Do we still live in a material world?

Of course we (and by we I'm limiting this mostly to Americans, as I haven't observed this to the same extent in other cultures) are still obsessed with THINGS--whether it be in the "status" you gain by owning something (such as a BMW), the emotional value you place in an object (your childhood teddy bear), an obseesion with owning all of something (such as beanie babies), or just "having to have" something (such as the latest CD by your favorite band).

However, I've been noticing the recent trend in business to not just sell an object but to sell a service that is required to use said object. This, of course, makes great business sense because the company makes money not just from the sale of the initial product but also from the monthly fee the consumer must pay to use said product. Thus, in order to use your $100-300+ XM or Sirius radio (even if it came with your car, the price is still added into the cost of the car) you have to pay an additonal $12 a month (not sure about the exact price). Similarly, in order to play that new $50 massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG) you bought for your computer, you have to pay $15 a month (in 3 months time, you've spent more than the cost of a new computer game). Yahoo! Launch, Napster, and other music services also charge monthly fees to play "unlimited" songs for as long as you continue to pay for the service (once you stop paying, the songs that you didn't pay an additional fee to own will no longer play on the devices you put them on). Same thing goes for cell phones, DVRs, satellite TV, etc. Even those companies (including cell phone carriers and, more recently, Tivo) that have begun reversing this trend in recent years by charging just an "activation" fee and then the monthly plan, still lock you into anywhere from a 1 year to 3 year contract in order to get the "discounted" required piece of equipment.

So what we're seeing is a trend where we no longer own the equipment we use, because even if it's physically in our possession and we paid a couple hundred dollars for it, we can't do anything with it if we choose to no longer pay $15 a month for a service or if these services go out of business and are shut down. This takes the power out of our hands as consumers. In addition, much of this equipment is specialized so if we want to change services later (such as switching to a different satellite provider or a different cell phone service) we have to pay for all new equipment or "hack" our current equipment so it works with the other service. So you better hope that the service you initially buy the equipment for is reliable and is one you'll be happy with for a period long enough to make your purchase of the equipment worthwhile (noting the fact that you'll also be paying an additional $200 or so a year just to use the stuff). And because the service controls our equipment, when the service "upgrades" to add new features our equipment may be unable to use those new features so the service will then recommend we upgrade, which will then entail us buying a couple hundred dollars worth of new equipment.

As I'm sure you can tell by this point, this is a never ending vicious cycle of raping the consumer in favor of the service provider. Don't get me wrong, I have no problem paying for services, but I expect a reasonable price and any specialized equipment to be provided to me for free (as part of the service charge)--I don't need to own the equipment, it can be loaner equipment. If they make us buy the equipment, then they should provide the service for free. I know they all offer "free trials" but the 1-3 month trials hardly make the purchase of the equipment worth it in many cases. If they were to provide 12 month free trials with the purchase of equipment, then I might be willing to give some of these "services" a look. However, as the current business models stand, I cannot and will not support these businesses as I feel they are unfair to consumers. In addition, many companies offer alternatives to these services that do not require these double charges--for cell phones you can buy an unlocked phone and choose your carrier (without having to sign a multi-year contract); for Tivo there are computer programs such as BeyondTV that only require the purchase of equipment (including software) and no monthly fee (there are also free software options such as mythTV). So I encourage my fellow consumers to boycott these highway robbers that are using technology as a service to double charge us.