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Google's latest reason to give them $14/month: "Watch in faster playback speeds with Premium" (lemmy.ml)

submitted 2 months ago by cypherpunks@lemmy.ml to c/aboringdystopia@lemmy.world

76 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/40372957

fyi:

https://github.com/yt-dlp/yt-dlp lets you download videos (from youtube and also hundreds of other sites)

for desktop, https://mpv.io/ is free and lets you watch youtube (or any other video) at even more and faster speeds than youtube premium does, among many other features

for android, https://newpipe.net/ lets you play youtube in the background (and download videos, and block ads, ...)

https://ublockorigin.com/ blocks ads everywhere (and yes it does still work on youtube, at least in firefox anyway)

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[-] MoreZombies@quokk.au 135 points 2 months ago

I am not against paying for services to unlock extra features, but I utterly despise the way YouTube premium is entirely composed of features we had but they took away.

[-] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

Years ago I understand why streaming services want to implement paid subscription. But now, I heard that even on premium you will still get ads! It is just milking more money at this stage!

[-] scytale@piefed.zip 54 points 2 months ago

It’s why there’s like a second or two of a delay before the video plays when I watch on a browser with uBO. The connection isn’t slow, they’re just purposely slowing it down.

[-] MurrayL@lemmy.world 57 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

When they say ‘faster playback speeds’ they don’t mean faster connection speeds, they mean watching videos at 1.5x normal speed (or faster).

[-] lichtmetzger@discuss.tchncs.de 15 points 2 months ago

Sometimes they even show an "Experiencing interruptions?" popup just to be extra dickheads. I am patient, I can wait.

[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 2 points 2 months ago

its not an issue after it loads, and sometimes the "delay" doesnt activate on other videos.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 34 points 2 months ago

Play video in background

Was such a shamelessly sleazy was to try and twist arms into using their service. Nevermind that it just spawned a thousand different 3rd party tools for getting around this annoying limiter. It just felt like a huge red flag, indicating they were going to use their native app to be fucking annoying to their clients going forward.

[-] joyjoy@lemmy.zip 4 points 2 months ago

The lite version does not include this. It also still shows ads on music and shorts.

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[-] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago

Because where would we be if we couldn‘t CONSUME ENDLESS SLOP AT FOUR TIMES SPEED?! Seriously who needs this? This is sickening.

[-] PriorityMotif@lemmy.world 25 points 2 months ago

If you're watching lectures from someone who talks really slow.

[-] dohpaz42@lemmy.world 20 points 2 months ago

Slop comment aside, a lot of people with ADHD listen to videos at 1.5x or more speed because that’s how their brain works.

[-] HeyJoe@lemmy.world 13 points 2 months ago

I watch a bunch of channels that are mostly talking and are 20+ minutes. I always put it on 1.5x speed and its barely noticeable and you get used to it. It saves me time without any loss of what was being shown so I consider it a win.

1 question, this feature already exists for non paying costumers, does this mean its going to be a pay for option only soon? That will piss me off...

[-] Blum0108@lemmy.world 5 points 2 months ago

I was thinking they'd cap the free speed up at either 1.5 or 2, but I don't know

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[-] AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space 10 points 2 months ago

That makes faster playback a disability affordance, for legal reasons

[-] CosmoNova@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

1.5x is totally legitimate but Youtube advertises 4x speed. They put 4x speed behind a paywall. That‘s ridiculous.

[-] Creat@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 2 months ago

Try watching videos by "explaining computers". Actually pretty good content (mostly on single board computers like raspberry pi), but he talks glacially. Normally I watch at 1.5x, this channel is one of just a few where I need to up it to 2x.

[-] PriorityMotif@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I usually just skip to the part where he reveals the price of the amazingly cheap sbc, then click off when it's definitely not cheap.

[-] Creat@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 2 months ago

Nah I actually do care about the technical details, and that's the reason I watch the video. I can look up the price in like 3s myself and didn't need a video for that part.

[-] samus12345@sh.itjust.works 2 points 2 months ago

[-] MurrayL@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago

When you think about it, it’s not really that different from learning to read faster, which is a valued skill.

(There’s an argument to be made that for many things you’d be better off reading rather than watching YouTube vids at 4x but let’s not focus on that.)

[-] CouldntCareBear@sh.itjust.works 4 points 2 months ago

Tutorials where they are going through stuff you 90% understand already and you just need to find that juicy remaining 10%.

[-] ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net 19 points 2 months ago

For anyone wondering, only 4x speed is behind premium:

[-] yum@lemmy.eco.br 7 points 2 months ago

Do people even use that?

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 16 points 2 months ago

Who's got enough hours in the day to only watch reaction videos of teenagers eating foreign chocolate bars at only double speed?

[-] yum@lemmy.eco.br 8 points 2 months ago

I'm aware that this is a joke, but it's also my point. Those types of videos are usually sped up already. How on earth can someone digest anything from a video in 4x speed?

[-] Blackmist@feddit.uk 3 points 2 months ago

Honestly, no idea. I think they're just clutching at straws for things to "offer", because the the next step is obviously going to be "take away the other options from free users"

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[-] Evotech@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Consuuuuuume

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[-] Professorozone@lemmy.world 7 points 2 months ago

Typical. Take it away, then charge to bring it back.

[-] YeahIgotskills2@lemmy.world 6 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

My boss uses a VPN and some other clandestine methods to subscribe via India, so he pays the equivalent of about £3 per month for premium.

I gave it a try, but could never quite manage. You need to fully turn off location services, use an Indian registered Gmail and pay via a credit card of some kind. I think you also need a registered address, but he just used one for a random hotel in Bangladesh.

[-] GandalftheBlack@feddit.org 8 points 2 months ago

... Or you could just use an ad blocker

[-] 87Six@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 months ago

Admittedly, the creators get extra revenue from you using premium, so that approach is very valid in my eyes.

Also, ublock now blocks a list that includes the tracker for youtube views, if I remember right, so peopld using ublock don't even count towards the creator's views now :-/ this may be outdated now

Donate to your favourite creators either way! And use patreon not the youtube BS because youtube takes a massive cut!!!

[-] MetaStatistical@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 months ago

if I remember right, so peopld using ublock don’t even count towards the creator’s views now :-/ this may be outdated now

This was a temporary problem that was discovered by a bunch of creators and eventually fixed by uBlock Origin.

I'm fine paying for YT Premium, because I watch YouTube all the time, but I don't even understand why people try to use YouTube's monetization. It's pennies compared to getting subscriptions from Patreon.

I turn off ads for all of my videos, because I'd rather just have the freedom to not worry about de-monetization. If I ever end up needing the money, I'll use Patreon to fund the channel.

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[-] GandalftheBlack@feddit.org 3 points 2 months ago

Yeah, I donate to my favorite creators. I'd much rather do that than give YouTube a penny.

[-] TRock@feddit.dk 2 points 2 months ago

Doesn't work on TVs tho

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[-] guyoverthere123@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 months ago

VPN to Albania. No ads on free YouTube.

[-] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 4 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

even better adblock. unless they aggressively go after anti-adblock, like preventing the page from loading there arnt getting new subscribers.

[-] zebidiah@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

YouTube is the only subscription I maintain month to month. Its worth the 13 bucks for no ads, and a music service (to me)

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[-] Burninator05@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

How does playing videos faster than x1 affect creators i actually want to watch? The Spiffing Brit did a thing a while ago about doubling their view time (and thus engagement) by having people watch the videos at 1/2 speed. If that was true it makes sense that watching it at 2x would only count as a half watch even if you watched all of it.

[-] DeICEAmerica@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

They are throttling top VPN ips, too. Can't watch videos without them constantly buffering

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[-] krooklochurm@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 months ago

I've never liked YouTube.

I didn't watch it when it was free. I didn't watch it when it had ads. I don't watch it now. It is bad. Most of the content on it is bad.

[-] KyuubiNoKitsune 16 points 2 months ago

Super hot take that.

You do realise that there isn't just one kind of content right?

Not trying to change your mind, I just feel like that's a very narrow minded view of what is a vast wealth of human knowledge in video form.

I mainly watch tech/science stuff, super interesting and definitely has taught me stuff. Theres years worth of educational content on there.

[-] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

Same. I mostly watch informative and educational videos on YouTube.

I am mostly on Nebula these days but it's problem not to avoid YT because most content creators are still on the platform.

[-] stickly@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago

I feel like you can both be right, the sheer number of videos can have years of educational content while still being mostly SEO influencers and money leeching junk. If you go on it with a completely fresh account you're going to see a bunch of brain rot before you tune your algorithm into good content.

[-] KyuubiNoKitsune 2 points 2 months ago

Fair point.

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[-] PenguinMage@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

Got a 3 month free trial of it, honestly love the things I used to have. But it still stutters like shit and is a garbage feed of shit I don't watch. I will not be paying when it's used up.

[-] Briguy@lemmy.world 2 points 2 months ago

How's your Internet connection? I never get stuttering issues

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this post was submitted on 15 Dec 2025

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