My problem is not with paying. My problem is that I am being asked to pay not for the content itself, but to remove bullshit limitations that shouldn't be there in the first place.
Also, it's very naive to think Google will suddenly stop tracking you just because you're paying for Premium... quite the opposite actually, as you've now given them a valid credit card and billing address.
Everything a paid service doesn't give you until you pay is a "bullshit limitation" right? Is all always arbitrary. Why do you refuse to pay for the features if you want them? Why do you feel they should serve you for free?
There’s a difference between a service not giving me something and a service explicitly breaking platform conventions.
When I open a browser tab with audio in it I expect to be able to switch to a different app and the audio keeps playing. YouTube explicitly uses hacks to break that on mobile. I consider it very nasty to get out of your way and interfere with browser & OS features like that.
I agree it’s worth it, but for slightly different reasons. No ads, yet the creators are getting a significant amount more money for me watching their content.
It’s the easiest, and most sanity-proof way to get money to most content creators I watch.
Even better if you have Google Play Music All Access (or whatever the premium version is called now). You get YouTube Premium included along with unlimited streaming of millions of songs.
You know what? I’m not going to pay google to stop harassing me with ads. YouTube was actually usable as little as a month ago. I see so many ads now you’d think this was some sketchy app, but we’re talking about YouTube. How is the answer, “paying them $10/mo is worth it,” in the context of there being an ad problem an acceptable answer?
It's sad that a basic element of computing is now considered a privilege people need to pay for.