Why YouTube Premium Is the Best Digital Subscription
Working as a tech journalist means you have to sign up for a lot of different apps and digital services to keep up with them. Sometimes I wonder: If I changed jobs, what subscriptions would I keep? One thing is clear to me: YouTube Premium would be the last one I would give up.
It’s certainly not the cheapest subscription: Students pay $7.99 per month, individuals pay $13.99 per month, and families of five can pay $22.99 per month for everything YouTube Premium offers. It’s a significant amount of money, but for me it’s worth it.
Without advertising
I understand why paying for YouTube seems like a waste of money when you can also use it for free with ads, but those ads make a huge difference. The more you use YouTube, the greater the difference.
Now watching YouTube when I’m logged out or when someone else is showing me something is a painful experience for me. How can you bear it? Your video playlists are always interrupted and you always have to click or tap to skip ads. And that’s not to mention the ads that appear in the sidebar.
With Premium, you can queue playlists and browse YouTube rabbit holes without distraction, and if you watch a lot of videos, the time saved quickly adds up. You could use all this extra time to… watch more videos.
We all have different levels of tolerance for ads—many people seem happy to pay less for Netflix in exchange for watching some ads —but for me, it’s worth paying to get rid of them for good.
Video downloads
If you’re not tempted by getting rid of ads, the ability to download videos might be for you. Downloading videos means you can still use YouTube offline, so whether you’re about to board a plane or heading to a remote cabin, you’ll still be able to watch your favorite channels.
This works on mobile and the web, although it’s worth keeping in mind that the videos are locked inside your YouTube app or web browser: for obvious reasons, you can’t download YouTube videos to MP4 files ready to share with someone else.
If you’re not sure what you want to watch, YouTube can even automatically download videos for you if you so choose. These downloads will be based on your recommendations and your subscriptions, so you’ll never be without something to watch offline.
YouTube Music Premium
Y YouTube Premium comes with YouTube Music Premium. Cancel your Spotify subscription —it’s currently $10.99 a month for individuals—and you’ve pretty much already paid for YouTube Premium.
YouTube Music Premium doesn’t have the same range of features and refinements as Spotify or Apple Music, but it’s pretty close and all the key features are covered. There are downloads, there are radio stations, there are podcasts, an annual review and much more.
With YouTube Music Premium, you have access to everything on YouTube—an almost endless selection of live performances, remixes, and rarities. Yes, the original cassette recording of REM’s first single, performed by Mitch Easter, is there , for those interested (sorry if you have to watch the advert to listen to it).
There are other benefits, including the ability to continue watching YouTube videos on your phone while you use other apps. You can currently try YouTube Premium free for one month.