Waze is clever, if you can cope with the cartoon UI. The problem is that Google now own it…
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I suppose it could be argued that iPlayer isn’t really free as there’s theoretically a licence fee to pay to use it .
Sadly I’d happily ditch the TV Licence these days having been a supporter of the fee for decades - this is partly because I rarely watch anything live but there are other reasons which I’d better not elaborate on even though I regard it as good value overall - I mainly listen to Radio 3 (Radio 4 less so these days), and use the bbc website frequently for news/weather/sport - a real shame they ditched their travel and food pages, though maybe the latter came back.
The kids seldom watch live TV but Mrs AC watches all manner of Freeview channels ‘live’ so we need it.
I actually wonder why they don’t cut the licence fee drastically and offer basic ‘live TV’ viewing rights with iPlayer as an optional subscription service which could be be discounted if you bundled it with the licence.
I also wonder how much money TV Licensing chasing up properties without a licence actually costs paying licence payers - had dozens and dozens of threatening letters to my late parents’ house which must have cost a fair bit to send and were very frustrating. They must waste so much money and the tone of their letters is appalling.
In the past I could justify Prime for next day delivery of items quite easily.
Addition of unlimited photo storage (strangely mine’s inactove in the UK), Prime Video and Prime Music were really great early on.
A year or two ago Prime Music was crippled (could no longer play an album through without upgrading) and now Prime Video has adverts. Paying annually is cheaper and although I often consider cancelling the next day delivery can be very helpful especially when the kids want something for school eg a revision book they could have mentioned weeks earlier!
I actually think for kids TV, especially the younger years, streaming is probably perfect.
My kids are mid to late teens now - I am more likely to watch Thomas The Tank series, Angelina Ballerina, Sofia the First, Winx Club and several others simply from a nostalgic viewpoint then them 
You would probably not believe how much I spent on physical media such as DVDs/BluRays and later purchasing kids TV series/movies on iTunes. Very little of this would be watched now by any of us, and Disney+ certainly gives value for money compared to those old DVDs/BluRays in storage.
I’ve also purchased so many VHS/DVD/BluRay/4k Blu Ray releases just to get better and better quality for many movies I like but often for TV Shows which will never be available on streaming, or are unlikely to be - nostalgia for my childhood even if production values and of their time special effects were poor. Streaming solves this if the title is available as the quality improvements tend to come automatically.
You can add printer ink to that.
Completely agree. Advertising intrusion is pernicious, and will make me seriously consider downgrading or cancelling some services.
Do you remember the episode with ‘Hiro’?
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Or annually! I have a few shipping container storage units.
The easiest to clear is £120 pcm - that’s £1440 annually, utterly ridiculous but still a bargain compared to previous Safetrore costs.
I recall the engine name, but it may have been in later series.
There was a time when the kids were small that we realised how many new Thomas related toy trains or Winx fairy dolls (or their revised magic power outfits annually) were released as cash cows - we bought many but they brought pleasure and joy and I’m sure I spent more on things I didn’t really need.
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I agree, but far too many of us are trying to save pennies or pounds these days so on a personal level Amazon Prime or Amazon prices can be excellent value.
Absolutely agree that many of the subscription service search features are dire, especially Netflix. I think for youngsters the ‘must watch’ series or movies are often ‘word of mouth/trending’ so are simpler to find or search for.
Cancelled Tidal a year or so ago as I had Qobuz and don’t miss it at all.
Should probably cancel Qobuz or Apple Music Family but we only really have Apple Music as it’s my daughter’s ‘go to’ music service. No one else uses it apart from me fairly infrequently.
Amazon are good for quick delivery of stuff not easily available locally, or horrendously expensive.
I paid £47 !! for some (50ml) Loctite 243 locally but I needed it so i had to suck it up. Bought a different type of Loctite (272) from Amazon and it was delivered next day for a competitive price.
I have a Kindle Unlimited sub that im quite happy with.
Tidal and Qobuz were cancelled last year! 
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I have that too, but can’t quite figure out what Prime gives me Kindle wise!
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I loved winx club and whilst I was technically quite above the intended age range when Sofia the first came out I loved the songs and would still happily watch it.
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The songs were brilliant fun weren’t they!
If you have Netflix may I thoroughly recommend The Dragon Prince animated stories - we’ve just finished Season 6 and it’s superficially a kids’ show early on but evolves incredibly well into a very dark world with many surprises.
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In hindsight I think it was potentially one of the most empowering things my young daughter watched as a pre-teen youngster. Difficult to explain to those who’ve not seen it.
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As far as I’m concerned, I pay my licence fee happily for the following (roughly in order):
- Radio 3 and 4
- Sounds & iPlayer
- BBC 4, 2, 1 and 3
- CBeebies
Yes, I’m well aware the the licence fee only ‘officially’ covers a subset of those, but in reality it funds the lot.
With two daughters at university, why CBeebies? Because they watched it almost exclusively as small children and every day I was amazed how good it was. When they watched some US children’s TV on holiday, I was appalled by comparison.
Complaining about the BBC does seem to be a national pastime, encouraged hugely by the press who would like nothing more than to kill off their biggest competitor who, most of the time, does it better than them.
Mark
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While many are or were happy to pay for it, I suspect younger generations increasingly won’t be in the future due to different consumption methods.
I personally just don’t like the blunt and insensitive TV Licensing tactics when there is no registered licence at an address where one is not actually required. If it was optional I’d still pay for the subset of services I/we use, but only if we continued to use them.
Website was down, now back up.
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I don’t disagree with either of those points - I was referring mainly to complaints about the TV licence model that centre on a slightly wonky version of a ‘civil liberties’ argument, often by those who don’t seem to realise they are parroting the opinion of press barons who have a huge vested interest in the BBC being defunded.
As has been said by others, those of us who have seen the quality of broadcasting in countries which don’t have a well-funded national broadcaster can more easily appreciate that we are much better off with the BBC - imperfect and silly as it may be in some ways - than we would be without it.
TV Licensing’s modus operandi does indeed seem to be quite questionable. IIUC, they are a separate operation to the BBC, not that that completely absolves them (the BBC) of blame.
Mark
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I think I read that single mums in poverty are disproportionately investigated/prosecuted.
Administration and ‘enforcement’ is by Capita - you have to wonder if they are ‘funded by results’ or get a flat commission from the BBC to handle it all irrespective. The tactics to me would suggest the former as the letters are often officious and insensitive (in my experience).
Website back up.
Our current subscriptions are mounting:
1 - Amazon Prime (annual)
2 - Apple Music Family (monthly)
3 - Qobuz Sublime (annual)
4 - Disney+ (monthly)
5 - Paramount+ (monthly)
6 - Netflix 4 seat 4k (monthly)
7 - Crunchyroll (monthly)
8 - Xbox Game Pass (monthly)
9 - Meta Horizon (monthly)
10 - Nintendo gaming (annual)
11 - iCloud 2TB plan (monthly)
Tidal went by the wayside as did NowTV and can’t stand ITV X app after BritBox closed down.
No Sky or similar.
Quite frightening really all these recurring costs.
Usage:
All 4 of us - 1,4,5,6,11
Me - 3 (Qobuz)
Mainly my son - 7,8,9,10
Mainly my daughter - 2
Mainly Mrs AC and daughter - 4 and 6
Hmmm…
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