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Google has made a big mistake in merging podcasts into YouTube Music. The app fails to grasp what podcast listeners want. It stubbornly insists on prioritizing video versions of podcasts, even when all you want is audio. Videos eat battery and data, and besides, Google already has a dedicated video app. It's called YouTube.
5 Google Play Music features YouTube Music still doesn't have
We're missing a few of the functions and tools we used to have on Google Play Music, and we want them back
Google Play Music gracefully bowed out of existence back in 2020 to make way for YouTube Music. Many of us, myself included, made the migration and hoped for the best. After all, Google promised us this would be an even better music experience. And while YouTube Music boasts some great features, we're still left missing a few of the beloved tools and functions from Play Music. Features such as metadata editing, play counts, and light mode are still nowhere to be found.
5 best alternatives to YouTube podcasts
YouTube podcasts lack essential features, so you'll want to take a look at these alternatives
Now that Google Podcast has officially shut down and migrated to the YouTube Music app, you might be wondering if there are any other viable alternatives that actually provide the fundamentals. The short answer is yes. There are plenty of alternatives, and while many users have moved over to cross-platform services like Spotify and YouTube Music, both lack essential features that make them a no-go for many podcast aficionados.
5 things we will miss about Google Podcasts now that it's dead
What Google Podcasts got right, and what YouTube Music needs to copy
Google killed its podcast app on April 2 and shoved everything into the YouTube Music app, and now nothing can replicate the streamlined experience of Google Podcasts. So far, YouTube Music has missed the mark completely, from its cluttered interface to its insistence that everything should be connected to video somehow. So here's what we will miss the most about Google Podcasts now that it's gone.
YouTube Music's new bell icon is appearing more widely
The new Activity feed will show new music from your favorite artists
YouTube Music has grown leaps and bounds over the past couple of years as Google tries to curb the dominance of giants like Spotify in the music streaming business. However, YouTube Music still has some ways to go before it could become a viable competitor to industry rivals, particularly in terms of podcasts. As work on that continues, the streaming giant is now widely rolling out a new Activity feed featuring the latest content from your favorite artists.
Google Podcasts is dead but Google’s own podcast isn't on YouTube Music
You can’t make this stuff up
Google Podcasts is the latest service to join the ever-growing Google Graveyard. The company is asking dedicated podcast listeners using the service to switch over to YouTube Music. Half a year after announcing the shutdown, the music-focused service is still a worse alternative than Google Podcasts, and there is one way that becomes strikingly obvious: Google’s own Made by Google podcast isn’t available on YouTube Music.
Google Podcasts is closing. Here's how to move your podcast feed to YouTube Music
With a few months left for Google Podcasts to die, it is time to move your podcasts to YouTube Music
You may have heard that Google Podcasts is going away and YouTube Music will become Google's new podcast delivery system in April 2024. YouTube Music users can now stay in a single app to enjoy their tunes and podcasts, similar to competitors like Spotify. To make the transition smooth, we show you how to move your Google Podcasts subscription to YouTube and where to find podcasts on the site and app. Then, get the most out of your podcasts by bringing along your favorite pair of earbuds.
YouTube Music's latest feature wants to help you stay on top of new releases
A notification bell icon will now tip you off
YouTube Music is just one of many Google services, and it’s up against steep competition from other music streaming platforms, notably Spotify and Apple Music. Despite this, the service has managed to develop a loyal audience with similar features, likely surpassing Apple Music in subscriber count. Now, it seems that a new one is being added to further enhance the user experience.
YouTube Music will soon let you identify songs by humming
The YouTube app for Android has supported this feature since October
A YouTube experiment last August saw select users being able to identify a song by humming. The feature was widely rolled out to the YouTube app for Android phones in October, and it now looks like the YouTube Music app is also on the verge of getting this handy song identification feature.
YouTube Music gains another vital feature ahead of Google Podcasts shutdown
The app is getting the trim silence functionality for podcasts
YouTube Music officially started supporting podcasts in its apps almost a year ago. Although Google said at the time that its standalone Podcasts app wasn't going anywhere, we now know that it didn't pan out. Ahead of the service's expected closure in April, the YouTube Music team is busy giving the final touches to the podcast experience in the app. With this in mind, developers are working on adding a feature that's pretty common among the best podcast apps, including the soon-to-be-dead Google Podcasts.
Spotify tackles YouTube Music head-on with music videos
It’s a limited release for now, but Spotify has big plans
For all its early flaws, there has always been one key feature YouTube Music stands for long before anyone else: access to all the music videos. With Spotify’s latest announcement, this advantage might soon fizzle out, though. The Swedish streaming giant has announced that it will start rolling out music videos in beta for select regions and titles.
YouTube Music's enhanced overflow menu is now widely available
The redesign includes three large buttons in the overflow menu
While YouTube Music may not be as big as Spotify or Apple Music, the service continues its efforts to become a viable competitor. Although big features like podcasts only made it to the app less than a year ago, developers behind the streaming service have been busy at work testing new visual elements for YouTube Music. Then in December, we learned that Google could introduce large buttons in the overflow menu to shrink the long list of controls. These enlarged buttons for Play next, Save to playlist, and Share, are now widely making it to YouTube Music on Android.
YouTube Music now supports offline downloads on desktop
The downloads remain as long as you maintain an internet connection
If you use a streaming service to listen to music, you know that you don’t always have a steady internet connection. In these cases, it helps to have the option to download files for offline listening. Spotify, for example, allows its Premium subscribers to download individual songs to the app for offline use. Never one to be left behind from a feature parity standpoint, YouTube Music does the same automatically with its smart downloads, and even went so far as to add auto-downloading podcasts late last year. But that was all in the mobile app — now, YouTube Music is showing some love to desktop users who want to download songs for offline playback.
YouTube Music could finally get offline playback on the web
But there's no real way to download songs just yet
The web version of YouTube has allowed Premium subscribers to download videos for offline viewing since late 2021. However, the same treatment hasn't been provided for YouTube Music on the web. That appears to be changing now, with the inclusion of a new Downloads tab being found in the offline version of YouTube Music.
This small YouTube Music redesign improves casting
A bottom-based card shows your casting targets in a denser list
YouTube Music is constantly improving with interface tweaks and some quality-of-life additions, and it shows — over the years, it has become a viable competitor to Spotify for many. The latest tweak to the music streaming service is aimed at improving and standardizing the casting interface across Android and iOS, though the change isn’t live just yet for everyone.
YouTube Music needs to avoid its Play Music mistakes with podcasts
Google has to prove it won't make the same mistakes with podcasts as it did with Google Play Music.
In a world where algorithms determine all of our entertainment, YouTube Music makes sense. After all, YouTube has long been synonymous with online entertainment and a place people use for listening to music and discovering new artists. Using this strong brand for a dedicated music service seemed like the logical next step, even if that meant killing Google Play Music. But Google made a lot of mistakes in the transition, and with Google Podcasts being the next service to be transitioned to YouTube Music, the company needs to prove that it learned from its mistakes.
How to cancel your YouTube Music subscription
Maybe the grass is greener where the logo is also greener
Music is an integral part of the human experience. Music streaming allows music to be played anywhere and on any device, including budget Android phones. Music streaming gives you access to almost any song you can think of without requiring a physical copy. YouTube Music is among the most popular streaming services. It uses Google's algorithms to generate playlists and recommend new artists based on your interests.
YouTube is getting serious about podcasts
Podcasters can now upload to YouTube via RSS, potentially vastly multiplying audio-only content for listeners
2023 was a tumultuous year for Google that saw many apps and service shutdowns while the company focused on AI. The plug was pulled on Google Podcasts, nudging creators towards YouTube and YouTube Music instead. The transition will finish in April, but the process of uploading content still isn’t optimized for podcasts. Google seems eager to rectify this, and is finally making it easy for podcasters to upload older episodes to YouTube, especially if they rely on RSS feeds for distribution.
YouTube Music still needs these crucial features to compete with Spotify and Apple Music
While YouTube Music offers some unique advantages, there are still several key features that it's missing
For music enthusiasts, it's not always about sound quality, even though audiophiles tend to prioritize superior audio fidelity. In search of that perfect unicorn of music streaming apps, it's the overall listening experience that strikes a chord with discerning listeners, and that's something that still feels lacking in YouTube Music.
Google just made it easier to migrate your Podcasts content to YouTube Music
Limited to US listeners for now
YouTube Music has grown leaps and bounds over the past few years. However, the gradual introduction of podcasts on the platform meant that there was no place left for Google Podcasts. A September announcement confirmed the inevitable, with Google later revealing that Podcasts would be effectively replaced by YouTube Music by April 2024. In the meantime, people will have to consider migration plans to port over their content to YouTube Music. Google is now kickstarting that process by letting listeners in the US export their subscriptions from the Podcasts app onto YouTube Music.