No, YouTube Red. No.

Roy Kinsey
Internet, Libraries, Thinking
2 min readNov 14, 2015

“Background Play.” “Keep your videos playing while using other apps or with your screen off,” is one of the new features of YouTube Red, a new version of the massive online video outlet recently rolled out, costing $9.99 per month. This is great, so why am I so heated?

Let me tell you. We all have those Facebook friends that we just can’t unfriend, no matter how much they continually post about handling their adult responsibilities in a manner that resembles fishing for a participation award. “Just bought the kids school clothes,” “Just gave money to the homeless,” “I take care of my kids!” I scream at the screen with my automatic cynical online voice like, “You’re supposed to! Those are things you’re supposed to do!”

That’s how I feel about YouTube Red. Please don’t get me wrong. I know that a business needs to compete to stay relevant and afloat. Apple Music, has posed a huge threat to music streaming sites, by offering radio, and unlimited music to people who already have their credit card information on file. Easy. They also have exclusive videos by the artists that they’ve signed. They are offering much more, for the same price, and YouTube’s answer was to offer something they should’ve provided long ago.

Now, I’m no tech guy, and it may be easier said than done to have a video to continue to play in another app, but I just feel like this is 2015 and I should not have to deal with these issues. Staying in the YouTube app while a video is playing is so confining; such a commitment. I just want to be free. I deleted my YouTube app for that very reason. I don’t have to deal with this with Apple Music, nor Soundcloud. They know how to treat you.

Thank you YouTube, but no. I will not be paying $9.99 for this new service of yours. I’m way too annoyed to praise the fix. It seems like a cheap move. Plus Apple is getting my $9.99 already. I have an idea about what YouTube Red could’ve been though.

--

--

Roy Kinsey
Internet, Libraries, Thinking

Rapper | Chicago Public Library | YOUmedia | ‘READING CAME FIRST’ Podcast |