Best tech subscriptions and gift cards for Christmas

Need a last-minute gift this Christmas? Tech gift cards are your digital gateway to a rescued situation. These subscriptions and service passes can be excellent stocking-stuffers, and many of them aren't too pricey, either.

Spotify Premium, for instance, puts a staggeringly vast library of music at your disposal, for streaming, or for offline downloading to listen to on your smartphone or tablet. Gift cards come in £10, £30 or £60 denominations, available from Tesco, Dixons, Morrisons and other retailers. You can buy a gift of one, three, six or 12 months of Spotify Premium online, too.

Amazon Prime is a do-everything service -- £79 gets you a year's worth of free delivery on loads of Amazon goods for a year, plus the power to stream TV shows and movies through Amazon Prime Instant Video. Oh, and access to Amazon's Kindle ebook lending library.

Unfortunately, Amazon doesn't let you gift Amazon Prime in the UK, but you can buy online gift cards with any cash value you like, so you could gift someone £79 with the express purpose of their spending it on Amazon Prime. Failing that, you could just get them a £20 Amazon gift card.

If you know someone with an Xbox 360 or Xbox One (or someone who's getting one for Christmas), there's every chance they'd appreciate the gift of online gaming. An Xbox Live gift card gets you three- or 12-month access to Microsoft's online gaming service, and can be yours for £15 or £40 respectively. You can buy them online, or find them in shops such as Tesco and Argos.

Alternatively, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Vita or PS4 owners can get their PlayStation Network wallet topped up with gift cards, or subscriptions to PlayStation Plus. High-street retailer Game has a range of options to choose from.

Is the person receiving your gift card more likely to appreciate a delicious snack than a streaming movie? Web service Graze -- which lets you order snacks and meals that are posted through your letterbox -- has gift cards you can print or send over email.

Not bad if you're scrambling to think of a gift come Christmas Eve. Snacks picked on Graze's website also have a calorie-counter -- handy if you suspect this gift-receiver may have overindulged during the festive season.

Audible is an online shop for audio books, which you can listen to on your computer. It costs £7.99 per month, which gets you one "credit" each month that can be exchanged for any audiobook. You can buy three, six or 12 month subscription gift packages for £24, £48 and £70 respectively, which can be printed out or emailed to your lucky recipient.

Hunting for a gift for those far-flung relatives in distant lands? Why not give them the precious, irreplaceable gift of talking to you over the phone! Skype sells gift cards in shops such as Asda, WH Smiths or Currys PC World. For a full list, check out Skype's website.

If you know someone who owns an iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad, Apple TV or Mac, they can benefit from an iTunes gift card. Heck, even PC owners can buy and enjoy music and video through iTunes. Available in a handy range of prices, iTunes gift cards can be used to buy music, movies, TV shows, apps and e-books, making them highly versatile gifts. They're available online, or in a range of high street shops.

On the other hand, if you know someone who prefers Google's Android platform, you can't go far wrong with a Google Play gift card. Google has a massive roster of shows, movies, apps and music available, and gift cards can be found at a range of retailers, including Tesco, Morrisons, WH Smiths and Boots.

For loads more gift ideas, check out the rest of our Christmas Tech Gift Guide 2014.