This is me, too. The alternative seems to be Spotify (also going shitty) or self hosting. I miss the hell out of gpm, but ytm at least works and it comes with ad free YouTube. Not the worst deal out there

I do totally get paying to support something you use a ton.

But I don’t get comments like this calling blocking ads a cat and mouse game. It’s always been incredibly easy to block ads on the devices I own and I rarely ever have to mess with anything after installing a single browser extension or a single app.

On my desktop/laptop–ublock origin. I would install this regardless of whether or not I care about YouTube ads because ads on websites in general can be pretty cancerous. So I would already have it on my device to begin with. Install one extension and forget about it. Very occasionally ads start coming through, but then the extension auto updates itself and I don’t have to worry about it. It’s effortless and I absolutely never need to mess with the settings.

On my phone–YouTube ReVanced. Just basically download I think two APK files and you’re set. I’ve had to reinstall this a single time over the maybe decade(?) I’ve been using it as YouTube had some sort of breaking update or something. But having to install it again once every many years is hardly an inconvenience. Oh I guess I have had to install it again when I’ve gotten a new phone, but that’s really not that odd or inconvenient to me either…and generally I don’t get a new phone that often.

On my android TV device–SmartTube Next. It’s a single APK file. Set it and forget it. I’ve never had to reinstall the app.

One caveat with this is that it seems harder to watch YouTube ad free (without paying for premium) on Apple devices. So if you use a lot of Apple products it also makes sense.

I’ve been tempted to sign up as well so I can stream to my TV through their app. I can block anything I want through my PC but smart TV’s are too locked down for my technical knowledge so I get ad’s which is unacceptable

I read comments! I watch a lot of videos about self hosting services and the comments is where you find other people who have followed the video and struggled at some point. If you’re lucky it’s a common sticking point you’re stuck on and someone in the comments has a way of fixing it.

Not sure Privacy Badger brings anything, it stopped doing local learning a long time ago. Just enable the anti tracking lists in uBO.

Those three is a solid combo to gain granualar control over tracking. Playing around with it is a good way to learn how the survilance mechanisms actually work.