In regards to paid web services, here is what I am willing to pay for

With lots of free options available online, the need to pay for a web service is becoming less and less. Some, such as web hosting are hard to avoid paying for and there are some that offer perks for paid accounts. Those perks can vary from service to service but generally include more storage, extra features or a removal of advertising.

Personally I have never been one to shy away from a paid service, that is, assuming I actually use it and find value in it. The services that I pay for vary from time to time, but there always seems to be a core group that I keep.

This reasoning behind this post comes by way of a friend who just criticized me for mentioning that I was considering paying for a Slacker Radio Plus subscription. Hey, as I said before I don’t shy away from paying for something that I find value in and use. And as you may have guessed, my friend does not like to pay — for any web services.

Anyway, I am always interested in seeing what others find value in, in other words, I like to see what services that other people are willing to pay for. Given that, I figured I would share my list and hopefully open this for some discussion.

• Evernote – $45 a year. The free service is nice and may work well for many but I need the extra storage and prefer the extra features that come with the Premium subscription. I also like the fact that (assuming I needed it) I have access to a higher level of support.
• Sugar Sync – $24.95 a year for 10GB. I will note that this plan is no longer available, but I have been a subscriber for a while. I guess this would be considered grandfathered in. Sugar Sync does have a free option available, which gives you you 2GB of storage, but I need a little more to make sure my documents and other important files all backed up and secure.
• Remember The Milk – $25 a year. What can I say, this one is a must have for a person that lives by a to-do list and carries multiple smartphones.
• MobileMe – $99 a year. I still use the online storage here, along with iWeb for easy family photo sharing however I may end up canceling this. Especially since I have recently switched my email, calendar and contacts to Google and the web. I guess sometimes free options do work better for me. Plus I can also use Picasa for those same family photos.
• Spanning Sync – $25 a year. Syncs my Google Calendar and Contacts with iCal and Address Book on my iMac. This will likely be canceled because Mac OS 10.6 offers this now. Well, it would assuming I actually took the time to upgrade from OS 10.5.8.
• Dreamhost – $119.40 a year. What can I say, its web hosting, one that I cannot really avoid.
• Flickr Pro – $24.95. Again the extra features such as unlimited uploads, unlimited storage and the ability to show all of your photo sets is well worth the money.
• Zune Pass – $14.99. I am a music fan and a Zune fan, not to mention I like having a subscription based service. Plus I get to download and keep 10 DRM-free tracks per month, so it really feels more like I am paying $4.99 a month.
• Netflix – I am on the 1 DVD out-at-a-time plan, which is $8.99 a month. Plenty for my use. This is also more a family service as opposed to my service. Although I do like the Watch Instantly a bit thanks to my Roku set-top box.
• Vonage – I love Vonage. I was an early, early user and feel somewhat loyal to them. I currently have the Unlimited plan which is $24.99 a month although I am considering a switch to an unlimited cell phone calling plan, which may end up seeing this get canceled. Just in case that happens, sorry Vonage, its not you, its me.

Other services that I pay for and use, that are not directly tied to the web include my cell phone(s) and a MiFi. And yes, I realize that some of these are most likely overlapping each other a bit, but they each have their own perks. I also plan to add Slacker Radio Plus to that list, which will add an extra $47.88 a year ($3.99 a month).