I actually use this to the opposite effect to convince myself whether an app is worth the cost. I think of it as "for the price of half a latte, I get to own and enjoy an app for the next N years". Seems like a great deal to me. If all I have to do is buy some developer the equivalent of half a latte for a productivity app I'll enjoy daily, I think I'm actually getting a steal.

BTW - I did buy Shift Jelly's PocketCasts app from the Android Market for something like $2.99. I highly recommend it, the app has un-tethered me from iTunes podcast syncing. Now I just download/stream exactly the episodes I want to listen to.

The app has some rough UX edges regarding behaviors of the back button, etc, but I'm going to write the developers about that.