Yes I am stupid,  you got me.   All this time I thought I was an educated person, but thanks to someone on the internet, I no longer have to live with this lie and have been set free.

Good thing youll only be paying for content on the PSN once then.

I just don't get how you can complain when you lose nothing, and the ones wanting more can pay if they want to.
It was rational from me, so sorry bout that.

so $15/year buys me access to hour long demos (1/5th a game in some cases) cloud servers and a lifetime warranty? Sony would never offer those 3 features over the lower level for that little $.

Either way, I wouldn't pay anything for any of the features listed, as demos would still come out, and I'm more than patient enough to wait for them. Also, I don't even have a microphone for my PS3, so voice chat is useless.

(actually, I might pay for the last, but Sony would never offer such a great deal)

I don't understand how people can be so pro-sony yet seem completely livid over this idea. Sony has been hemorrhaging money for the past 4 years and it doesn't look to get better soon. If a subscription based service is the difference between a 10 year lifespan and a PS4 or a shorter lifespan and at worse...no PS4, wouldn't it be worth while to just pay up and get over it? I pay for live and honestly $40 a year isn't much of a thought, I waste more than that in the average month on coffee and scratcher tickets.

How could they dish out different tiered limitations on voice chat? What if someone with a premium account wanted to chat with 8 people, but some of them only had a free account, limiting them to three people?

Cross-game chat needs to be all in, or all out, really.

Sony's Gaming divison, yes you are correct.  Sony as a whole, you are very wrong

Really?  Sony Erricson lost money the past 2 years, the Electronics division has been down for the last 3 years dropping 17% in 2008 alone (Bravia was doing well but the camcorder, camera and PC sales were frankly awful, Sony Entertainment had a decent year in TV and Theatre revenue but it was offset by declining home video sales.  They are projecting another 1.2 billion dollar loss for this year after a 1.7 billion dollar loss in 2008.  So what division is actully in the black?

Even if all the features which are free now and will always be free according to Sony where put into this premium service I don't understand hoe charging $20 or even $35 a year is a pain for anyone. It is less than $3 a month.