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)
  • YeahIgotskills2@lemmy.world
    61·
    2 days 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.

      • 87Six@lemmy.zip
        3·
        2 days 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views, if I remember right, so peopld using ublock don’t even count towards the creator’s views now :-/ this may be outdated now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.zipEnglish
          3·
          2 days 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          if I remember right, so peopld using ublock don’t even count towards the creator’s views now :-/ this may be outdated now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.

          • 87Six@lemmy.zip
            2·
            2 days ago

            I’m glad that’s fixed.

            And I think your approach is good. Look at Gamer’s Nexus’ channel. They got more funding from their supporters to fund their documentaries around the US, Germany and China in a few weeks than they would have got from youtube in months.

            Viewer support is the way forward for creators imho.

            Ib4 youtube bans external funding while using their platform.

            • chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world
              2·
              2 days ago

              I don’t see how YouTube could ban Patreon at this point. It’s too big to fail. Many of the top YouTubers have a Patreon account that earns them tens to hundreds of thousands per month. Cutting off people’s main source of revenue would just cause them to quit YouTube for another platform.

          • YeahIgotskills2@lemmy.world
            1·
            2 days ago

            You don’t really jailbreak them as such to get functionality. You just enable dev options and APKs from unknown sources. You can SSH onto them if you really want to go command line and dig around in the OS, but it’s not necessary.