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Here goes all the privacy-friendly ways to watch Youtube. Well, I guess it's a good thing : now we'll have to campaign to let content creators know how terribl

Here goes all the privacy-friendly ways to watch Youtube. Well, I guess it's a good thing : now we'll have to campaign to let content creators know how terrible their choice of platform is.

zaphod420 6y ago
What are all the platforms people can use? I know there's one called LBRY.
- oriesdan 6y ago
  Peertube comes to mind for discoverability. For ensuring content creators revenue, the best way would probably be to host their own website and put videos behind paywall or accept donations, as they see fit.
  - sbankowi 6y ago
    Seems like a perfect area for patreon to expand into. Support a user/artist on patreon, get access to their vids also hosted on patreon.
    - oriesdan 6y ago
      Indeed. Or even make sure to integrate Patreon (or other donation applications) to any privacy-friendly video application. I have a Twitch account just to have a paid subscription for the Critical Role channel, despite the fact that I never open Twitch and download their videos from Youtube using youtube-dl. It kind of feels ridiculous (especially knowing Twitch will put me in metrics of "their users").
    - BlueTemplar 6y ago
      Patreon is going to face the same issue then.
- coldpie 6y ago
  I'm not aware of any, and any such platform that is comparably featured would be susceptible to the same problem. This isn't a platform problem, it's a law problem.
- tpoacher 6y ago
  There's a few that are used, but Google's shrewd marketing combined with natural selection have done a very good job marking those as the "terrorists and crackpots" youtubes. And like all self-fulfilling prophecies, those claims are now largely true.
- peterwwillis 6y ago
  Do you have Docker? Then you can use an open source web UI rather than run the command-line tool. cat > youtube-dl-webui.Dockerfile <<EOF FROM d0u9/youtube-dl-webui RUN pip3 install --upgrade youtube_dl EOF cat > conf.json <<EOCONF { "general": {"download_dir": "/tmp/ytdui/download","db_path": "/tmp/ytdui/webui.db","log_size": 10}, "server": {"host": "0.0.0.0","port": 5000} } EOCONF docker build \ -f youtube-dl-webui.Dockerfile \ -t youtube-dl-webui:latest \ . mkdir ytdui && chmod 777 ytdui docker run \ --rm -it \ --name youtube_dl_webui \ -p 5000:5000 \ -e FLASK_DEBUG=1 \ -e CONF_FILE=/conf.json \ -v `pwd`/conf.json:/conf.json \ -v `pwd`/ytdui:/tmp/ytdui \ youtube-dl-webui:latest firefox http://localhost:5000/ That's the simplest one to get running I think (https://github.com/d0u9/youtube-dl-webui https://github.com/d0u9/youtube-dl-webui). Another is in PHP (https://github.com/timendum/Youtube-dl-WebUI https://github.com/timendum/Youtube-dl-WebUI).
Scoundreller 6y ago
My cousin lives in a place with shitty internet, and regularly creates a list of YT URLs for later downloading when they go in-town. This is going to devastate them. Especially when they need to repair something or do maintenance where a rando’s video is 100x better than the manufacturer’s instructions and they download all the videos. I do the same thing before a flight or train ride (Canada has $5-$10/gb wireless pricing) so I can catch up with my favourite subs on-the-move.
- rocgf 6y ago
  The Youtube app has a download feature for watching videos offline.
  - tibbydudeza 6y ago
    Only available if you signed up for a premium account.
    - Scoundreller 6y ago
      Does it permit it 100% of the time, or do you pay to discover that there’s a bunch of exceptions? And I guess once you stop paying, it’s all gone?
      - itsoktocry 6y ago
        >discover that there’s a bunch of exceptions? Periodically the downloaded videos become unavailable offline if you don't have an internet connection to refresh them. Maybe once a month or something. Which means you can't hold on to a video through their service indefinitely.
        BlueTemplar 6y ago
        Wait, how does that even work?
chungus_khan 6y ago
Only in the eyes of the law. The RIAA can no more stop people from downloading YouTube videos than the DVD CCA could stop people from cracking CSS. Pirates haven't lost yet, only ever been delayed, and rarely by all that much. This battle has been going on since audio tape recorders and VCRs became a thing, and at some point various industries will have to accept copying as part of reality, and that it is incumbent on them to have a business model that aligns with reality. A farmer doesn't serve a legal notice to the sun because its setting every day hurts productivity.
- Santosh83 6y ago
  No they're winning slowly. Fifteen years back everyone I know could easily download mp3 from various p2p applications. But now the present generation of youngsters seem to think it is Spotify/Amazon or nothing. They haven't even heard of p2p. Similarly Netflix is slowly eating away at torrenting. The platform owners can and will tighten the noose gradually. End users and hackers have much less power than they like to imagine, especially the latter segment.
  - syshum 6y ago
    15 years back you had to buy a $20 CD to get access to 1 song you liked... Today for $9/mo (or nearly free with Amazon) you can listen to almost any song.... The lowering of costs, and easy access is what is driving lower use of p2p not RIAA lawsuits and more restrictions
    - shaan7 6y ago
      Although I get your point, there is an important difference between those two though. Once you've bought the CD you can listen to it forever, that is not true for subscriptions - _that_ is why they are cheaper. I kinda use a hybrid - I discover new music on free tier of subscription services, and once I identify songs that I love, I buy them from iTunes DRM-free. I'm just afraid that option won't remain there forever.
      - 6y ago
autumn_unlaces 6y ago
There is invidious which is an alternative front end for YouTube. It doesn't use the YouTube API or require a Google account. You can host your own instance or use one of the public ones[0]. It seems like the download button is broken but I was able to right click save a video. [0] https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/wiki/Invidious-Instances https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/wiki/Invidious-Instances
spazx 6y ago
I'm going to miss NewPipe.

Here goes all the privacy-friendly ways to watch Youtube. Well, I guess it's a good thing : now we'll have to campaign to let content creators know how terrible their choice of platform is.

zaphod420 6y ago

What are all the platforms people can use? I know there's one called LBRY.

oriesdan 6y ago
Peertube comes to mind for discoverability. For ensuring content creators revenue, the best way would probably be to host their own website and put videos behind paywall or accept donations, as they see fit.
- sbankowi 6y ago
  Seems like a perfect area for patreon to expand into. Support a user/artist on patreon, get access to their vids also hosted on patreon.
  - oriesdan 6y ago
    Indeed. Or even make sure to integrate Patreon (or other donation applications) to any privacy-friendly video application. I have a Twitch account just to have a paid subscription for the Critical Role channel, despite the fact that I never open Twitch and download their videos from Youtube using youtube-dl. It kind of feels ridiculous (especially knowing Twitch will put me in metrics of "their users").
  - BlueTemplar 6y ago
    Patreon is going to face the same issue then.
coldpie 6y ago
I'm not aware of any, and any such platform that is comparably featured would be susceptible to the same problem. This isn't a platform problem, it's a law problem.
tpoacher 6y ago
There's a few that are used, but Google's shrewd marketing combined with natural selection have done a very good job marking those as the "terrorists and crackpots" youtubes. And like all self-fulfilling prophecies, those claims are now largely true.
peterwwillis 6y ago
Do you have Docker? Then you can use an open source web UI rather than run the command-line tool. cat > youtube-dl-webui.Dockerfile <<EOF FROM d0u9/youtube-dl-webui RUN pip3 install --upgrade youtube_dl EOF cat > conf.json <<EOCONF { "general": {"download_dir": "/tmp/ytdui/download","db_path": "/tmp/ytdui/webui.db","log_size": 10}, "server": {"host": "0.0.0.0","port": 5000} } EOCONF docker build \ -f youtube-dl-webui.Dockerfile \ -t youtube-dl-webui:latest \ . mkdir ytdui && chmod 777 ytdui docker run \ --rm -it \ --name youtube_dl_webui \ -p 5000:5000 \ -e FLASK_DEBUG=1 \ -e CONF_FILE=/conf.json \ -v `pwd`/conf.json:/conf.json \ -v `pwd`/ytdui:/tmp/ytdui \ youtube-dl-webui:latest firefox http://localhost:5000/ That's the simplest one to get running I think (https://github.com/d0u9/youtube-dl-webui https://github.com/d0u9/youtube-dl-webui). Another is in PHP (https://github.com/timendum/Youtube-dl-WebUI https://github.com/timendum/Youtube-dl-WebUI).

Scoundreller 6y ago

My cousin lives in a place with shitty internet, and regularly creates a list of YT URLs for later downloading when they go in-town. This is going to devastate them. Especially when they need to repair something or do maintenance where a rando’s video is 100x better than the manufacturer’s instructions and they download all the videos. I do the same thing before a flight or train ride (Canada has $5-$10/gb wireless pricing) so I can catch up with my favourite subs on-the-move.

rocgf 6y ago
The Youtube app has a download feature for watching videos offline.
- tibbydudeza 6y ago
  Only available if you signed up for a premium account.
  - Scoundreller 6y ago
    Does it permit it 100% of the time, or do you pay to discover that there’s a bunch of exceptions? And I guess once you stop paying, it’s all gone?
    - itsoktocry 6y ago
      >discover that there’s a bunch of exceptions? Periodically the downloaded videos become unavailable offline if you don't have an internet connection to refresh them. Maybe once a month or something. Which means you can't hold on to a video through their service indefinitely.
      - BlueTemplar 6y ago
        Wait, how does that even work?

chungus_khan 6y ago

Only in the eyes of the law. The RIAA can no more stop people from downloading YouTube videos than the DVD CCA could stop people from cracking CSS. Pirates haven't lost yet, only ever been delayed, and rarely by all that much. This battle has been going on since audio tape recorders and VCRs became a thing, and at some point various industries will have to accept copying as part of reality, and that it is incumbent on them to have a business model that aligns with reality. A farmer doesn't serve a legal notice to the sun because its setting every day hurts productivity.

Santosh83 6y ago
No they're winning slowly. Fifteen years back everyone I know could easily download mp3 from various p2p applications. But now the present generation of youngsters seem to think it is Spotify/Amazon or nothing. They haven't even heard of p2p. Similarly Netflix is slowly eating away at torrenting. The platform owners can and will tighten the noose gradually. End users and hackers have much less power than they like to imagine, especially the latter segment.
- syshum 6y ago
  15 years back you had to buy a $20 CD to get access to 1 song you liked... Today for $9/mo (or nearly free with Amazon) you can listen to almost any song.... The lowering of costs, and easy access is what is driving lower use of p2p not RIAA lawsuits and more restrictions
  - shaan7 6y ago
    Although I get your point, there is an important difference between those two though. Once you've bought the CD you can listen to it forever, that is not true for subscriptions - _that_ is why they are cheaper. I kinda use a hybrid - I discover new music on free tier of subscription services, and once I identify songs that I love, I buy them from iTunes DRM-free. I'm just afraid that option won't remain there forever.
    - 6y ago

autumn_unlaces 6y ago

There is invidious which is an alternative front end for YouTube. It doesn't use the YouTube API or require a Google account. You can host your own instance or use one of the public ones[0]. It seems like the download button is broken but I was able to right click save a video. [0] https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/wiki/Invidious-Instances https://github.com/iv-org/invidious/wiki/Invidious-Instances

spazx 6y ago

I'm going to miss NewPipe.