I kinda got grandfathered into Youtube Music by using (and enjoying) Google Music, and since YT Premium was only like $2 more, I got it. I primarily use it for the music. The no-ads is just a bonus for me, I guess.

[–] Thorry84@feddit.nl 15 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I did the exact same. Google Play Music was actually a good service back in the day. I hated it when they turned it into YouTube Music. I complained about all the broken stuff, so they gave me a home speaker for free and upgraded me to YT Premium for a year. After that year I stuck with YT Premium, since it was less than $2 extra. They also fixed a lot of stuff I complained about. Not everything, but a lot of it. I think YT Music was released a bit before it was ready. Now it still has some issues, but is mostly fine.

Usually I watch 1 or 2 YouTube videos a day and without Premium I would most definitely not. I opened a YouTube video on a computer I wasn't signed in the other day and it started with a 2 minute unskipable ad about crypto stuff (an obvious scam). So I closed it real fast, no video is worth sitting through that. Even with Premium I still need SponsorBlock. But with that combination watching videos is actually fun.

Still listen to YouTube Music all day at work, so that's a good value for money for me.

[–] variants@possumpat.io 8 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I think that's why a lot of people dislike youtube premium, because it seems they made the free youtube intentionally very annoying to use without it. Similar to spotify where if you use the free version there's a ton of ads and half of them are from spotify themselves asking if you're tired of the ads

[–] Tlaloc_Temporal@lemmy.ca 2 points 2 months ago

It's exactly this for me. Maybe Spotify and YTP are worth it, maybe supporting them does more good than harm, but there's no way in hell you're going to annoy money out of me. If you can't respect me as a free user, you don't deserve my money, especially when that money won't be going to the artists I'm there for.

Seriously, the best ad is a good basic version.

[–] minnix@lemux.minnix.dev 8 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

I wonder what happened to me then? I had Google music for $7.99 a month, then when they changed to YouTube music they gave me YouTube Red at the time as part of my subscription. Years later I'm still paying $7.99 (+ tax) and it's changed from Red to Premium.

[–] Skanky@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

Same here. My monthly is $8.42. It's kinda hard to beat that deal, but man, i sure wish Google would fix a lot of stuff that's making YouTube / Music a really crappy experience.