Tom’s Hardware, Ad Block Plus, paying for YouTube Premium as a “work around”?
Guys this content was by boomers for boomers
Guys this content was by boomers for boomers
Tom’s Hardware sold out looong ago, sold in 2007 to some faceless consortium. The original “Tom”, Thomas Pabst, who is GenX and not a boomer btw, has had nothing to do with the site since.
The editor of this article looks to be a millennial btw.
To gen z, a boomer is anybody older than them
boomer is a state of mind
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I hate when they say paying the premium is a “solution”. It’s worse. That’s why nobody is doing it.
How is it worse?
It costs money.
Having money is better than not having money.
Citizen, that sounds like communist anti-consumption talk.
Now go back to working 60 hours a week so you can buy things to feel better about having to work 60 hours a week.
I mean, I’d never buy anything by that logic alone.
I actually have a Premium subscription, but it’s kinda half assed journalism to suggest that as a solution.
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“I’ve found a workaround”
Workaround (according to article): “First of all, YouTube Premium”
The actual workaround (according to article): “Two words: uBlock Origin. Yes, I know that Google has blocked it from its Chrome Extension store, but there is still a way to get uBlock Origin on Chrome”
Seems like they are being paid by Google. Actual workaround should be to drop Chrome.
My thoughts exactly, what a heap of crap. Tom’s Guide used to be one of the good ones out there, real shame.
What I was wondering though is if they detect browser plugins through some public ID - how difficult is it to change those? In Firefox it’s absolutely trivial, you can simply download the extension, open it as a zip file, and then edit the files inside with a text editor and change the ID.
Haven’t used chrome for years, but extensions used to be javascript files just as well, so I doubt they are that hard to edit. Unless they found a way to block installations from local files and enforce their shop, no idea if that’s a thing.
if they detect browser plugins through some public ID - how difficult is it to change those?
I actually dismissed that one from the get go since there is not confirmation of any mechanism they described in the article. Not going to spend time on technical-looking explanations from someone who calls a whole another extension a “workaround”. Might as well be the case of broken or outdated filters in ABP.
I’m sure if some major site finds a way to know your extensions we’ll see some major unsolvable issues.
Imagine using Adblock/Adblock plus in 2025.
The YouTube app on my old tablet has been breaking on ads recently. First it stopped playing and then it wouldn’t even resume. Their own app. On playing ads. No ad blockers. Fuck you I’m not paying premium.
ABP hasn’t been relevant for years, because they started on “acceptable ads” back in 2011.
Anyone with sense has long since moved on.
Acceptable Ads is the very reason I’m still using Adblock Plus. What’s the problem with it? It’s an optional feature, just turn it off and you don’t have to deal with it at all.
Why pick shit out of your cereal, when you can just get the other brand that doesn’t have shit in it?
But a Chromium fork called Chromite still uses it
At least they’ve zapped the acceptable ads out of it :)
Ironfox is my current pref for mobile, backed by uBO & a VPN to a box running pfsense.
At least they’ve zapped the acceptable ads out of it :)
true
YouTube just quietly blocked Adblock Plus
They’ve been A/B testing anti-adblock attempts for months or even years now, idk exactly with my sense of time. Sometimes adblocker A doesn’t work, sometimes adblocker B doesn’t work. Sometimes switching browser makes the same adblocker work, sometimes clearing cookies helps, sometimes its dependent on your account. Different users at the same time report different experiences with different adblockers. Sometimes watching a single non-blocked ad restores adblocker functionality magically for a few days.
What I’m trying to say is, this didn’t “just” happen, and it’s specifically the author’s current experience. I myself use Adblock Plus on Edge and Youtube works perfectly fine currently. This has been happening for a long time, and I’m sure there’s uBlock Origin users currently who have the same experience while Adblock Plus works for them. Since that’s how it’s been the last times I’ve seen people talk about this, everyone talking about different experiences.
Is this a sponsored article? Bc buying yt premium doesn’t seem like a workaround to me.
This may not get well recieved but yt premium is worth the money imho, but again I dont wanna pay those evil corpos.
I think it’s decent value but I’m already running extensions or mods to skip the in-video ads, so I may as well just block ads for free too.
If YouTube Premium ever got an official sponsorblock, it’d become a good deal.
I think you stopped scrolling too early
That said though, there is one ad blocker that still works. Two words: uBlock Origin. Yes, I know that Google has blocked it from its Chrome Extension store, but there is still a way to get uBlock Origin on Chrome that our how-to extraordinaire Kaycee has detailed.
They even link to what I assume is that process.
But…
It costs the same as Spotify
I used Google Play music and it was awesome, when it shuttered I tried Spotify and didn’t like it.
YouTube premium is worth it just for music on your phone/car, getting YouTube ad free is kind of just a bonus. But there’s a couple podcasts I watch on there, and I’ve found a couple really good channels for all the crazy science stuff that’s been happening. Not to mention a lot of UK shows upload full episodes, and there’s more than one account that somehow uploads full runs of shows after being upscaled to 4k.
I really don’t understand why so many people are against YouTube premium. It makes sense if someone just pirates all their other media. But people pay for a music streamer and a couple TV streamers… It seems like an arbitrary line.
Edit:
The article is from “toms guide” not “toms hardware”.
The guide has every article like this where it reads like paid advertising. The “hardware” one is a good resource.
But yeah, pretty much anything from “tomsguide” is going to read like paid advertising for something. I legit don’t know if they’re affiliated or it’s a ripoff site built to confuse people with the “hardware” site.
The thing about it costs about the same as Spotify is not really true. I have been using Spotify family for a long long time (maybe 10 years). I use it with 5 other “family” members and we split the costs.
People on Lemmy might be more likely to be trying to do things like de-google in general, or try to cutdown on account based usage for big corporations.
So not really want to give Google their payment information for YouTube and sign in to use YouTube.
Three out of four of the paragraphs in the article’s solution were spent convincing people of the benefits to buying premium. Still feels like an ad despite the tiny mention of uBlock Origin at the very bottom.
I do agree that Youtube, premium isn’t bad value. But I refuse to support google or youtube directly with my money. If I ever want to support a creator, I can throw them a couple dollars on patreon and help them far more than buying premium ever would have.
Yeah, the site is pretty garbage and every article reads like an ad.
“Tom’s hardware” is still an amazing resource, but “Tom’s guide” is so shit I can’t tell if it’s a ripoff site or just how they find the good one. Especially since the sites look the same, just different background color.
I’m used to it now so I didn’t mention that, but for people who don’t know about the site it makes sense why they were thrown off.
I read that. But the way the article is written suggests that the workaround they’re implying is to buy YouTube premium. I am not per se against YT premium, after all its normal business to take money and serve a product, but what my biggest cons are
- The price
- I already use all of the mentioned premium features and more but for free
For example: YT music -> ReVanced (background play, no ads) YT App -> ReVanced (no ads, Sponsorblock, no shorts) YT on browser -> Extensions (uBlock, Sponsorblock, block yt shorts)
If I were to pay for premium and use the regular app, I would lose that functionality and 130€ per year. This money would support a company whose business model involves extensive collection of personal data, which is then sold to third parties, effectively contributing to the global surveillance infrastructure.
I would rather not use YouTube than pay for it.
About YouTube premium :
- I don’t like the idea of spending money for Google. I don’t find it very ethic to use their services in the way I do but no replacement has come up for years. I try to mitigate by donating to some content creators and I would love to pay a subscription to something like Nebula if there were at least 3 people I follow in there.
- I would use an adblocker even if I paid. On my phone Tubular is just a much better experience : multi platforms, aggregates my subscription, no addictive low quality suggestions and lightweight while still featurefull (and it integrates sponsorblock 🤫)
Also on my previous phone the YouTube app was super slow and would regularly crash because of RAM shortages. This was 6 years ago though.
My reasons:
- I don’t want a YouTube account, that just makes it easier for Google to track me
- premium costs too much relative to how much I use it (Nebula is more reasonable, which I do pay for)
- I can support my favorite creators in other ways (merch, patreon, etc)
I don’t pirate. I buy movies and TV shows and rip them to my media server, I buy lots of video games both physical and digital, and I buy books if my library doesnt have it or I want to keep it on my shelf. I’m not against paying for things, I’m against my privacy being violated.
I watch a few hours of content a week, and I’d be happy cutting down a bit. I don’t follow any of the big names, rarely listen to music, and really only watch videos from a handful of channels, most of which are a waste of time anyway. If Google blocked my ad blocker, I’d be fine just not watching YouTube anymore.
$14 is too much, I think $5 is about as much as I’d be willing to pay, or $1/channel. Give me that and I’ll consider signing up, despite my misgivings about Google.
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That said though, there is one ad blocker that still works. Two words: uBlock Origin. Yes, I know that Google has blocked it from its Chrome Extension store, but there is still a way to get uBlock Origin on Chrome that our how-to extraordinaire Kaycee has detailed.
Or… You could just ditch Chrome altogether!
I don’t know why people are so fixated on using Chrome. It’s a crippled browser made by an evil company that is actively looking to screw the user at every turn.
I switched to Firefox when Google essentially killed uBlock Origin on their browser. At first I ran into some problems with some sites not rendering correctly. But it seems like that’s become much less of an issue with later updates. And the best thing is that there are some phenomenal extensions for blocking ads - like a fully-fledged uBlock Origin to name just one. I don’t even see sponsor promotions in YT videos now.
And if you don’t want to deal with Mozilla directly you can use Waterfox instead.
All this dancing around and jumping through hoops to get uBlock Origin working on Chrome is kind of absurd. Just ditch Chrome (and all Blink-based browsers) altogether where you can (I get that corporate environments are often off the table for this).
Collectively we should be sending a message to Google whenever we can that we are done with their browser bullshit.
People keep forgetting that Google is quite literally the largest ad company in the world. That’s the vast majority of their revenue.
They’re never going to do something that fucks with ad income.
except adding AI stuff everywhere and actually starting to see ad revenue drop?
(I get that corporate environments are often off the table for this).
FYI in case anyone needs to hear this, but Firefox can be installed as a user in windows if you just decline the admin prompt when installing.
Additionally, I’m not paying that evil company a dime. All the people I follow on YT get way more money from me on Patreon.
Or at least use a Chrome fork, if you must use it for compatibility or something.
TBH I think it’s just an accessibility issue. It’s easier to install an extension than find another browser and swtich to it for most people. Hence Internet Explorer lasted as long as it did.
there is one ad blocker that still works. Two words: uBlock Origin.
Vivaldi without any plugins also works. No ads. And I’m sure there are many more possible configurations. This article reads like the author thinks there’s only two browsers and two ad blockers.
I noticed yesterday and it’s also affecting other sites where Google serves ads, like Reddit.
I don’t use Chrome so whatever they did is affecting Adblock elsewhere too.
Ublock Origin and NextDNS FTW.
DNS does nothing for youtube.
This is correct, even pihole is helpless against YouTube’s fuckery
Never claimed it did. I have YouTube ReVanced on mobile, and SmartTubeNext for the TV.
(But TBF, Ublock Origin does in fact block YT ads on the desktop.)
Oh thank god: its only on Chrome
No, author of this article, paying for premium is not a workaround.
more like walking in
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