Software I’ll Pay For
So much of the software we use on a daily basis follows a freemium model, but sometimes I come across software that charges a monthly or annual fee and I say “it’s worth it”. Here is my list of software so good, I pay for it.
YouTube Red
This was the biggest surprise to me. I use YouTube all the time. I use it for goofy videos, coding instructional, meditation music, how to play songs on guitar, book summaries, audiobooks, I could go on. I would always just sit through the ads which in recent years have become increasingly annoying and long. Then I saw Youtube was promoting 3 months free of Youtube Red and I thought I have nothing to lose! Not only has not having to listen to ads a real game changer and time saver, the bonus is really on the mobile app. I can download videos and watch them on the subway and I can listen to YouTube even when its not open and my phone is locked.
The best little known secret- if you want to save a youtube video to your computer type in “magic” in between the you and the tube in the web address.
Apple Music
I feel like the big argument here isn’t why am I paying for streaming music but more so, why do I use Apple Music and not Spotify. Here are my thoughts:
- Price- the same.
- Design- I find aesthetically there is no competition between the two. Apple Music has its flaws but Spotify is just ugly.
- Efficiency- I have Apple Music on my phone. Spotify would just be one more app that takes up space.
- Artists’s Rights- Taylor Swift seems to be a real divisive topic these days but remember when she was on Apple Music and she wasn’t on Spotify because Spotify wasn’t paying her enough (and presumably Apple Music was)? Why wouldn’t I chose the service that pays its artists more? Which leads to my next point.
- Song availability- Apple Music has all of the music Spotify has and then some.
Evernote
This purchase is more about having a clean, pop-up free version of a product that I use a hundred times a day and lean on for everything. It truly is my brain outside of my brain.
Todoist
Todoist is another one of those apps that I use so regularly that I would pay them to say “thank you for helping me get my stuff done”. There are a few features I use regularly that are only available in the premium version like adding notes and attachments to tasks, custom analytics, and automatic backups too!
1Password
With data breaches becoming more and more common and expectations for creating and managing our passwords becoming increasingly challenging, I need a password manager to make sure my information is safe without having to use valuable brain-power to keep track of everything. 1Password seems to be the best product out there for this purpose.