yt-dlp is great for downloading media you’ve already found (or at least, playlists or creator channels you’ve already found), but you can’t use it for discovering new media. You still need a browser or GUI app like FreeTube or Newpipe for that, and it works better when you’re actually signed in with your Google account so that the recommendation algorithm works and it can keep track of what you watched for you.
Don’t get me wrong; I would love to limit my interaction with Google to anonymously fetching video URLs. But none of the alternatives sync my watch history between devices or recommend new videos (beyond just new uploads from subscribed channels) to me.
I’ve been finding new stuff fine on YouTube without logging in. Though that probably only works well if you have other sources for inspiration, like recommendations from friends, bandcamp sites of small labels or music journalism. I use YouTube’s search function a lot.
yt-dlpis great for downloading media you’ve already found (or at least, playlists or creator channels you’ve already found), but you can’t use it for discovering new media. You still need a browser or GUI app like FreeTube or Newpipe for that, and it works better when you’re actually signed in with your Google account so that the recommendation algorithm works and it can keep track of what you watched for you.Don’t get me wrong; I would love to limit my interaction with Google to anonymously fetching video URLs. But none of the alternatives sync my watch history between devices or recommend new videos (beyond just new uploads from subscribed channels) to me.
I’ve been finding new stuff fine on YouTube without logging in. Though that probably only works well if you have other sources for inspiration, like recommendations from friends, bandcamp sites of small labels or music journalism. I use YouTube’s search function a lot.