So late last month I got an email from my debit card provider asking if I’d just been trying to buy something while in London. I replied that, in fact, I had not. You probably know the tune: They cancelled my card and promised to send another without (much) delay. I had no doubt that they would and didn’t give it another thought. Because I’m an idiot.
For years and years I rarely had any money in the bank at all and so didn’t have to futz with such things as on-line subscriptions and their attendant charges. But when my financial situation lightened up a little a few years ago I indulged in two: Amazon and Youtube. Both come due at the beginning of every month, and sure enough both promptly informed me that I had fallen off their “nice” list when they tried to charge a now cancelled card number. Amazon could wait: I couldn’t exactly buy anything from them at the moment anyway and it wasn’t a problem.
But Youtube! Oh, I had forgotten about their incessant advertisements, which could stretch a fifteen-minute video about the FW190 or Sumerian architecture or the Battle of Hastings into an endless cavalcade of drivel about barbells or liver ailments or knife sharpening gadgets or Prager University. That would be bad enough – but it’s a rather busy presidential campaign season at the moment, with three contestants, all of whom suddenly quite incessantly wanted my money, and…
Oh, my giddy aunt. Get that off my phone. Right Frickin’ Now.
Got my new card while on this morning’s water run. Came home, dumped my groceries, assured Tobie that he was indeed the best big brown dog currently in residence, and then signed right the hell back up with Youtube Premium. Call me a putz, but I do watch a lot of videos in my admittedly abundant spare time and had forgotten what a hassle the “free” service had become.
Two words – uBlock Origin.
I’ve been watching ad-free YouTube for quite a while, using uBlock and Privacy Badger, but in the past couple weeks, it’s gotten real shitty. AFAICT, it detects the use of an ad blocker, and either throttles the video playback or drops the resolution down to “fuzzy”. Generally, it’s the reduction in quality that happens first, and when I turn it back up, then I get lots of pauses. Google has been threatening for months about cracking down on ad blockers, so I guess it’s finally caught up to me. I haven’t yet tried it without those plugins, to confirm that’s what’s going on. But it’s a good bet.
Don’t know about uBlock, but Adblocker Ultimate lets you watch U-t00b without ads.
https://www.consumervoice.org/top-adblockers?gclid=&kw=ad%20blocker%20reviews&cpn=603729130&adgroup=1343605623074588&loc_physical=72339&loc_interest=&matchtype=e&network=o&device=c&creative=&placement=&target=&adpos=&msclkid=b6b17b2bf95b13903dd41d98bca3b27b&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=S%20%E2%80%93%C2%A0Ad%20Blockers&utm_term=ad%20blocker%20reviews&utm_content=S%20-%C2%A0Ad%20Blockers%20-%20Generic
I use Adblock Plus
I like free, vs having to pay. So what if I waste a couple minutes just hit the skip icon and carry on.
Only time I watch utube is fairly rare. Too many books to read
I’ve been using Brave browser, with BAT feature disabled. Haven’t seen an Ad in 4 years. Advertisements on every video (when I may skip the video after a min, and keep searching) made it unusable.
For payment cards, I have text alerts set up. Card not present, or purchase over $1, I get a text.
Jed, although not always apparent. That has been going on for years.
Developers of Ublock origin, Newpipe, etc., are always trying to keep up with the obstacles presented.
Ongoing battle.
Ah, YouTube… I’m using Sponsor Block on my personal confuser. It not only kills all the ads, but it also detects and kills the in video sponsor spots.
I’m with you. I’m not fooling around with this or that browser/ad blocker combination. I like to watch YT on the big TV, so I just pony up for the Premium as well.