Unsubbing from Netflix and Apple Music

It’s been a couple of months since I unsubscribed from Netflix and Apple Music.

Losing Netflix

I’d watched Netflix for four years and it had become part of my evening routine, so to give it up was hard to do.

I was prompted to quit by the price increase in May this year. Maybe Netflix will come through on their promise to add more, high quality content, but I was already quite satisfied with what they had.

It’s not just about the money, though. After all, the price hike was only a couple of bucks. But sometimes you can get so absorbed in one thing that you give less time to other more meaningful things.

People will pay more to be entertained than educated.

Dale Carnegie

I have subscriptions to a yoga app, two guitar apps, and three Japanese learning apps. And I’m sure my time would be better spent using those instead.

Unfortunately, I haven’t begun studying more. Now I spend my evenings consuming as much of Apple TV+ as I can before my free one-year subscription ends in December. Lol.

Giving up Apple Music

I used to pay for a whole year of Apple Music in a single, discounted payment. But when my son got an iPod for Christmas, I switched to the monthly Family plan. A few weeks later, my son had stopped using his iPod for music, and I was left paying more for a service I didn’t use very much myself.

I do miss the playlists I made, but not so much that I can be bothered recreating them on Spotify or another service with a free plan. Instead, I just use YouTube for a couple of songs until I get lost in some other activity.

How much money am I saving?

I just did the math and 12 months of Netflix’s cheapest plan, plus 12 months of an Apple Music Family subscription, comes to Â¥29,640 ($267). Considering I still have other options for TV and music, I’m happy to abstain for a while.

If you like, you can find me on Twitter at @nick_ramsay. I'd love to hear from you!