I’ve had a NAS for about 10 years now and have heavily used one for the past half a decade. With my NAS, I’ve been able to cancel many subscriptions to save money, including Netflix, Audible, and more.
Netflix, Disney+, and other streaming services
I prefer hosting my own media server
At one point in time, I was paying for Netflix, Hulu, Disney+, and several other TV/movie streaming services. These days, I’ve cancelled all of those subscriptions in favor of just running my own media server.
It’s actually fairly easy to rip content from DVD or Blu-ray to a server, and I’ve been doing it for the better part of 15 years now. My entire physical media collection has been digitized, and now I find media at thrift stores or from friends and family.
Having all of my media in one central location (and having it work even if the internet goes down) is extremely beneficial. I love that I am the one in control of my own media server.
While Netflix and Disney+ might have a larger library than I do personally, my library is curated. I don’t have to see movies or TV shows that I have no interest in, and I never have to worry about content disappearing either.
- Brand
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Plex
- Free trial
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Free version available
With Plex, you can keep a single, unified Watchlist for any movie or TV show you hear about, on any service—even theater releases! You can finally stop hopping between watchlists on all your other streaming services, and add it all on Plex instead.
Audible
It’s cheaper to run my own audiobook server
I used to have an Audible subscription, and I enjoyed listening to audiobooks whenever I could. I’ll admit, it was convenient to have an Audible subscription. I could get a new audiobook every month (sometimes two), and I could listen to them everywhere.
At home, I had old audiobooks (Adventures in Odyssey, mainly) on CD by the dozens. I also found a thrift store locally with audiobooks on CD for sale at crazy low prices (like $0.50 sometimes). I tried running my own audiobook server with Plex, and I gave up and just went back to Audible—that is, until I found Audiobookshelf.
Once I launched the Audiobookshelf Docker container on my NAS, I never looked back. It fully replaced Audible for me, and I found that I actually listened to more audiobooks with it, not less.
I did have to start sourcing my own audiobooks, but, like I said, I already had a bunch and they’re relatively easy to find. Old classics are also completely free in the creative commons, too, making it even easier to expand my audiobook library.
So, I’m now saving $15 per month and enjoying more audiobooks than I ever have before—it’s a win-win.
Security camera cloud storage
Why should I pay per camera?
Just a year ago, I was paying three different cloud camera subscriptions: Ring, Wyze, and Arlo. Today, I’m not paying for a single cloud subscription for any of my cameras, even though I now have more cameras around my house than I used to.
My NAS is instrumental in this—thanks to Scrypted. With Scrypted, I have two options for storing my video recordings. I can either use Scrypted’s NVR functionality, which does cost per camera (around $1 per month per camera), to have things stored on your local server (paying for Scrypted helps fund development).
Or, I can bring my non-HomeKit cameras into HomeKit through Scrypted and then use HomeKit Secure Video for recording. I already pay for iCloud+, so that means I can have unlimited cameras in HomeKit with recording at no additional cost.
If you don’t want to pay for Scrypted and you also don’t have an iCloud+ plan, then Frigate is a fantastic alternative. I just happen to know the developer of Scrypted and want to support him, so that’s the software I choose.
Either way you go, a NAS is a fantastic way to cancel multiple cloud camera subscriptions to keep things local and cost-efficient.
7/10
- Brand
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Synology
- CPU
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Intel Celeron J4125
This four-bay NAS works great for home and small office use, and it comes with a three-year warranty from Synology.
My NAS has saved me, quite literally, thousands of dollars over the years from cancelled subscriptions. Just from the media streaming subscriptions alone, I’ve saved well over $1,000.
If you’re on the fence with whether or not to get a NAS—get one. The amount of money you save by replacing subscriptions will easily pay for the server over the years.
