Yes, if you want it to play songs on demand and not just a "radio" of
sorts, you have to subscribe to YouTube premium. Is your speaker on the
same Google account as your YouTube account?
Aw man, that sucks. Besides pressing the center for the 15 seconds to
reset, I'm not sure what else you would try. I do wish these devices
came with a physical reset button as well. See if you can chat with
customer support to come up with a solution...
The answer should be yes. I also have hooked up my husband's Xbox
controller as a remote. All you do is add a Bluetooth remote in
settings. Just try it.