership, it must be 22 years. Assuming, of course, that I will not add more songs to the collection.

However, it is interesting to see movies .

Every month I pay PLN 70 for Netfliks and HBO Go. Netflix, however, I pay for only 3 years, and HBO Go for 4 years, so to standardize the measurements, I will accept the actual use of both services over the last year. I am counting only those series, which I have not interrupted and watched all season, and those movies that I have watched in its entirety.

In the last year, I spent about PLN 840 on VOD subscriptions.

In total, only in 2018, I watched 35 seasons of series and 30 films. Relatively little, especially taking into account the "runs" of some other members of the editorial office, but also relatively much, taking into account the average consumer of pop culture.

Of course, in the era of VOD, not all movies and series come out on CDs or are available in digital distribution, but let us assume for a moment that it really is. As in the case of music, prices vary, but here we can also average the amounts for the purposes of this text.

In the case of films, it is about PLN 25 per copy, and in the case of series - about PLN 35 per season.

35 seasons x 35 PLN = 1225 PLN

30 films x 25 PLN = 750 PLN

Together, I would have to spend 1975 zlotys to put on the shelf (physical or virtual) the same collection that I saw as part of the subscription during the last year.

Because of the coherence of the statement - to compensate for this amount in VOD subscriptions, assuming I will not add a single item to it, I would have to pay a subscription for at least two years.

In the case of books, possession has the most sense.

For half a year I have been paying for Legimi, under which I get unlimited access to several thousand books, I got a free reader, and I pay about PLN 50 a month.

During those six months, I read a total of 25 books. I paid 300 PLN for the subscription (although if it was a subscription without a reader, I would pay slightly more than half of this amount).

Book prices can range from PLN 15 in Biedronka to PLN 40-50 for new items (not counting the curious factual literature and scientific books that cost much more). Let us assume, however, that one book costs PLN 20 - this is how much we average on e-books in Poland.

25 books x PLN 20 = PLN 500

I would have to spend so much on the book collection I have read for the last six months. Still more than for a subscription, but not as much more drastically as in the case of music or film. Nevertheless, for someone who absorbs the average number of books a year (40-50), the subscription still pays more than buying books.

We are talking here only about the purchase cost. And yet, this is not the end of other costs that result from having.

Every physical artifact we bring home is a mental and temporary burden. Physical copies take the place. You have to dust off them from time to time. In the case of moving or simply rearranging, they become extremely annoying.

Not to mention the fact that we can not always take this "owned" collection with us. And here the arguments begin in favor of access culture, which can not be argued with.

Even if we stick to strictly digital goods - unless we create our own home cloud in which we will keep the entire collection of music, movies and books, there is no chance that we will have access to them from anywhere in the world, on any device.

In the case of physical goods, there is no mention of it at all - a device that is not always at hand is necessary to reproduce the disc. Not to mention that we can not always take even a part of the library with us.

The key advantage of subscriptions, which many people still so much psioczy, is convenience, saving time and space, and comfort of access from anywhere in the world.

This is especially evident in the case of movies. When we talk about a library owned by us, we usually talk about consumption of content in a specially prepared room (eg a living room), with a TV set, a home theater system, etc. Or at least about the laptop.

When it comes to VOD services, televisions and traditional home cinema, it is becoming a thing of the past. What counts, however, are smartphones that now offer fantastic audio-visual capabilities.

Take for example the new family of top Samsung - Samsung Galaxy S10 , Galaxy S10 + and Galaxy S10e offer the best displays of all mobile devices. We will watch films and TV series on them in quality, which until recently was guaranteed only by top-notch TVs.

Even cheaper devices, like the new Huawei P30 Lite , offer such good quality screens and loudspeakers today that you can enjoy watching your favorite series without losing anything of optical and sound fireworks. And - most importantly - you can do it anytime, from anywhere in the world.

Once I used to carry books with a pocket edition everywhere. To kill time on breaks between lectures, in queues at the doctors, etc. If, however, I forgot my book from home - I had nothing to do with myself. As this habit accompanies me to this day, I am overjoyed that by waiting for a free window in the Tax Office, I can pull out the phone and, instead of Instagram's mindless scrolling, start the Legimi application and read a fragment of the book we have just started.

I also appreciate the convenience of streaming music from a computer or a smartphone. You can even have music in a subscription on some watches, like Garmin Vivoactive 3 Music . And even those that do not have the ability to play music without a phone can be used to ... control playback on other devices.

Personally, I use it this way: I play music on a computer to which good speakers are connected. Thanks to Spotify Connect, I can control playback from any phone on which I have the Spotify app, and that with every tested smartphone - like the latest Samsung Galaxy S10 Plus - I connect my watch with WearOS, I can de facto control the music playing on the computer from the level of the watch.

It sounds complicated, but in practice it just means that when I go to the other room I do not have to take a phone with me to control the music from a distance. All I need is a watch that I have on my wrist all the time.

Have, do you have access? that is the question

For me, the answer has been "to have access" for years. And all the changes that take place in the culture market - including the recent Apple offensive in this topic - indicate that it is the access culture, not ownership, that is the future.

Of course, the subscriptions have their black side. The supplier can at any time change the rules of the game, raise prices, or just disappear from the market. It's a risk that you need to be aware of. And of course, the works consumed in the subscription can not be resold or passed on, although in the majority of cases we can simply share the subscription.

But even taking into account the potential cons, the multiplicity of benefits and affordability, it is difficult to argue today that subscriptions are good.

And if you're still not convinced ... well. It remains to be hoped that those to whom you save your precious collections in will will be equally inclined to possess them, as you.

* The material was created in cooperation with RTV EURO AGD

And they say subscriptions are a rip off. I counted how much I would have to spend wanting to have everything "owned"