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by som 151 days ago
YouTube music support? (ᵕ•_•)

I set a (very) old phone into child mode total lockdown with only YouTube music installed to make use of my family account and streaming playlists ... only to find it (the YTM app) wouldn't open due to the social media ban in Australia (legislation which I otherwise - controversially - completely support).
1 comments
oliverjanssen 151 days ago
YouTube Music would be great, but there's no official API for third-party apps. Only unofficial libraries that scrape the web interface – not something I'd want to build an app on. Too fragile and could break anytime.

Interesting about Australia – sounds like the social media ban for under-16s now includes YouTube, but YouTube Music as a pure streaming service should be separate. The ban targets social platforms with feeds and interactions. Might be worth checking if YouTube Music specifically falls under it or if the device lockdown is catching it by accident.

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som 151 days ago
That's fair. Lack of any official APIs outside of the standard YT data API is frustrating. Would love to see / hear about a rosetta stone for the streaming services to allow easier migration (and integration) between them. Though I guess that's not in anyone's interest.

Also regards the ban, from what I've read Google have included Music by choice. Potentially as a bargaining chip.

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oliverjanssen 147 days ago
A universal standard for streaming services would be amazing – but yeah, lock-in is the whole point for them. Even basic stuff like playlist export is intentionally painful.

Interesting that Google included Music by choice. Classic move – comply broadly, then negotiate exceptions later. Thanks for the info!

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