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> Then just pay for a Youtube Premium account and get all your followers to buy a Youtube Premium account. No one is forcing you to use the ad-supported version

> Then just pay for a Youtube Premium account and get all your followers to buy a Youtube Premium account. No one is forcing you to use the ad-supported version of Youtube Google themselves doesn't want us to use YouTube premium, otherwise they wouldn't be charging multiple times what they earn through ads for the premium service.

aurareturn 3y ago
I'm not convinced by that. I find a ton of value in Youtube Premium. I share it with my family. Youtube Premium also comes with Youtube Music - which allows me to cancel Spotify. Premium provides higher quality videos where applicable. The amount of time I save myself from watching ads is already well worth it. If you're a light user of Youtube - I would agree that it's not worth it. But the way I use it makes it quite a bargain.
- pipes 3y ago
  Right, this is making me think I should cancel my Spotify account and get YouTube premium. Is it as good as Spotify for both podcasts and music?
  - moritzwarhier 3y ago
    You might be jesting, I'll still answer :) I don't know about podcasts, but there is just so much spoken video content and there is background playback.. so I actually use YT for such content since I have premium (not YT music). For music, YT (music) has been at least on par with Spotify for me. Search can be slightly confusing when the content you are looking for has not been uploaded by "official artist channels", but in the end artist, album, title and "go to album" still always work. It feels they have at least as much content, probably more. Recommendations have been way better for me so far as well. Might be because my Spotify account was overfitted and had too many playlists, but spotify recommendations had become unusable for me, that was one of my reasons for cancelling. I guess the killer feature combination is really just background playback + YouTube catalogue + perfect filtering of music vs non music content.
    - pipes 3y ago
      I wasn't joking, thanks for the response :)
- vintermann 3y ago
  > Youtube Premium also comes with Youtube Music - which allows me to cancel Spotify. Oh great, a textbook example of using a dominating position in one market to gain entry to another. If Google gets to complain that "if we all blocked ads, we'll all be worse off", it feels relevant that "If we all played along with Google's monopoly games, we'd be worse off".
  - aurareturn 3y ago
    Businesses bundle services all the time and they have done it throughout human history. Has nothing to do with tech or being in a dominant position. If Google can duplicate Spotify’s business and give it away cheaper, why not? Add more value if you’re Spotify.
    - littlestymaar 3y ago
      >Businesses bundle services all the time and they have done it throughout human history. Business try to secure a monopoly position all the time and they have done that throughout human history.
- chatmasta 3y ago
  What value do you get from YouTube Premium that I don't get from using my ad blocker while browsing YouTube for free? (I also get 1080p videos on my phone with a safari extension.)
  - dangus 3y ago
    What value do you get from your $1000 iPhone that I don’t get from the one that I stole for free? Okay, you wouldn’t download a car, I know you’re not “stealing,” but Google has the right to block you just like you have the right to block ads. If you want an actual answer, here are the ones I use regularly: - Download offline videos to the phone app - Picture-in-picture on mobile - enhanced bitrate 1080p - background playback on mobile - “continue watching” - music streaming Plus, I don’t have to install and update any bullshit or hacked apps to keep all of it working. Full list: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6308116?hl=en https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6308116?hl=en
    - chatmasta 3y ago
      FWIW, I get all of that with a single Safari extension called Vinegar, which replaces the hostile YouTube video player (and its associated scripts for hijacking the screen) with a native HTML5 Video element, thus restoring picture-in-picture, background playback, bitrate selection including 1080p, and continue watching (assuming I'm logged into YouTube). No bullshit or hacked apps required. Just a $1.99 purchase of a Safari Content Extension from the Apple App Store to restore native features of my OS that hostile JS on YouTube attempted to take away from me.
      - dangus 3y ago
        It’s a personal preference, but I watch YouTube heavily on mobile and streaming tv box devices, so I prefer the app over the website unless I’m on desktop. I think the app works better, faster, easier than the mobile website. You didn’t mention offline downloads, and that’s a major advantage of the app. I queue up downloads for plane rides all the time. I’m not going to use a desktop interface for my TV, either. I want an app that is designed for use with a remote. So you found a solution to get around it, and you’re now part of the statistic that Google uses to figure out how much to charge for Premium and how many ads to play for people who don’t block ads. You’re that X% of people who block ads and don’t pay for premium but still use up Google’s hosting resources. What that means is that you effectively increase the price for paying customers like me, and increase the amount of ads that people who don’t block ads get to see. It is mathematically no different than people entering a Walmart and shoplift roughly 1.6% of the inventory [1], you make the business overhead that little bit higher. Thanks! Personally, I think for the amount I get out of it the pricing is very fair, it’s a trivial expense, under $4/person/month with the family plan. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/retailers-lost-112-billion-to-inventory-shrink-in-2022 https://www.businessinsider.com/retailers-lost-112-billion-t...

aurareturn 3y ago

I'm not convinced by that. I find a ton of value in Youtube Premium. I share it with my family. Youtube Premium also comes with Youtube Music - which allows me to cancel Spotify. Premium provides higher quality videos where applicable. The amount of time I save myself from watching ads is already well worth it. If you're a light user of Youtube - I would agree that it's not worth it. But the way I use it makes it quite a bargain.

pipes 3y ago
Right, this is making me think I should cancel my Spotify account and get YouTube premium. Is it as good as Spotify for both podcasts and music?
- moritzwarhier 3y ago
  You might be jesting, I'll still answer :) I don't know about podcasts, but there is just so much spoken video content and there is background playback.. so I actually use YT for such content since I have premium (not YT music). For music, YT (music) has been at least on par with Spotify for me. Search can be slightly confusing when the content you are looking for has not been uploaded by "official artist channels", but in the end artist, album, title and "go to album" still always work. It feels they have at least as much content, probably more. Recommendations have been way better for me so far as well. Might be because my Spotify account was overfitted and had too many playlists, but spotify recommendations had become unusable for me, that was one of my reasons for cancelling. I guess the killer feature combination is really just background playback + YouTube catalogue + perfect filtering of music vs non music content.
  - pipes 3y ago
    I wasn't joking, thanks for the response :)
vintermann 3y ago
> Youtube Premium also comes with Youtube Music - which allows me to cancel Spotify. Oh great, a textbook example of using a dominating position in one market to gain entry to another. If Google gets to complain that "if we all blocked ads, we'll all be worse off", it feels relevant that "If we all played along with Google's monopoly games, we'd be worse off".
- aurareturn 3y ago
  Businesses bundle services all the time and they have done it throughout human history. Has nothing to do with tech or being in a dominant position. If Google can duplicate Spotify’s business and give it away cheaper, why not? Add more value if you’re Spotify.
  - littlestymaar 3y ago
    >Businesses bundle services all the time and they have done it throughout human history. Business try to secure a monopoly position all the time and they have done that throughout human history.
chatmasta 3y ago
What value do you get from YouTube Premium that I don't get from using my ad blocker while browsing YouTube for free? (I also get 1080p videos on my phone with a safari extension.)
- dangus 3y ago
  What value do you get from your $1000 iPhone that I don’t get from the one that I stole for free? Okay, you wouldn’t download a car, I know you’re not “stealing,” but Google has the right to block you just like you have the right to block ads. If you want an actual answer, here are the ones I use regularly: - Download offline videos to the phone app - Picture-in-picture on mobile - enhanced bitrate 1080p - background playback on mobile - “continue watching” - music streaming Plus, I don’t have to install and update any bullshit or hacked apps to keep all of it working. Full list: https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6308116?hl=en https://support.google.com/youtube/answer/6308116?hl=en
  - chatmasta 3y ago
    FWIW, I get all of that with a single Safari extension called Vinegar, which replaces the hostile YouTube video player (and its associated scripts for hijacking the screen) with a native HTML5 Video element, thus restoring picture-in-picture, background playback, bitrate selection including 1080p, and continue watching (assuming I'm logged into YouTube). No bullshit or hacked apps required. Just a $1.99 purchase of a Safari Content Extension from the Apple App Store to restore native features of my OS that hostile JS on YouTube attempted to take away from me.
    - dangus 3y ago
      It’s a personal preference, but I watch YouTube heavily on mobile and streaming tv box devices, so I prefer the app over the website unless I’m on desktop. I think the app works better, faster, easier than the mobile website. You didn’t mention offline downloads, and that’s a major advantage of the app. I queue up downloads for plane rides all the time. I’m not going to use a desktop interface for my TV, either. I want an app that is designed for use with a remote. So you found a solution to get around it, and you’re now part of the statistic that Google uses to figure out how much to charge for Premium and how many ads to play for people who don’t block ads. You’re that X% of people who block ads and don’t pay for premium but still use up Google’s hosting resources. What that means is that you effectively increase the price for paying customers like me, and increase the amount of ads that people who don’t block ads get to see. It is mathematically no different than people entering a Walmart and shoplift roughly 1.6% of the inventory [1], you make the business overhead that little bit higher. Thanks! Personally, I think for the amount I get out of it the pricing is very fair, it’s a trivial expense, under $4/person/month with the family plan. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/retailers-lost-112-billion-to-inventory-shrink-in-2022 https://www.businessinsider.com/retailers-lost-112-billion-t...