Amazon is bricking primary feature on $160 Echo device after 1 year

some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org to News@lemmy.world – 389 points – Amazon is bricking primary feature on $160 Echo device after 1 year
arstechnica.com

It’s pretty cool how things we purchase can just lose functionality at the drop of a hat.

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In September of 2023, Amazon announced the Echo Show 8 Photos Edition. It looked just like the regular Echo Show 8 smart display/speaker but cost $10 more. Why? Because of its ability to show photos on the home screen for as long as you want—if you signed up for a $2 monthly subscription to Amazon's PhotosPlus. Now, about a year after releasing the Echo Show 8 Photos Edition, Amazon is announcing that it's discontinuing PhotosPlus. That means Echo Show 8 Photos Edition users will be forced to see ads instead of their beloved pics.

i'm sorry but if you were enough of a rube to sign up for a $2/mo subscription for that then this might be darwinistic capitalism

A lot of people really have a hard time parsing what they’re buying with digital products and I think it’s unfair to expect them to compete with international mega corporations that love to surprise folks with gated featured/subscriptions as you go “caveat emptor.”