So I kind of did this thing. It was an impulse, but so far, it's been working out really well.
I subscribed to YouTube Premium. (I do not receive any compensation for anything in this post from anyone, anywhere at any time.)
I've blogged recently about how so many of my podcasts are YouTube first before they show up on my podcast feed. That was annoying, especially since some of the podcasts I listen to are sort of time sensitive and the delay means I don't bother to listen to that episode. That was annoying enough, but then something even more irritating started.
The ads for the podcast would drop into the middle of a sentence someone was saying. That's right. Just random ads dropped in at no good point in the show. I started to do a lot of cursing.
It's one thing to have an ad during a break in the speaking--I don't have a problem with that--but it became impossible to follow the discussion when the ads were popping in mid-sentence.
And finally, I had enough. These were all YouTube first podcasts, so I thought, what if I subscribe to Premium and lose the ads on YouTube? Premium even lets me lock the screen and still listen. I checked the price. The monthly fee seemed high, which is why I hadn't subscribed in the past. But there was a yearly option that didn't seem outrageous. I decided to try it.
It's only been a few days and so far I am loving it. I listen to the podcasts that have been making me crazy ad-free on YouTube. Well, almost ad free. The podcast hosts read ads and those are still there, but that's at a natural break in the conversation and it doesn't bother me.
I also discovered that I get Music Premium with YouTube premium and can listen to music ad free. Amazon Prime Music has become a cluster. I put in one song I really want to listen to and I get similar music unless I pay for more plan. I didn't want to do that. Now with YouTube music, if I want to listen to Prince's When Doves Cry, I can listen to When Doves Cry and not Raspberry Beret. This is a pleasant perk to the subscription and I've been making the most of it.
YouTube Music even created a playlist for me based on the Prince song and it was mostly decent. I needed to delete a few Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks songs, but other than that....
Usually my impulse purchases don't turn out this good, but I'm going to enjoy this subscription service a lot. I can tell already.
