[janson0]

It is actually not against their TOS to accept payments or run additional ads alongside their content.

[hncommenter13]

It might be, depending on what else is on the page. Clause 4(d) of the Terms of Service[1] reads:

"You agree not to use the Service for any of the following commercial uses unless you obtain YouTube's prior written approval:

- the sale of access to the Service;

- the sale of advertising, sponsorships, or promotions placed on or within the Service or Content; or

- the sale of advertising, sponsorships, or promotions on any page of an ad-enabled blog or website containing Content delivered via the Service, unless other material not obtained from YouTube appears on the same page and is of sufficient value to be the basis for such sales."

[1] http://www.youtube.com/static?template=terms

[vinceguidry]

I subscribe to Avdi Grimm's excellent RubyTapas series, and the biggest pain about it is the lack of a web viewer. Google seems to be explicitly disallowing him to use YT, and that really sucks. Anyone looking to make and sell videos has to put them on Amazon or whatever and make you download them.

[janson0]

If those videos were available to be purchased from his site, or if you could subscribe to his site to get premium video content, do you think that you would do that?

[vinceguidry]

I already pay nine bucks a month for the subscription. I found user-made scripts to download the files on his site, and did so, but that's not a real solution because I don't like storing that kind of stuff on my laptop, and Dropbox or whatever isn't any better than just getting it from his site, save having them in two places. I'd definitely pay more for a web viewer.

[janson0]

That last one seems to the be the kicker, right? Interesting...