Ok, that's an interesting take, as an example, I know that I'd toyed on several occasions paying for youtube red except that a part of me really fundamentally d

Ok, that's an interesting take, as an example, I know that I'd toyed on several occasions paying for youtube red except that a part of me really fundamentally doesn't trust that they'll keep to their statement that it will actually be ad free[0]. As a comparison, I've paid for Spotify for a long time primarily to get rid of ads and was entirely ok with that. I certainly pay for dev tools on a yearly basis that cost me a similar level as $257 a year and so I feel like paying for what Alphabet offer in terms of map / video / search fits comfortably in that same bracket of cost to value that I'd be ok making that trade as well. I don't know if I'd pay themselves Alphabet that much, primarily because like with they Youtube example, what kind of a commitment[1] could they make that makes me believe that me paying them would mean they stop treating me as a product and as a customer instead? It sort of feels like that ship sailed a long time ago, ad money is very seductive it seems. - [0]: It also doesn't help that their recommendation engine seems to give worse recommendations over time, so a regular purge seems to be required to get back to reasonable recommendations. - [1]: This ends up being a fun thought experiment.