I only started using the free package two months ago and once I learned to work through the general 'bloaty' interface it actually proved to be very useful. Oh yeah and the annoying little reminders - Hey have you tried this feature? Click here to see how, click click, oh no you need to be premium for that click here to upgrade.
The main features I like are the rich content notes and seamless background sync across 5 devices. The worst part I found is that trying to share notes made me want to throw my computer out the window - unless I was doing it wrong sharing a simple shopping list with my other half involved sending an email with a link and then she had to update it and email a link to the updated note back to me. Nothing like Google Docs real-time collaboration.
I'd been using Google Docs and a small utility called Notesync for years which uses plain text notes and only manual syncs to GDrive, but it's a bit dated now and I want something more advanced. Google Keep isn't quite up to the job yet unfortunately.
Some part of me knows there is a simple alternative and I was sitting here at 4 in the morning thinking what other options there might be, then I read about this new device limit. My mind has been made up for me now - I don't mind paying for a service if I like it and want to continue using it, but when it's 'free' and I start building part of my life around it, then they change the goalposts, I tend to back away completely and go elsewhere.
Any suggestions for a replacement would be much appreciated - I'm not bothered if it's subscription or free, but would really like automatic syncing, ability to easily share / collaborate & have local apps available for Android, Linux & Win 10 (not browser based though).