cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/40372957

fyi:

  • https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp lets you download videos (from youtube and also hundreds of other sites)
  • for desktop, https://mpv.io/ is free and lets you watch youtube (or any other video) at even more and faster speeds than youtube premium does, among many other features
  • for android, https://newpipe.net/ lets you play youtube in the background (and download videos, and block ads, …)
  • https://ublockorigin.com/ blocks ads everywhere (and yes it does still work on youtube, at least in firefox anyway)
    • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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      3 days ago

      How is that any different from shifting existing features to premium? If you aren’t paying you’re lucky to get anything.

      I dont pay and I ad block everything. I’m surprised I can use the site at all. These features are nice to haves and not core to using YouTube.

      • 1984@lemmy.today
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        2 days ago

        Lucky to get anything? YouTube couldnt even have grown at all if it was a paid product from the start. People made it into the success it is, by using it, because it was free.

        Now when its a monopoly, they do a bait and switch.

        • Fizz@lemmy.nz
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          2 days ago

          So because they started off offering something for free they owe us? Its still free, there has been no bait and switch.

          • bthest@lemmy.world
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            2 days ago

            Yeah. They owe us, they owe their content creators, they owe the tax payers who built and power the platform upon which their platform sits. They sure ain’t paying their fair share.

            • brbposting@sh.itjust.works
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              2 days ago

              Some artists making content are practically their own little PBS stations or something, I’m with ya!

              Would it be more palatable if they told us using adblock w/o premium was “robbing creators of one-hundredth of a cent each time” or something? If I’m not mistaken there is a connection between content creator payouts and that.

      • bthest@lemmy.world
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        2 days ago

        I dont pay and I ad block everything. I’m surprised I can use the site at all.

        3 billion active viewers is what makes up the majority of Alphabet’s stock value. The revenue from ads, donation extortion, and premium are peanuts. That’s why youtube will never go full paywall or hard ban ad blocker users.

      • atopi@piefed.blahaj.zone
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        2 days ago

        As far as i know, there is a difference in psychology between taking away features and adding the new features already behind a paywall

      • schmups@lemmy.zip
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        3 days ago

        With you on this. Freeloaders have so many options to use the same service