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YouTube blocks background video playback on Brave and other browsers

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Re: YouTube blocks background video playback on Brave and other browsers

#181

Post by eudamoniac »

estimator7292 wrote: post #159
jy14898 wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

While I'm not pro YouTube, I think it's fine for companies to decide how to monetise their product, including things which were originally free. If you don't like free services, stop using them

They're removing functionality that you already heave built into your browser in order to force you to pay to get that functionality back. That's not monetization that's exploitation. Would you feel the same if your phone suddenly updated so that your camera records in half quality unless you start paying monthly? It's their product, they can monetize it how they like.

The "functionality" is watching infinite free videos they provide. They are providing you with infinite free videos that you never paid for. You are not entitled to access the infinite free videos at all. You are definitely not entitled to access them in arbitrary ways that avoids their monitization scheme.

Re: YouTube blocks background video playback on Brave and other browsers

#182

Post by eudamoniac »

This is annoying of course, but they're still providing infinite free videos. They are entitled to monetize that however they want. They are even entitled to make YouTube premium the only way to watch. Video hosting is not a cheap endeavor. If it's not worth the money, don't pay for it.

Re: YouTube blocks background video playback on Brave and other browsers

#183

Post by eudamoniac »

hrnnnnnn wrote: post #90
Pooge wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because modern websites are unusable on mobile; it's a feature and not a bug.

I've been using Firefox on android for over a decade, including for YouTube, and maybe once a year I encounter a problem where I need to use Chrome for a specific website.

Seconded, except instead of once a year it's literally never

Re: YouTube blocks background video playback on Brave and other browsers

#184

Post by learingsci »

keepamovin wrote: post #147
learingsci wrote: post #122

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve read about this concept the Indians have called “izzat” which probably explains why they have arranged marriages. You can imagine the deceitful games that might be played on unsuspecting brides and bridegrooms if one doesn’t find deceitful games out of bounds morally; arranged marriages address that. Arranged marriages are unpopular because we value choice. For the same reason we, westerners, abhor monopolies th…

Free doesn't emerge from the quantum vacuum of spacetime in the realm of digital products however. It's not a innate natural right, but a choice, of a provider at a given point in time. It might change. Cost might be levied. Cost should be expecdted in free exchange. Especially as a westerner! Aside from that - what age old institutions are wrecked by monopolies, or which ones are you talking about it? Genuinely curi…

From a software standpoint, the ones I think of are Tinder, Facebook, X, YouTube. Each has dramatically altered how we do things like how we stay connected with friends and family, court potential romantic partners, participate in public dialogue and learn. Arguably, rather than supplementing cultural institutions, they’ve to a large extent replaced what was with something more addictive or convenient. Fine. But I’d argue they’ve done it with measurable deleterious effects.

Re: YouTube blocks background video playback on Brave and other browsers

#185

Post by learingsci »

stavros wrote: post #115
learingsci wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cheesemongers have a bit less impact on society than drug dealers or Google. If Google were raking in hundreds of billions giving kids free cheese then charging them full price for parmigiana some might complain and I would not find fault in that. Scale matters.

It's not that we got hooked on YouTube (that would maybe be ok in a free market), it's that YouTube used "free" to make itself a monopoly. That's what the issue is, that you have no other options now.

Yes, the monopolistic aspect and scale are the parts I’m most bothered by. I think we all agree dangerous chemicals should be regulated, but we lack this sensibility when it comes to many tech products. So far at least. Eventually we’ll catch up. Will there be the lingering legacy, the tech equivalent of super fund sites? Maybe.

Re: YouTube blocks background video playback on Brave and other browsers

#186

Post by stavros »

learingsci wrote: post #185
stavros wrote: post #115

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's not that we got hooked on YouTube (that would maybe be ok in a free market), it's that YouTube used "free" to make itself a monopoly. That's what the issue is, that you have no other options now.

Yes, the monopolistic aspect and scale are the parts I’m most bothered by. I think we all agree dangerous chemicals should be regulated, but we lack this sensibility when it comes to many tech products. So far at least. Eventually we’ll catch up. Will there be the lingering legacy, the tech equivalent of super fund sites? Maybe.

I don't disagree that some of these apps might need to be regulated, because they're basically attention crack, but to me that's more TikTok and Instagram rather than YouTube.

Re: YouTube blocks background video playback on Brave and other browsers

#187

Post by ssl-3 »

Pooge wrote: post #39
happymellon wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why install additional software? Firefox hasn't broken for me only the Chrome clones.

Because modern websites are unusable on mobile; it's a feature and not a bug.

We're only discussing one particular website, though, aren't we?

Except for on the TV (where I use SmartTube), all of my Youtube activity is done with web browsers.

Otherwise: On both big computers and with my pocket supercomputer alike, that means Firefox and uBlock Origin. It works quite well for navigating Youtube's website and watching videos.

An old iPad that I have suffers from Apple's deliberately baked-in lack of choice, but it does handle Youtube's website very well with Safari and AdBlock.

It has been a very long time since I've used Youtube's app on any device at all.

Re: YouTube blocks background video playback on Brave and other browsers

#188

Post by hsbauauvhabzb »

antisol wrote: post #156
aembleton wrote: post #136

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Imagine trying to take a basic browser function we’ve all taken for granted for decades What basic browser function is that? Video playback with the video tag? It's only been around for about 15 years and mainstream for 10 years.

This is disingenuous - we were all watching flash video for about a decade before that. And before that we were watching (terrible ~160x120) video in realvideo* or asf format using browser plugins, since maybe 1997-1998, certainly before 2000. * tangiential rambling old-person side-note: RealPlayer was a weird early example of a piece of software that was actually _better_ on Linux: The windoze version was notorious…

You could watch those in backgrounder windows/tabs too.

Re: YouTube blocks background video playback on Brave and other browsers

#189

Post by hsbauauvhabzb »

mschuster91 wrote: post #37
laserlight wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It upsets me to see YouTube Premium apologists despite all the hostile moves by YouTube. YouTube Premium is an extortion scheme. When there are enough paying customers, YouTube Premium will begin showing ads to them. They won't forget sugarcoating ads as being “unobtrusive” or “environment-supporting” or whatever. But guess what? If you don't want to see them, you can upgrade to YouTube Premium Plus and continue bein…

> YouTube Premium is an extortion scheme. One might also say it was unsustainable from the start, video is incredibly expensive to host and especially moderate. All we're seeing right now is the beginning of the end of the ad-financed world. Someone has to pay the bills in the end and advertisement spending is on the way down, more and more of it is going to influencers/TTL instead of traditional ATL/BTL marketing.

While that may be true, subscription services are a capitalist move that’s pricing premium well above profit margins.

‘YouTube is failing because free tier is too expensive to be offset by ads’ and ‘YouTube premium is overly expensive’ can both be true. Shareholders care about maximising profits now, not overall product longevity.

Re: YouTube blocks background video playback on Brave and other browsers

#190

Post by wazoox »

nikanj wrote: post #174
wazoox wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're a monopoly. They force me to use their shitty, ad-laden, privacy-violating services. I'll use all possible circumvention measures possible. Of course I use alternative solutions as much as possible, but it's a monopoly, remember ? Not a public service. Not a sane, competitive market. Dismantle the GAFAM. Death to them. They're evil, imperialistic, freedom-killing machines.

What sort of punishment do you endure if you refuse to use youtube? How long is the mandatory daily minimum?

Yeah sure I could also go live in a cave.
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