One, of course, is the ads. While I don't really mind ads in content, YouTube videos aren't always built to accommodate ads. And by "not always" I mean "never." It's a jarring and unpleasant experience. It's almost as if YouTube is making it unpleasant just so you'll subscribe. Like blackmail.
Another reason is that YouTube Music is included with YouTube Premium. That $10/month service has a lot of music included, and I can use my phone to listen to YouTube Music in the car. I've been using SiriusXM for years (and years and years, before the Sirius and XM merger), but the price keeps going up, and I'd like to do something cheaper. Subscribing to YouTube Premium allowed me to test out YouTube Music.
And, there is downloading of music, but I haven't used that, and am not really interested.
So, the main things are YouTube Music and ad-free YouTube. Which means with my subscription paused, I need to evaluate how it's going to determine if I want to continue it.
The lack of ads is great. I really like being able to play videos and they just start without a three minute ad (yes, some are that long, or even longer) playing about something I really don't care about. Yes, they can be skipped, most of the time, but I would rather not have to bother. I like the ad-free bit.
YouTube Music leaves much to be desired. They seem to think that I like music by these auto-tuned no-talent hacks that rule the airwaves these days. Hint: I don't.
Okay, that's a little unfair. They do present a lot of music I like, and have given a "thumbs up" like to in the system. But looking at the current offerings, I'm seeing music from John Mayer (of whom I've never bought a single thing), Little Big Town (again, never bought a thing by), and others that I've never given a "thumbs up" or spent money on. You'd think Google would know that, since they capture as much data as they can about everyone.
Of course, they do have a lot that I have purchased or given "thumbs up" to, meaning it's decent. What they don't have that I would like to see is something that is similar to SiriusXM. I want a station I can select that plays the type of music I like. 60s on 6, for example. A classic rock station. My music. YouTube Music doesn't offer that. Or if they do, it's not easy to find. And when I'm driving, I want it right there, not having to scroll through menus to find while I'm traveling 65 MPH on the Interstate.
I can't really compare it to Apple Music, as I've never subscribed to that service. I may do a one month trial and see how it stacks up. It may be a worthwhile service. And since there's a Roku app, I can stream it at home easily as well as in the car on my phone.
What would be ideal is for YouTube Music to offer genre radio stations, such as classic rock, and I could get a lot for the money. I could drop SiriusXM and not deal with any other music service. YouTube Premium would be ideal, if they had that one thing.
My Streaming Life has more music in it then I normally think of it as having, but I haven't worked out the best, most cost effective way of doing it.
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