This reminds me of Microsoft's increased injection of ads into Windows 11. I'm curious if/when market dynamics will limit the extent to which Microsoft/Google do this.
Just on my way to listen to MY mp3s.
Sure there are. $5/month gets you email/contacts/calendar hosting at Fastmail (and several other similar alternatives). Linux desktops are healthier than ever and have no ads. (Including plenty of music players for playing your own MP3s!) There are countless Fediverse instances that won't advertise at you... there are plenty of options if you look beyond the big players.
Now, for phone OSes, your choices are more limited. GrapheneOS with F-Droid is alright for now, though I'd love to see mobile Linux get more usable again.
Go to the Music section and you'll see a toggle labeled "Show Apple Music".
Market dynamics in this case is just good ol' market failure. Google can 10x the number of pre-roll ads on Youtube, and lose maybe 1% of their audience. Where's every going to go, Peertube? Vimeo? Dailymotion?
Other Social Networks have to bring a better Search Experience and Long Duration video. Then Youtube can easily have a challenger.
Also, showing too many pre-roll ads might reduce the ROI on Ads for the advertiser. I believe an Ad won't convert as good if it's part of a series of Ads.
Search Ads are less effective than before.
Meta, TikTok etc are way better for many small businesses than Google Search.
They might think that adding more places to show Ads is the solution, I believe it will be better if they check how effective their Search Ads are for their customers.
They luckily have Youtube Ads, for now.