Hi folks. I hope that the following never happens to you, if you have Youtube Premium and Youtube Music Premium, all in one payed package. In the past I was able to download videos to watch later, or in a specific order and since Monday February 5th 2024, I had received the following alert when trying to do this. “Alert Device limit exceeded” and “Sorry, this device can’t be authorized to use with YouTube Premium.” I had no idea about this! I had also not been told in advance, that if I sign in more than 4 times a year, the limit has been reached and I can no longer download videos to watch offline, until the limit is reset.
First of all, how long will it take for the “limit” to be reset? There is no information from Google about this and we as users should know all of the ins and outs of how this works, outside of the terms and conditions. Most people don’t read them and I am included in this, because it’s long and drawn out and it is probably in legal speak. I’m not a lawyer, therefore it is not my department. I am a creator and I also like to watch and listen to videos offline while doing something as monotonous as: laundry, travelling by Transit or catching up on new videos by my subscriptions.
Second, why did this take affect on such a random day? Why February 5, 2024? I was able to download without any problems on February 4 and so, this was a complete shock and an unwelcome surprise, just as bad as being disrupted by knock on the door by a contractor, doing a job I had no prior warning about. google needs to answer to this and unfortunately, they won’t because they’re a big corporation throughout the world, unless they are taken to court for this and the other.
Third, there may be reasons for having to do what I had done since last year and they be software related to my device. In this case, the software giving me problems is exactly why I had signed in 4 times this year, in the past 12 months to now. I had to find this out by doing a Google search and this is a pain in the ass and I had mistakingly told Youtube to bring downloading back to devices, not knowing that mine had been unauthorized, seemingly at random.
So, Google should be more transparent about downloads, download limits and what to do if a person exceeds the limit in order to reset it. Otherwise, the user is left in the lurch without any options and stealing from Youtube is not one of them through a website in order to hear videos in a specific order, to keep me sane while doing something is boring is watching paint dry. Will they? Maybe if enough people complain, or they are taken to court for being secretive about certain things, which are a part of YouTube and YouTube Music premium and without which, I could refuse to pay for YouTube premium anymore until I get my authorization to download back. Apple is taken to court, so why not Google? surely there are others like me who had the time and the patience to do this. Am I right? I am bringing this up because it had happened to me and I hope that there are other people, who had experienced something similar and had watched when Apple had to answer for the fact that they slow down iPhones, as they get older, as the battery ages. This isn’t the exact same thing, but this could dissuade people from paying for YouTube premium, besides the higher price since September 2023.
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