Inflation is caused by too many dollars chasing too few products. Either in a single sector or across the entire economy. This is another way of describing supply and demand. When there’s more demand than supply (that is an increase in money being spent without a corresponding increase in goods to sell, or a reduction in the amount of goods to sell without a corresponding decrease in money being spent), prices rise. And when the opposite happens, prices fall.
The ways to reduce inflation is one or more of:
Reduce the money supply. For example, by raising interest rates, by increasing the percentage of deposits banks are required to hold (vs. lend out), by issuing fewer government bonds, or by printing less money.
Reduce spending. Either by consumers (the self-fulfilling prophecy you described) or by government. Which is also a form of reducing the money supply.
Increase the amount of goods. That is, grow the economy. Which is particularly difficult right now, due to supply-chain issues and other related problems faced by manufacturers.
I’m an Apple One subscriber. Of the six services, I actually care about two, iCloud+ (2TB) and Apple TV+. I don’t mind having Music, and my wife seems to like News+. Arcade isn’t getting used at all, and Fitness+, I should use it, and it’s aspirational, but it’s not getting used at all, either.
When I look at the price increase, it makes me think again about what I spend every month on subscriptions. And I start thinking that maybe I should just subscribe to the services I actually use. $17/month < $33/month, by quite a bit. I can live without Apple Music, and my wife has plenty of Internet left to read if News+ goes away.
So my question is, is there a safe, standard process for leaving Apple One, and signing up for the (two) individual services I want?
I’m specifically concerned about iCloud+, since we’re way over any free limit for iCloud storage. (The only reason we were on the Premier plan for Apple One was for two TB of storage.) I don’t want everything wiped just because we’re changing plans, and the transition requires resetting, or something awful like that…
The process to cancel an Apple One subscription anticipates your issue. Accessing the subscription is easiest from a mobile device. Just go to Settings->AppleID and open the subscriptions item. Tap the Apple One button and you’ll see the current renewal info and 2 more buttons:
Choose Individuao Services and
Cancel All Services
Selecting Choose Individual Services lists everything, although it shows the family version of Music. Nevertheless, you then can pick the services you wish to keep. I suspect that if Music is one of them, you can subsequently demote yourself to an individual plan if you wish.
This describes my situation perfectly. My ‘needs’ are iCloud 2TB ($15 AUD), and Apple TV+ ($10). I use Apple Music (even though I think the GUI and implementation are atrocious) and I use Apple News+ a fair bit - primarily for daily new but also for the magazines to which I used to subscribe (Nat Geo, Mac Forum, Photo mags etc). Family Apple Music is $20 and Apple News+ is $15. I guess I can justify the $42 for Premier even though I’d love to them for less.
Arcade and Fitness are excess baggage - I’ve never opened either.
One thing that is interesting to me is that starting last month Apple stopped collecting sales tax on my AppleOne subscription (without any explanation). So, if that continues, when the price increases, my cost compared to what I am used to paying will only go up about $1.17.
Canned software is taxable, whether purchased on media or downloaded
Custom software is not taxable, whether purchased on media or downloaded
Customization of canned software is taxable
Digital media products are taxable if they are purchased (that is, you have a perpetual right to use it), but not if an ongoing payment is required (e.g. subscriptions).
So, based on this, iTunes purchases should be taxable, but rentals and media subscriptions (like Apple Music and Apple TV+) should not be.
IMPORTANT: These laws vary substantially from state to state. If you don’t live in Indiana, the above is not applicable. You will need to do your own research to find out what your state’s laws are in this area.
IMPORTANT: I am not a lawyer. You should do your own research to be sure. If the item is taxable and the seller does not collect sales tax, then you are obligated to pay it as use tax, typically as a part of filing income taxes.
And an extra note on the new lower-cost ad-supported Netflix plan. It doesn’t include all the shows! For example, it doesn’t include “The Crown.” I wouldn’t go for that plan.
I wish Apple would supply membership and audience numbers of subscribers in the US and internationally, including the number of paid subscribers vs. 3 month free trials. I’m guessing that the reason they aren’t breaking the numbers out is because they might not look so good, especially when compared with Disney, Netflix, etc.
Maybe when they start accumulating audiences of Major League soccer and Friday Night Football fans across the globe?
Having watched that, maybe you can tell me just who Ed shot (I think by mistake) from the Mars-capable shuttle replacement just before emerging from “back of the moon” communications blackout.
Is there any clarity yet to just how Apple will sell or rent access to classical music with its now more-than-a-year old promise to fix how abysmally it catalogs it and presents it to its users?
I hope they offer a good product but cheaper than IDAGIO. They have a good selection (for my non discriminating ears) but I ended up canceling and sending the monthly money to my local Classical Radio network. Not as expansive of a selection and not as high quality. I will wait to see what Apple offers.
My prediction is that they will offer tiers based on quality of the feed.