YouTube Music - YouTube Music - YouTube Music (128kbps AAC): Free (ad supported) - YouTube Music Premium (256kbps AAC): £9.99/month, 1 month free trial; YouTube Music Premium Family: £14.99/month, 1 month free trial.Music (128kbps HE-AAC): Free (ad supported) - YouTube Music Premium (128kbps HE-AAC): £9.99/month, 1 month free trial
Product Description: YouTube Music is Google’s replacement for its now defunct Google Play Music service. YouTube Music (YTM) lacks many of the features introduced by its competitors and the audio quality at 256kbps AAC is poor by comparison to the lossless CD Quality FLAC offerings now becoming standard.
Overall
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Audio quality
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Content
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Music Discovery
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Features
Summary
YouTube Music is let down by poor audio quality, no podcasts and lacks many of the advanced features now appearing on other streaming services.
Pros
Extensive music video content
Cons
Poor sound quality
No podcasts
Poor HiFi device support
Lacks advanced features of other streamers
History
The original version of YouTube Music was launched in November 2015 together with a premium subscription, YouTube Red, which covered all of the YouTube platform including the Music app. In June 2018, Google (the owners of YouTube) relaunched the service as YouTube Premium which contained YouTube and YouTube Music and a standalone subscription to YouTube Music.
YouTube Premium is £11.99/month and £17.99 for a family subscription (up to 6 family members) and YouTube Music is £9.99/month and £14.99/month for a family subscription. As YouTube Premium is only £2 per month more than a YouTube Music subscription and you get the full set of YouTube benefits it makes sense to go with the YouTube Premium package especially if you value video over audio content.
Google closed down its Google Play Music service at the end of December 2020 and migrated its users and content to YouTube Music. The early versions of YouTube Music had less functionality than Google Play Music and Google came in for a lot of criticism from Google Play Music users. Integrations to Google’s ecosystem of Android based applications and smart devices using Google Assistant have improved and are now good but YouTube Music seems to trail behind the more innovative efforts of Spotify and others. Integrations and support for conventional HiFi systems is poor and Sonos users will have to connect via the Sonos app rather than via YouTube Music.
YouTube claims that it has 50 million YouTube Premium and YouTube Music users but does split out how many are Music or Premium subscribers, or how they use it. It is likely that most YouTube Premium users subscribe to get rid of ads and be able to download videos on YouTube rather than listen to YouTube Music in audio only mode.
As a standalone audio streaming service YouTube Music trails Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and Deezer in almost every respect. With the adoption of lossless CD Quality streaming by Apple, Amazon and Deezer and the eagerly anticipated rollout of lossless in Spotify it is hard to see a reason to subscribe. If your main interest is in YouTube videos then the inclusion of YouTube Music in a YouTube Premium plan is a nice addition. The lack of podcasts and other audio content shows that Google and YouTube are focussed on video rather than audio.
Services
YouTube Music Free
Ad supported (No Offline Mode)
YouTube Music Premium Individual subscription £9.99/month 1 month free trial
YouTube Music Family Plan £14.99/month 1 month free trial
Up to six family members (13+)
YouTube Music Student Plan £4.99/month 1 month free trial
Annual verification required.
Availability
YouTube Music is available in 100 countries. A full list can be found here.
Audio Quality
The following audio settings are available in YouTube on both WiFi and mobile. YouTube Music Free has a maximum audio quality of 128kbps.
Low
- Upper bound of 48 kbps AAC
Normal
- Default setting
- Upper bound of 128 kbps AAC
High
- Upper bound of 256 kbps AAC
Always high
- Maintains high quality even when the connection is poor
- Bitrate: 256 kbps AAC
Content
YouTube have not published the number of tracks that are available but there were 40 million+ in Google Play when that service was shut down and transferred into YouTube Music. In addition, YouTube Premium subscribers will have access to all the music videos and uploads on YouTube. There are no podcasts or other audio on YouTube Music.
Music Discovery
The usual Search and Playlist functionality is provided allowing users to browse genres, playlists, and recommendations. Personalised playlists are available in My Mix and subscribers can browse top songs music videos, artists and trending content both globally and in 57 individual countries.
Features
When YouTube Music was launched as the replacement for Google Play Music there were lots of gaps in its functionality and even now it lags behind the mainstream music streamers such as Spotify, Apple Music and Deezer.
As you would imagine there is good support for Android devices such as Smart Watches via Wear OS, Smart Speakers such as Google Home and Nest, Smart TVs and Google Pixel Buds. The Android mobile app can be downloaded here and the iOS app here.
Premium subscribers have good In Car Entertainment support with both Android Auto and Apple Car Play available.
Casting to Chromecast enabled devices is supported as well as the ability to use YouTube Music with Waze.
