djames4242

If they’re as good as (or better than) the X I got free with my daughter’s Air years ago, they’re still well worth it. I love my AirPods Pro, but still use my X when I work out. They sound great and are super convenient.

JFC_PA said:

Of course being enrolled in the Apple Upgrade program makes it a no brainer: my monthly cost remains virtually  the same and I get to enjoy the latest iPhone. Love that program. 

Of course, you’re also paying 100% of the sales tax every year for 50% of the lifespan of the phone, considering that after two years you’d be able to keep the phone and even resell it. Unless, of course, you’re in one of the few states that doesn’t charge sales tax.

Honestly I’m not judging; I’m not the target for this program and only upgrade every 3-4 years. But if you like always having the latest device, then the premium is undoubtedly worth it to you. I just think it sucks that Apple (or the carriers, if you use one of their upgrade programs) charges the full sales tax when they’re going to turn around in a year and sell it as a used device charging its new owner sales tax again.

Appleish said:

When will 'peak streaming' occur? Who wants to subscribe to a dozen $12 to $20 streaming services, much less Hulu's overpriced Live TV. Collect them all together and just call it "Comcast."

Not sure I’d call it overpriced. We switched from Comcast’s triple play bundle to a combination of CenturyLink fiber, Hulu Live, and Ooma. Our download speed is nearly three times as fast and our upload speed is roughly 70 times as fast and there’s no data cap. We get more channels than we had before, a better DVR, plus all the add-free streaming content. Ooma gives us two phone numbers (one of which we use roughly once every two years to send a fax), great robocall blocking, a service that rings our mobiles simultaneously with our home phone, and voicemails go to my email. All of this totals about half what we were paying Comcast before. 

Not sure that diminishing App Store submissions directly correlates to diminishing Mac development. Given a choice between buying from the App Store and going direct to the developers’ stores, I nearly always choose the later. While there’s a certain convenience to the App Store, I also know that many of the developers I buy from will release updates with discounted upgrades, something that’s more difficult to offer when buying through the App Store. In fact, I honestly can’t remember the last time I purchased software without going direct to the publisher.

Maybe my buying habits are unique? I suspect many others feel the same, which means there may not be a lot of incentive for developers to publish through the App Store, especially considering some of the limitations Apple imposes on apps distributed that way (notwithstanding the exception in that iCloud-enabled apps must be distributed that way).

Spotify who? I stopped using them when I found out they pay artists a fraction of what other services pay...