Paid Web Services?
 

Just out of curiosity, what, if any web services do you guys pay for? I'm assuming most of the responses will be web hosting, but anything else?

I've paid for applications online, but as for services i think the only thing i pay for is a flickr pro account.

You?

I pay $30 a year for a podcast subscription to this one radio show I like from back home. I get three and a half hours worth of material a day and it's commercial free, so it's totally worth the money.

I doubt Netflix counts, eh?

Apart from that, nothing. I mean, I was hesitant to even pay for Netflix when you can download and stream shit for free. But I liked the selection of decent documentaries, which is more than I can say for most streaming sites. So long as Netflix keeps expanding their streaming selections, I'll be loyal and legal.

I'm pretty sure I once paid for upgrade abilities on my livejournal or some such kind of blog. I haven't used it. O WELL.

I pay 10 dollars a month for 10gb download at usenet, I just cancelled it though, so i doubt that counts.

Oh and Paying 20 dollars per 3 months at bitsoup.org Since my ratio is pretty crappy so i opt to pay for the upload instead :)

I pay annually to get full access at this wallpaper site. 12 dollars a year, I like that deal =D. I suppose Xbox live is another one. I regularly download and buy arcade games all the time.

I guess Turbotax counts too. Otherwise I try to keep all my paperwork as a hard copy whenever possible.

Somethingawful account - £5
DeviantART subscription - £4 for three months
Last.fm subscription - £1.50 for a month

All of which I enjoy thoroughly.

Wait. LastFM charges now?

Or is there something in addition to the basic if you pay a small fee?

What benefits are you getting, Krel?

Yeah i'm curious as to what a paid subscription gives you as well. What about deviantart?

I pay for email. There are free services which offer more storage, but they don't have the features. I've never known spam filtering like my provider offers. It's amazing. I tried turning it off once to get some idea how much spam I would otherwise recieved. I started getting 30-40 a day instead of 0-2.

That plus the fact it's an IMAP4 instead of POP3 mailbox has sold me. Works much better when I'm on the move. I like to access email via my cellphone.

You know, Thunderbird is pretty much does the same thing, but you don't pay for it. You train it to see spam, and it throws it automatically in your spam box.

I personally like email clients, though. I dislike having to access a website for my mail.

Like many GFF people, I pay roughly $4.25 a month for Xbox Live. Definitely worth it. Additionally, I pay $20 or $30 a year for "Insider" access to ESPN's website. This also comes with a subscription to their paper magazine which goes from my mailbox to my trash can. I think from their standpoint, I am paying for the magazine and getting the special access on the website as sort of a perk, while from my standpoint it is the opposite. They could save themselves the paper and shipping cost from not sending me the magazine.

Sure, exactly. It's called Bayesian filtration, anyone can implement the technology. There are two huge advantages to the site I use, for me.

1) Their filters are already trained with the spam mail from hundreds of users

2) I can access it whenever, wherever.

See, that second point wouldn't be a big deal for a lot of folk. Since I spend an amazing amount of time away from home, it is a huge advantage for me. Whenever I'm actually at home, I do use an email client to access my mailbox. Whenever I'm away I use either my phone, or a web interface.

I value the ability to go mobile and take the spam filter with me. I value it far more than the money I pay out for the service, which really is a negligable amount at $17 per year.

Optional $3/£1.50 per month = more playlist options, access to upcoming features (don't think there's any beta stuff I can toy with right now), being able to see who's viewed your profile, higher server priority for track submission (no more waiting a week for charts to update).

Deviantart = access to beta features, customisable front page, better gallery view/messages view interface.

The usual suspects really: web-hosting, flickr pro, Xbox Live and the odd bit of bought software/music online. Besides those I can't think of anything else I pay for in the way of web services.

Ideally. =/ There have been times when it would still be close to being a week late in updating.

But yeah:

I'm subscribed to Last.fm. I got that Xbox Live. I pay the web hosting fees (1&1 and Dreamhost) for my personal sites and sites I run for some of my organizations. I have Insider access on ESPN.com. I pay for some premium service on some fantasy sports sites. Sometimes I'll throw a few dollars down for some uber Usenet access. I also currently have a premium RapidShare account for the month since there's been a spluge of Asian films for download lately. And lastly, not really a service, but I give periodic donations to the online communities I like. :rolleyes:

Does it count if I pay all my bills, including rent, utilities, telecom, credit card, and even shop for groceries online? :3:

If not, the bulk of paid web services I paid for lies in Web Hosting (Dreamhost, now Bluehost), and domains. I once paid $240 for 3 about-to-expire domains (which I am now regretting by the way).

I paid cash to get upgraded features on a browser game called AstroEmpires for about 9 months. I regretted going into this game (no thanks to that Bigblah :smack:).

I have also spent money contributing to a few private BT sites (mostly to buy ratio since my upload sucks :p)

I pay for bank services online. It's extremely flexible to be able to check my balance, paying the rents and transfer money from your internet. It's a very small sum to pay each year, but at the moment it's actually free since I'm a student.

Otherwise I pay for Xbox Live Gold if it counts. No other web services, Gmail gets me 0 spam mails a week and shitloads of storage. I'm planning to get a domain or some webhosting in the future though.