It’s the original streaming music service. Pandora’s been around forever and is great for discovering new music. Pandora also recently acquired Rdio’s assets, so who knows what else will pop up in the service in the near future.
What you get: Ad-free music streaming.
Price: $54.89 for a one-year subscription.”An alternative to Pandora, Spotify’s great for tracking down music and setting up playlists for streaming music. If you already know what you want to listen to, Spotify’s a great resource. And even if you don’t know what you’re looking for, the company has a few discovery tools that aren’t bad.
What you get: Ad-free listening and access to the service’s full music libary
Price: Starting at $9.99 for a month’s subscription”A great gift for pretty much anyone who needs to buy everyday things. Amazon Prime makes it easy to not only order higher-priced items, but also daily needs like soap and paper towels. Your recipient will also get access to services like the companyu2019s music streaming and Netflix-like video-streaming products.nnWhat you get: Free 2-day delivery, access to Amazonu2019s streaming productsnnPrice: $99 for a one-year subscription”The one, the only, Netflix. Great for catching up on shows, binge watching, finding new movies and generally killing time. And of course, there’s the option to watch Netflix and chill.
What you get: Access to Netflix’s streaming library
Price: $25 to $50 for a gift card”Image Credits:Bryce Durbin (opens in a new window)An alternative to Netflix, like Amazon Prime, Hulu Plus has some shows that you won’t find on other services. All of these competing video-streaming services have their virtues.
What you get: Access to Hulu’s library on all devices, commercial-free
Price: $15 to $100 for a gift card”Here’s a good oneu00a0gift for the compulsive shaver in your family. Dollar Shave Club has made a name for itself by providing great quality blades at a fraction of the price of other celebrity- endorsed brands. Pick a blade, subscription length, and voila – your friend or family member gets razors automatically delivered all year.
What you get: A subscription to the monthly razor and shave-accessory delivery service
Price: $35 to $125 for a gift subscription”This one’s a bit complicated: You’ll have to gift a subscription of Google Play Music, which gives the gift-ee access to YouTube Red. The service allows for ad-free videos, access to YouTube Music, and has other benefits like saving videos for offline viewing.
What you get: Offline-streaming and ad-free videos.
Price: $9.99 to $59.94 for a 1-month to 6-month subscription.”A Blue apron subscription will let you gift a friend pre-portioned meals that can be easily cooked at home. Menus rotate weekly and feature a wide range of options, so even your pickiest friends will be able to find something they like.
What you get: A few weeks’ worth of ingredients to cook meals
Price: $9.99 per person per week”For the health-conscious recipient, Classpass is a great alternative to gym memberships. It’s the gift that keeps on giving.
What you get: A one-month subscription to Classpass
Price: Around $119 per month”Also complicated: You’ll have to buy an iTunes gift card and basically set up an Apple Music account for the person who’s receiving the gift.
What you get: Ad-free listening to Apple Music and unlimited skips on Apple Music radio
Price: $30 to $120″Have a friend or family member that’s a photography or video nut? Dropbox Pro offers a huge amount of storage that’s great for storing large files that can be viewed across multiple platforms.
What you get: Extra space for heavy-duty file-sharers
Price: $99 for a year’s subscription”In a pinch, a Birchbox subscription is a pretty well-rounded gift. Its utility is pretty randomized, but who knows — its novelty factor may be enough to win over the recipient.
What you get: 3 month to 12 month subscriptions to Birchbox.
Price: Starting at $30 for women, $60 for men.”Soma has a subscription service for its water filters, which include a monthly donation to Charity:Water each time you are shipped a filter.
What you get: A regular delivery of water filters for your Soma pitcher
Price: $60 for a year’s subscription of water filters.”
It’s probably too late to order a gift for your friends or family, but it’s certainly not too late to give the gift of a subscription. They can range from actual, physical deliveries to music- and video-streaming services, but nonetheless serve as a good down-to-the-wire gifts.
Fitz Tepper is a junior in the Marshall School of Business at The University of Southern California. He’s been a passionate Apple fan and developer for over 10 years, and loves covering the business-side of startups.
