Europe’s hit music-listening service has finally launched in the United States. Spotify is here, and it’s already changed the way I listen to music. J.D. is a huge fan, too. I’m so excited about Spotify that I’m breaking my usual habit of not doing product reviews to write about it.
The biggest complaint I heard from people who’d tried it was that the music discovery features were seriously lacking. It was great for listening to exactly what you want, but if you want a music service to recommend new bands or stream a customized radio station for you, Spotify wasn’t it. They’ve now added an “Artist Radio” tab that includes a streaming radio station of similar artists for every artist in their library. This feature makes Spotify even more useful to someone like me, who doesn’t always know what they want to hear.
You can use Spotify for free, or you can pay for their premium subscription service.
A warning to credit card holders: The U.S. government’s borrowing problems could soon become your borrowing problems.
Right now, in Washington, politicians are fighting over whether to raise the U.S. debt ceiling — which determines the amount of money that the nation can spend on its debt — above $14.3 trillion. If the debt ceiling isn’t increased, the United States won’t have enough money to pay all of its bills. That could result in a default on its financial obligations. A default could drive rating agencies (which assign a measurement of risk to debt issuers including the U.S. government, much like FICO does for consumers) to decide that the U.S. government bonds have become more risky, resulting in ratings downgrades for U.S. debt, also known as Treasuries.
In the President’s view, default would be a disaster. Full Post…
A week or so ago Netflix announced that they would be raising their prices on all of their streaming and DVD rental plans. There was a bit of an outcry throughout the internet with people talking about how they were going to cancel or drop part of their package to reduce costs. Nobody likes to pay for more for a service that theyve been signed up for and using for such a long time.
Its understandable to not want to pay more, but what are your alternatives if you dont want to pay for Netflix anymore? Today I thought Id look at how the Netflix pricing is changing, and what alternatives you have to replace them.
In their announcement that prices were changing Netflix told how pricing was changing, and what was going to be available for plans going forward. You can either do streaming only, DVD only, or a combo of the two for increased costs. Here is their new pricing.
Limited 1 DVD at a time, 2 per month: $4.99
Streaming video only: $7.99
1 DVD at a time: $7.99
2 DVD at a time: $11.99
1 DVD at a time + streaming video: $15.98
2 DVD at a time + streaming video: $19.98
3 DVD at a time + streaming video: $23.98
4 DVD at a time + streaming video: $29.98
5 DVD at a time + streaming video: $35.98
6 DVD at a time + streaming video: $40.98
7 DVD at a time + streaming video: $45.98
8 DVD at a time + streaming video: $51.98
Now I dont know anyone who would need more than 1 or 2 DVDs out at a time, I cant imagine that they have that many people signed up for those 7-8 DVD plans. The funny thing is, some of those higher number DVD plans have actually dropped in price from previous price levels.
For most people who had unlimited streaming and unlimited 1 DVD at a time plans the pricing is going from $9.99 to $15.98/month. So a price jump of about $6.
To find out if you think your plan is still a good value even with the price jump, check out our post: Is Netflix A Cost Efficient Entertainment Option For You?
With a lot of people talking about canceling Netflix or moving to another provider, just what other streaming and DVD providers are there out there? Heres a quick rundown of some of the more visible options.
Redbox DVD & Game Kiosks
Redbox Kiosks are located at a variety of gas stations, department stores, grocery stores and restaurants all over the United States. You can rent any new release or classic movie from the kiosk for $1/night plus tax. They also have video games and Blu-Ray movies for slightly more. If you try hard you can also find codes for free rentals at the Redbox kiosks, although those are becoming harder to find. Still, $1 per movie is an affordable option, especially if youre close to a redbox location like we are.
Amazon Instant Video
Amazon launched a video streaming service in the past year.
A house is the most expensive thing most of us ever will purchase. If you plan to stay put for some time, you could be paying on your mortgage for the next 15 to 20 years. But as any homeowner knows, expenses don’t stop at the purchase price and mortgage interest. You’ll also pay a small fortune in insurance, upkeep, and repairs over the years.
This is what makes it so important to fully understand the process of buying a home, especially when it comes to property inspection. With so many features and systems, there are any number of things that can break or malfunction in your house. Unlike a faulty appliance that you can take back to the store for replacement or refund, once you sign a contract on a home, there’s little recourse should something go wrong.
According to the National Association of Realtors, April through July typically outpace the balance of the year in home sales as people try to get settled before the new school year begins.
In my mind, Oregon has mild springs: plenty of rain, sure, but also lots of sunshine and hints of the summer to come. Since we started the garden project, though, that just hasn’t been the case. Our springs have mostly been cool and moist — just like our winters.
May was again — surprise! — cool and moist. There were some sunny days, and our rainfall was around average, but the temperature was much cooler than normal. (Well, long-term normal, not recent normal.) Still, our garden isn’t as stunted as it has been in years past.
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