Youtube let the other shoe drop in their end-stage enshittification this week. Last month, they required you to turn on Youtube History to view the feed of youtube videos recommendations. That seems reasonable, so I did it. But I delete my history every 1 week instead of every 3 months. So they don't get much from my choices. It still did a pretty good job of showing me stuff I was interested in watching.
Then on Oct 1, they threw up a "You're using an Ad Blocker" overlay on videos. I'd use my trusty Overlay Remover plugin to remove the annoying javascript graphic and watch what I wanted. I didn't have to click the X to dismiss the obnoxious page.
Last week, they started placing a timer with the X so you had to wait 5 seconds for the X to appear so you could dismiss blocking graphic.
Today, there was a new graphic. It allowed you to view three videos before you had to turn off your Ad Blocker. I viewed a video 3 times just to see what happens.
Now all I see is this.
Google has out and out made it a violation of their ToS to have an ad blocker to view Youtube. Or you can pay them $$$.
I ban such sites from my systems by replacing their DNS name in my hosts file routed to 127.0.0.1 which means I can't view the site. I have quite a few banned sites now.
Sometimes I forget people like watch YouTube on purpose. I pretty much exclusively use it for music that's not on Bandcamp, short clips of old shows, and the occasional guide for something that's too visual to be described well in words.
Old man out of the loop, yells at clouds.
Youtube is effectively the only form of streaming my wife and I use. We have access to others through family members accounts but probably 19 times out of 20 we go straight for YouTube.
Name another streaming service where I can watch a 171 video saga spanning six years covering every single nut, bolt, plank, and brass fitting of a historic sailing ship restoration.
I have lost count but I think we are up to something like 130 subscriptions.
Im on YouTube more than any other media. Video podcasts, educational videos, news, product reviews and comparisons. how to's from fixing your dryer to 3d modeling and printing and coding examples.
I find it more entertaining and educational that most moder tv shows and marvel movies.
I'm the outlier in that I don't really watch anything. I'll play a game or read a book, go for a walk or bike ride, but I usually don't really like just watching stuff.
I think it's because growing up my parents were really restrictive on all that stuff, but were always like "sure go watch TV"
To be fair.. im not usually watching as mutch as listening in the case of news and podcasts. Though i have to admit being able to see gestures and facial expressions does improve those media.
I use it for a lot of how-to videos, and i contribute by uploading my own how-to videos if the extremely niche problem i solved isnt already covered on YT. Fixing my fridge, fixing my cars AC, identifying specific types of invasive acacia, etc.
What's your YouTube link? Your the type of content I subscribe to.
Use yt-dlp for however long it works, this assumes you know decently well how to organize an mp3 library.
I only use it when someone links me to something on it. I don't think I ever specifically type in Youtube and go to it on purpose.
It's my go-to player for various podcasts. I don't end up watching, just listening. But it's YouTube nonetheless.
While I don't normally use it for music, the magic of it's recommendation engine has led me into several amazing music niches, wich I wouldn't have found otherwise.
Add this old lady here, watch about 1 video a month, usually instructional.
Yep same here. Youtube is just a video host that I visit occasionally when a video I want to see is found there. The whole "following youtubers" thing seems like people have brain worms. I hate listening to the Youtuber voice style that they all seem to use. It's like a carnival barker trying to lure in the rubes.