Not to be rude, but Iām struggling to believe half the comments in this thread are legit. Do you really mean to tell me that Lemmy, a platform notoriously populated almost exclusively by anti-corporate tech people that really value FOSS and privacy āhence the reason why all of us are here instead of Redditā has this many users thinking it is a remotely acceptable idea to pay for a Premium service for one of the most invasive companies online?
I think most of us understand the many underhanded techniques used by Google to achieve an almost monopolistic control of some aspects of the internet, but when talking about YouTube, suddenly all the logic is reduced to āif you use a service, pay for it, or else let them show you adsā?? what??? Also, whatās with comparing adblocking to stealing???
My own answer to the topic of this thread is that no, I wonāt be paying for YouTube Premium anytime soon, possibly ever. Google has betrayed my trust many times in the past, and on top of that I donāt consider adverts as a legitimate source of income, so I will block any and all ads everywhere without paying an extra cent.
āBut if you keep using their service, so you need to give them some form of revenue! Otherwise you just want free stuff!ā I only keep using their service because Google has spent many years dumping on other platforms so that YouTube is āalmostā the only platform that still exists where all the good creators are, so I will begrudgingly watch them on YouTube because there arenāt any options. But I will resist Googleās many insidious attempts to monetize me to the best of my ability while doing so.
That said, itās really dishonest to claim that people who block ads on YouTube just want free stuff and donāt understand that services have a cost. Personally, I pay for Nebula because I do support the project and the creators involved. But YouTube wonāt see a cent from me, not with my consent at least.
Not everyone is on Lemmy because theyāre anti-corporate, FOSS enthusiasts. For example, I came here because Reddit became a dumpster fire of unreasonable policies and very restrictive accessibility to the site. I simply will not install their app. Everything Iāve seen and heard about it is revolting. Iām certain I will hate it and Iām not going to bother trying at this point. Since a nontrivial amount of my time on Reddit was via an app, and that app no longer works, Iām just not going to use the service.
I like FOSS, and I support FOSS whenever I can, but Iām hardly anti corporate. The big G has tried and failed at getting monopoly status for most things. Arguably their most successful services are search, mail and YouTube.
Me, personally, I pay for Googleās services and share those benefits with my family. We have extra Google drive storage, YouTube music/YouTube premium, and all the benefits that come with that (I donāt recall all of them right now). One payment takes care of my entire household. So for less than $20/month we all enjoy all the benefits of those subscriptions. It comes out to less than $5/person/month.
I donāt blame anyone for not wanting those services. I certainly donāt hold that against them. I completely understand the viewpoint. YouTube is very aggressive about everyone having premium. I see ads on YouTube when Iām using it on my work PC for music or to look something up on there; because my personal Google account is not and will never be associated to my work PC. I see what itās like āon the other sideā so to speak. I can see how aggro their efforts are to get people to subscribe to premium. How invasive the ads have become, and how annoying it is to deal with all that. I get it.
I also donāt really hate Google for it. They want people to buy their premium service and they have taken steps to try to encourage that. I understand, but I donāt necessarily agree with their choices.
In my mind theyāre not the most egregious offender for being anti consumer in their methodology. Good examples of anti-consumer behaviour is Netflix trying to put an end to account sharing, or Redditās API changes that basically kicked out a nontrivial number of its users for seemingly no good reason. Thereās plenty more anti consumer actions from other companies that I can point to that are far worse than what YouTube is doing.
In my mind, Google has supported FOSS more than most big tech companies. Android, at itās core is FOSS, built on Linux. Chrome is based on chromium, which is FOSS as well. Thereās numerous other examples of Google supporting FOSS. Sure, they have their own versions of that integrate Google services into the products and provide extra features on top of what the FOSS versions do. But I canāt think of any company that even comes close to the support of FOSS that Google has. In my mind theyāre simply not the worst offender. Theyāre not innocent, but not the worst.
Thatās my opinion though and itās just one of many possible opinions. Far be it for me to impose my opinion on anyone else. If you want to distrust Google and use FOSS things instead, thatās fine. Itās your choice. If you agree but still donāt want to pay them for premium, thatās okay too. Or if you want to drink the Kool-aid and pay for all of their services, thatās also your choice.
Have a great day.
Iām only here 'cause it was the first lemmy instance I joined after the reddit bullshit.
I pay for YT Premium.
Iām also back on reddit arguing with people.
So, yeahā¦ Iām everything this place hates.
I donāt hate you. Iām sure there are plenty more that feel similarly.
I also feel like there is a nontrivial number of people who could not possibly care less; and as always, a silent majority of people who are simply lurking, who express their voice through voting only. (Special shout out to all the lurkers. Youāre awesome)
Itās all personal choice and the opinion expressed in the OP is just that, an opinion. Same as me. I can only express my opinion. If that upsets people, then Iām sorry for that. Iām not going to change my opinion to gratify someone else in their opinion or position. If anyone wishes to have a discussion about why they think my position is not properly informed or wrong in their eyes, then thatās fine. I can engage in conversation about it, but at the end of the day, I make my choices, you make yours, and everyone else makes theirs. My decision to pay for YT premium doesnāt really affect anyone but me, and Google.
No one hates you, some people just think youre an idiot for still using reddit after leaving it
I started using nebula which costs $30/year (discounted price, easy to get). It has some of the YouTube creators, shares revenue with them, has no ads, and isnāt google.
Sure it has a fraction of the YouTube content, but thereās more new stuff there every day than I could watch. And it isnāt toxic like YouTube.
Iām only here because Reddit pissed me off. I toss money toward my instance and Iād be fine tossing a few bucks per month to YouTube if it meant no ads.
Iāve been riding an old āpremiumā subscription from the introduction of Google Play Music (or whatever it was called) years ago when it was introduced, for like $3/month. Seemed like a reasonable deal to me.
They did just (finally) jack the price up on me, though, so as soon as i get some free time iām canceling.
For me itās a matter of practicality. I wouldnāt pay if I didnāt feel I had to. Itās easy to block ads on PC, sure. Other devices, less so. I could get a Pihole or similar but then iirc you have to basically be playing cat and mouse with Google ad domains and that just sounds like a headache.
