Close X
Thursday, November 28, 2024
ADVT 
Tech

Review: YouTube Music Queues Up Music Videos And Keeps Groove Going With Intuitive Features

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 13 Nov, 2015 07:49 PM
    LOS ANGELES — If you were going to reinvent MTV for a mobile generation, you'd probably come up with something like YouTube Music.
     
    It's a video-first music service that also plays in the background like you'd expect a music app to do. That sets it apart from other music apps out there, many of which give you a choice of videos or songs, but not interchangeably.
     
    But while YouTube Music offers a lot of interesting features, most of them require a subscription to the new YouTube Red service, which will set you back $10 a month — $13 if you sign up through YouTube's iPhone app. 
     
    Without Red, YouTube Music will play ads similar to what you see on YouTube proper, and several other functions won't work at all. YouTube is offering new users a 14-day free trial to Red, but to continue commercial free, you'll need to pony up.
     
    YouTube Music is first and foremost a music-video app, albeit one that doesn't forget that most people will be using it on their phones. For those times you'd rather just listen instead of watching, you can hit a toggle that switches the app to audio-only mode, which turns off the video playback and swaps in a still image. You can even turn off the screen and keep listening while you do something else.
     
    But here's the first gotcha: Audio-only mode only works for paid subscribers. I also found the audio-only toggle worked far better on a Samsung Galaxy Note 4 than on an iPhone 5, where it introduced a jarring pause.
     
    You can similarly shrink the video to a little strip at the bottom of the app, which keeps it playing in a cropped format while you look for the next video. The app will even keep playing if you switch to other tasks, like checking email — although again only if you've paid up for Red.
     
    There are some curious omissions. For instance, there's no easy way to create a playlist to queue up a bunch of videos in a row. The app does offer "song stations," which queue up videos from artists related to the one you're on. You can toggle the range of the resulting mix with options like "less variety," ''more variety" or "balanced." I started a station starting with Passenger's "Let Her Go" and so far I'm pretty happy with the "balanced" playlist it created, which included "Counting Stars" from OneRepublic and "Burn" by Ellie Goulding.
     
    You can also play all of the videos you've thumbs-upped, which turns that grouping into a crude sort of playlist.
     
    YouTube Music is far less cluttered than competing services like Apple Music, which has more lists and tabs than you'll know what to do with. YouTube Music keeps the tabs to three — home, hot (trending videos), and thumbs up (your favourites).
     
    Home offers recommended videos, and it's easy to find something playable. Your mileage may vary with the "hot" tab; it didn't do much for me, although I'm usually a bit out of sync with the mainstream.
     
    Finally, there's one more fun feature, which is called "offline mixtape." It automatically saves 20 audio-only songs for you based on your tastes, for when you know you're going to get spotty reception. I wish it saved the videos instead of just the audio, but this will keep the tunes turning in a pinch. Alas, offline mixtapes are disabled in the ad-supported version of YouTube Music.
     
    The app makes Google's $10-a-month music subscription a lot more attractive. Paying up not only unlocks features in YouTube Music itself, it also gets you ad-free playback on the main YouTube app, access to Google Play Music, and, down the road, some original material from YouTube stars.

    MORE Tech ARTICLES

    This computer understands science better than humans

    This computer understands science better than humans
    A computer developed by the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UWM) has proved that it is better than scientists at extracting data from scientific publications...

    This computer understands science better than humans

    MIT engineers overcome doubters to design a cheetah robot that can run, jump on battery power

    MIT engineers overcome doubters to design a cheetah robot that can run, jump on battery power
    It's a robot unlike any other: inspired by the world's fastest land animal, controlled by video game technology and packing nifty sensors

    MIT engineers overcome doubters to design a cheetah robot that can run, jump on battery power

    App That Stops You From 'Drunk' Calling Your Girlfriend

    App That Stops You From 'Drunk' Calling Your Girlfriend
    Described as a "condom for your phone", Drunk Mode stops you from doing foolish things with your phone when you have had a few drinks, IBTimes reported.

    App That Stops You From 'Drunk' Calling Your Girlfriend

    Teenagers Not Hooked To Facebook Anymore

    Teenagers Not Hooked To Facebook Anymore
    A study involving 170,000 internet users across 32 countries has found that more and more teenagers are spending more time on instant messaging apps than on Facebook.

    Teenagers Not Hooked To Facebook Anymore

    Gift Guide: How To Choose A Tablet From The Vast Array Of iOS, Android And Windows Choices

    Gift Guide: How To Choose A Tablet From The Vast Array Of iOS, Android And Windows Choices
    Time for a tablet? People tend to hold onto tablets longer than smartphones, so take time to weigh your options. A major consideration is what phone you or your gift recipient already has.

    Gift Guide: How To Choose A Tablet From The Vast Array Of iOS, Android And Windows Choices

    Unboxing Videos On The Rise, Freezing That Big Reveal Of Anything From New Phone To Happy Meal

    Unboxing Videos On The Rise, Freezing That Big Reveal Of Anything From New Phone To Happy Meal
    NEW YORK — Rrrrip goes the packing tape and squeak goes the protective foam. Are there sweeter, more seductive sounds than the opening of a new toy or gadget?

    Unboxing Videos On The Rise, Freezing That Big Reveal Of Anything From New Phone To Happy Meal