Re:YouTube Red is live
by corobo on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:49PM
(#10473777)
"YouTube Red is not currently available in United Kingdom."
Is this thing live anywhere outside of the US?
Edit: it looks like YouTube Red actually has a support system. It just popped up on the find out more page. I clicked it out of curiosity and was first in line and the chat connected before I could react.
As I was there I asked when YT Red would be available in the UK.
"Hello, as of the moment we don't have any other information when its gonna be available in other countries." - I'm guessing that's we as in support rather than GooTube as an entity
Re:YouTube Red is live
by kyzyl on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:55PM
(#10473814)
Well it seems reasonable that they might have chosen to launch in the US only. I think even Google might be leery of launching services to more than 300e6 people at the same time. ;-)
Anyhow, my snarky comment was more related to the fact that this is yet another streaming media service (Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Amazon, Pandora, half of youtube, ...) that isn't available in Canada. Maybe Google will surprise me and offer it to us eventually /s
Re:YouTube Red is live
by corobo on Thursday October 29, 2015 @04:04PM
(#10473888)
I do understand that they'd rather limit it than unleash it upon the world but it's unfortunate if lets say my favourite american YouTube channels start putting out Red content.. Let me throw money at you, Google!
Re:YouTube Red is live
by ics on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:25PM
(#10473609)
Someone could (I think) write an extension to prefetch Youtube video links, download with youtube-dl to /tmp, and then re-embed the local file when you visit the page. Could be tuned to waste less space or use AWS for quicker download speed.
Re:YouTube Red is live
by gizmo686 on Thursday October 29, 2015 @04:23PM
(#10474008)
That sounds unnecessarily complicated. You should be able to write an extension that simply bypasses the Youtube player (possibly looking at the youtube-dl source to figure out how to find the video file itself).
Re:YouTube Red is live
by ics on Thursday October 29, 2015 @04:52PM
(#10474192)
"Bypass the Youtube player" is what I meant, but reasons to use as is: its interface is simple, it's maintained (this is a hack, why trouble yourself when youtube breaks things), and you won't have to read this: https://github.com/rg3/youtube-dl/blob/master/youtube_dl/ext...
Re:YouTube Red is live
by jonknee on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:17PM
(#10473540)
Interesting nugget: $9.99 a month unless you buy it through the iOS app and then you'll pay $12.99 a month. Google is making that Apple Tax quite clear.
Re:YouTube Red is live
by Natanael_L on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:26PM
(#10473621)
IIRC that's for services and digital products only available inside the app store app, but not for external services and physical goods. This is an external service that happens to also be available via an app.
Re:YouTube Red is live
by JohnTHaller on Thursday October 29, 2015 @04:00PM
(#10473853)
Word is Apple relaxed the requirement as otherwise none of these services would permit iOS purchases at all. Basically, Apple changed the rules for specific companies in order to make money. And most iOS users are unlikely to be concerned with the price difference.
Re:YouTube Red is live
by untog on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:01PM
(#10473423)
Interesting that Google Play Music subscribers get this for free. IMO it's a huge mistake on Google's part to make them separate yet somehow intertwined memberships - Google Music is the same price as Spotify, but this is a huge extra that many people won't realise they have.
EDIT: I'm not saying that tying them together is bad - quite the opposite - that having them as separate subscriptions that are also the same subscription is weird.
Re:YouTube Red is live
by eterm on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:13PM
(#10473507)
Except it can be irritating.
I'm a google play music subscriber.
Previously, I could open any youtube link and expect it to play, often with adverts but that's not a big deal.
Now, I open a youtube link and if it's a music video I get told, "You cannot view this video because you are playing music". So I have to stop my music playing to be able to watch the music video.
With youtube red, will it now mean that any video I watch I'll have to stop playing google music, dare I use my subscription in more than one browser at once?
Re:YouTube Red is live
by ewzimm on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:18PM
(#10473544)
It seems like it must have something to do with different departments tracking revenue, but the way this is being rolled out is pretty strange. There's no mention of it anywhere on the YouTube homepage, so you would have to search for it specifically, and it's not even the top result on Google when you search for "youtube red." To know that you have access to Google Play Music, you have to scroll all the way down to FAQ point 5. Maybe the subscriptions were integrated recently and the administrative barriers to approve new marketing materials prevented them from being ready for launch. But I can only speculate.
Re:YouTube Red is live
by eva1984 on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:23PM
(#10473594)
I think with this initial pool of already signed-up users, Red effectively skips the first stage of user attraction.
I am not familiar how accounting works for this, but Red would have a pool of revenue to distribute to from very early on, so the creators would have more incentive to create Red-exclusive content. Nice bootstrap strategy indeed.
Re:YouTube Red is live
by rtkwe on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:18PM
(#10473549)
Maybe. It's also a pretty fair acknowledgement that Youtube Red is bundling Google Play Music in for the exact same price so "Why should people with Google Play Music have to cancel their subscription to GPM and sign up again for Youtube Red?". Instead just give it to them as part of their current subscription.
Re:YouTube Red is live
by eatonphil on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:16PM
(#10473532)
It is super frustrating that they hold out on being able to continue playing music while the screen is locked, etc. so that they can monetize it like this.
Re:YouTube Red is live
by kyrra on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:22PM
(#10473586)
I was trying to think as why they did this. At first I thought it may have been licensing related, but I'm guessing that's not the case. I primarily think is that you will be able to bypass visual aspect of ads if your screen is locked. It could also just be that they want to "create value" with the subscription.
Re:YouTube Red is live
by tucif on Thursday October 29, 2015 @02:55PM
(#10473371)
Does anyone know how is the interaction with the Chromecast Youtube app queue?
When I have friends over we use the youtube app to queue videos for the Chromecast, if one of us has the Red subscription I would expect no adds, so what will happen if a friend with no subscription queues a video? will it display ads?
Re:YouTube Red is live
by rtkwe on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:15PM
(#10473521)
I think the Chromecast uses whatever account the person casting is logged in with, things casted to other people's chromecasts show up in your history, so I'd expect to see ads if the person casting doesn't have Youtube Red. Also I don't see or recall associating the Chromecast with any Google accounts during setup so I'm not sure they have that information to make the link to allowing all videos played through a particular Chromecast to use the Red of the owner.
Re:YouTube Red is live
by tvladeck on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:15PM
(#10473530)
there is a lot of frustration that it launched only in some countries and not in others. i see why that would be a bummer, but is it reasonable to expect that they should (in some vaguely moral sense) launch everywhere in the world at once?
Re:YouTube Red is live
by kyrra on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:28PM
(#10473640)
The more countries you add the longer it would push out the launch date. Youtube Red required content owners to sign the new contracts to allow for ads free + offline play. Trying to get this done at a world-wide scale will be much more time consuming compared to going country-by-country and getting the required rights and contracts to launch this service. So they either have to push out the release date or do what they did.
The opinions stated here are my own, not necessarily those of Google.
Re:YouTube Red is live
by tvladeck on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:22PM
(#10473585)
I can't think of a single product / service that went live in every country on the same day. Not saying it hasn't happened, but I stay pretty current. Can you?
So they should delay the US launch because of bureaucratic nonsense from other nations? Which include attempts at censorship, exploitative taxes, byzantine regulations, etc? No thanks. Getting a little sick of every service coming out and then endless "NOT AVAILABLE" comments on HN and Reddit. US companies have easy and native access to US markets. That will never change. Let's stop acting surprised, especially when we're all against free trade agreements.
Why doesn't Europe/EU have its own Google and its own competitve products in this space? That seems to be the real question and pressing it just results in endless downvotes from Euros offended anyone question their business culture, lack of innovation, lack of ability to compete, etc in several spaces the US does well in. An EU Google-like entity would solve all these problems. I find it hard to believe search engines and music curation services are natural monopolies.
Re:YouTube Red is live
by JohnTHaller on Thursday October 29, 2015 @04:02PM
(#10473872)
To support content providers for one... as opposed to just mooching. Now viewers have a choice... watch/listen to ads and get the content for free or pay a small monthly fee and get your music and videos ad-free.
If you object to seeing ads and were using an adblocker, you now have a legitimate way of compensating the creators for the content you are enjoying.
Re:YouTube Red is live
by JohnTHaller on Thursday October 29, 2015 @04:20PM
(#10473990)
1. You're supporting content creators as they make a cut of your monthly fee. Creating content costs money as well as creative time and effort.
2. It allows you to watch YouTube legitimately ad-free across all your devices. This includes the YouTube app on Android and the YouTube app on your Xbox/Playstation. Adblockers weren't available on either without rooting Anrdoid using a proxy with your console.
3. It allows you to access Google Music and stream tens of thousands of songs to all your devices. Also while compensating content creators (though the compensation level of streaming is quite low).
Re:YouTube Red is live
by ChildOfChaos on Thursday October 29, 2015 @03:22PM
(#10473584)
I guess people at Youtube HQ spent to long reading Youtube comments and assumed everyone that usues the service is stupid and would pay for a bunch of pointless crap.
""Scare PewDiePie" is a reality horror series that puts the most popular YouTuber PewDiePie, also known as Felix Kjellberg, into terrifying situations, inspired by video games.
"A Trip to Unicorn Island" is a movie that follows YouTuber IISuperwomanII, also known as Lilly Singh, on her world tour.
"Sing It!" is a scripted series about a fictional vocal competition from the Fine Brothers, who are famous for their "Kids React to..." videos"
And they still wonder why people pirate things...
Is this thing live anywhere outside of the US?
Edit: it looks like YouTube Red actually has a support system. It just popped up on the find out more page. I clicked it out of curiosity and was first in line and the chat connected before I could react.
As I was there I asked when YT Red would be available in the UK.
"Hello, as of the moment we don't have any other information when its gonna be available in other countries." - I'm guessing that's we as in support rather than GooTube as an entity
Anyhow, my snarky comment was more related to the fact that this is yet another streaming media service (Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Amazon, Pandora, half of youtube, ...) that isn't available in Canada. Maybe Google will surprise me and offer it to us eventually /s
https://rg3.github.io/youtube-dl/
I use it with the mpv option and mozplugger. It seems to work quite well.
You can either open them with CTRL + N, or just launch it with
sigh
sigh
sigh
sigh, didn't even bother calling it "The Netherlands"
http://i.imgur.com/90fJxMS.png
EDIT: I'm not saying that tying them together is bad - quite the opposite - that having them as separate subscriptions that are also the same subscription is weird.
I'm a google play music subscriber.
Previously, I could open any youtube link and expect it to play, often with adverts but that's not a big deal.
Now, I open a youtube link and if it's a music video I get told, "You cannot view this video because you are playing music". So I have to stop my music playing to be able to watch the music video.
With youtube red, will it now mean that any video I watch I'll have to stop playing google music, dare I use my subscription in more than one browser at once?
I am not familiar how accounting works for this, but Red would have a pool of revenue to distribute to from very early on, so the creators would have more incentive to create Red-exclusive content. Nice bootstrap strategy indeed.
Tying them together makes sense to me in a way. A lot of people (myself included!) use YouTube to listen to music and watch YouTube videos.
When I have friends over we use the youtube app to queue videos for the Chromecast, if one of us has the Red subscription I would expect no adds, so what will happen if a friend with no subscription queues a video? will it display ads?
Mostly guessing though until someone tries it.
The opinions stated here are my own, not necessarily those of Google.
Why doesn't Europe/EU have its own Google and its own competitve products in this space? That seems to be the real question and pressing it just results in endless downvotes from Euros offended anyone question their business culture, lack of innovation, lack of ability to compete, etc in several spaces the US does well in. An EU Google-like entity would solve all these problems. I find it hard to believe search engines and music curation services are natural monopolies.
If you object to seeing ads and were using an adblocker, you now have a legitimate way of compensating the creators for the content you are enjoying.
Why would I want it when I already download all YT videos without ads before watching them already?
2. It allows you to watch YouTube legitimately ad-free across all your devices. This includes the YouTube app on Android and the YouTube app on your Xbox/Playstation. Adblockers weren't available on either without rooting Anrdoid using a proxy with your console.
3. It allows you to access Google Music and stream tens of thousands of songs to all your devices. Also while compensating content creators (though the compensation level of streaming is quite low).
""Scare PewDiePie" is a reality horror series that puts the most popular YouTuber PewDiePie, also known as Felix Kjellberg, into terrifying situations, inspired by video games. "A Trip to Unicorn Island" is a movie that follows YouTuber IISuperwomanII, also known as Lilly Singh, on her world tour. "Sing It!" is a scripted series about a fictional vocal competition from the Fine Brothers, who are famous for their "Kids React to..." videos"
What!? Who is going to watch this!?
Well, 300,000 people have already watched the trailer for that PewDiePie thing since it was posted a week ago, so...