Lack of ads. Background play. Offline viewing. Prenium members are also much more valuable for creators in terms of revenue.
I'm aware of NewPipe. But I don't like it's design and I use my YouTube account on multiple devices. I depends on my playlist, like videos, history and recommendations far too much to use NewPipe.
Also, YouTube Music is a proper streaming service with proper algorithm and so on, it's not just the music videos of YouTube. :)
I pay for Prenium. But that's only because I also use YouTube Music. Otherwise, I wouldn't pay for it and I would do everything that I can to get rid of the ads. YouTube with ads is just hell now. There are so many of them now, it's ridiculous.
Don't get me wrong, I recognise the value that YouTube provides. Most things I watch and listen to are on YouTube. It's the website I use the most and I'll be glad to pay for it. I understand that it costs money to run and I want to support the creators that I watch.
HOWEVER.
I refuse to be strong armed into paying for it. Music brings me the value that I want and comparing with other prices, such as Spotify and so on, the actual "YouTube" part of the package just cost me 1€ per month which is one hell of a deal if you ask me.
But if you don't care for YouTube Music, 11€ a month (worst in the US apparently), just to get rid of ads is... ridiculous. I'd happily pay 5€ a month. It's not much and for the thing that I use the most? Yeah, I'm willing to! And I know that there is YouTube Prenium Lite. However, it's not available everywhere and it comes with a giant "fuck you" to the costumer.
You see, YouTube Prenium Lite is YouTube without ads. And that's it. So, no Background Play (which I use ALL THE TIME), no downloading of videos, none of that. You want that, well, you have to pay full price. Even though these are basic features.
Paying for getting rid of ads is one thing, and maybe accessing special features is one thing. But paying for artificial limitations that are put into place? Absolutely not. And I know the line between what's a prenium feature and what's an artifical limit is blurry. But for me it's basically this: If I can do something for free on desktop, but can't on mobile without paying. Such as background play.
I am convinced YouTube Prenium would be way more appealing if YouTube weren't being such dicks about it.
It's simple:
- Get your prices back to normal (I hear that in the US, prices have been going up for... no reason).
- Roll out YouTube Prenium Lite to everyone and rename it YouTube Prenium. So it has all the features of current Prenium except YouTube Music (put ads and disable background play only on music videos?).
- Make it at like 5 bucks a month.
- Make a variety of plans based around that. So a Prenium Family and also, a Prenium Duo, just like Spotify, for just two people. Reasonably priced.
- And you make a YouTube Prenium Music plan, which includes YouTube Music as well. So on top of all of that, for 11 bucks a month, you now have a really compelling offer because you can go, Hey, for just 5 more bucks a month, you get all of the features of YouTube Prenium AND you get a complete music streaming services.
- Oh and also: STOP DOING THIS SHIT.
Bam. All of the sudden you have compelling options. Some people will say: "Uuuh, jUsT uSe an AdbLocKeR!" and whatever. Those people are not the majority, so many people watch YouTube from their phones and their TVs now, they will be much more inclined to buy it...
...I think.
That last part is important. I recognise I'm just playing armchair business developper here and that I don't know shit, but still. I'm convinced this could work. The real issue comes down to YouTube being a monopoly and thinking that they can do whatever the hell they want, which... they likely can, due to the position they're in. It's an issue but this comment is already long enough and that is another discussion entirely, but basically: Monopolies sucks.
I'd like to see him manage to wiggle his way out of this one. I'm not American so I'm not familiar with the systems in place and all, but from everything I've seen, well... it's not looking good for him. At all.
But honestly, with Trump legendary incompetence and ability to keep on digging his own grave, I'm barely here for the politics, this is just good entertainment at this point. Even if I know that while this is funny, this will probably be remembered as anything but.
I personally stopped playing any multiplayer games. I don't know what it started happening, but it feels like everything went from casual fun, to grindy bullshit and competitive sweatfest.
Maybe it's just me, I put too much pressure on myself, but I know that it wasn't there before. I used to be able to play without feeling this intense pressure of being good, because I didn't want to be a burden for my team and didn't want to be insulted by virulent players.
BR games were the worst for this. The longer you are alive, the more pressure builds up. Things could be going smoothly, you're not crossing even one enemy, and all of the sudden: it's just you and your friends, versus another team. You make one wrong move, and it's over. It's over, and it's your fault. I can't do that. I can't handle the pressure of being responsible for this. Feeling like I've ruined and wasted their time.
I play to have fun. To relax. I was never getting angry. But my friends, they did. They were nice to me, we're still friends after all, I wouldn't have tolerated abuse. But I could tell, I wasn't as good as them, and they hated losing when we were playing games. They would get angry, and the pressure of doing good was getting to me. It stopped being fun, and it didn't used to be this way. So I stopped.
I only play single player games now. It's been a really long time since I played online. Although, I sometimes think of going back to Titanfall 2, it is still one the greatest FPS ever made in my opinion, and I just adored it, I was really good at it too.
But yeah. I never get angry and rarely feel pressured now when playing a game and losing. No one is going to insult me, or berate me, and I am not dragging anyone down. If I do get angry, it is because some bullshit is happening. Like the game pulled a Mario Kart on me, and decided that I was going to lose because that's the way it is I guess.
I feel like you made the right move. It shouldn't be this way, it shouldn't make you feel this bad, and if it is, then you should quit. It's not your fault, it may even not be the game's fault, it doesn't have to be anyone's or anything's fault. If it's just better for you, then do it.
I suggest to check out some single player games, there is a lot of them. Lots of variety. :)
Reddit actions are tragic for the web. I can't even tell you how many times I searched something and typed Reddit at the end of the query. Not just because Reddit search SUCKS, but mostly because it's a gold mine of information. Especially for technical stuff.
Your game crash? Reddit. Weird bug on your laptop? Reddit. Looking for a cool app? Reddit. Have a weird question? Reddit.
Reddit saved me countless hours and headache. I felt that yesterday when doing a search about something without even putting Reddit on it, kept bringing up Reddit links. I'd click on it without reading and end up on a locked sub because of the blackout.
It sucks but I hope it's going to continue. But at the same time, I don't see Reddit backing down. And even lf they do? I'm not going back. Because how dare you? Like... screw you for even trying to pull that crap on your users.