YouTube is the world’s largest and most popular video streaming service. Despite sharing the same name and branding as its video sibling, YouTube Music isn’t as popular, falling behind Spotify and Apple Music. While YouTube Music remains my preferred choice when listening on my phone with my wireless earbuds, there are several features it could borrow from Apple Music and Spotify to deliver a better experience.
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5 Better podcast integration
Look at Spotify
While it may not have been as polished as Pocket Casts, Google Podcasts was a solid way to enjoy your favorite podcasts. Then, Google decided to kill Google Podcasts and integrate podcasts into YouTube Music. Like almost everything that Google does, the experience is half-baked.
On YouTube Music, Google only shows content marked as a podcast, which restricts the content available on the platform. You can add third-party podcasts via an RSS feed. However, they don’t support all the native podcast features that YouTube Music offers.
If you’re a heavy podcast listener, you’ll enjoy Spotify’s expansive podcast library and exclusive shows.
Google has improved podcast support in YouTube Music since the end of Google Podcasts last year, adding many basic features. Still, there’s a lot of work left to do. Until that happens, use one of the best podcast apps for Android.
4 Hi-res music streaming
Still a missing piece in YouTube Music’s arsenal
For a music streaming service that has been around for a long time, YouTube Music lags behind its competitors in several areas, including high-res audio streaming.
Even Spotify’s Hi-Fi music streaming tier is nowhere to be seen, despite the company teasing it in February 2021. Still, that does not give Google a free pass, especially since it has deeper pockets than Spotify. Let’s not forget that it also owns YouTube, which hosts the world’s largest video content library.
Apple Music and Amazon Music have offered hi-res audio streaming for a few years. Google taking a few months to catch up to its competitors would have been justified. However, it will be nearly four years since Apple’s announcement, and there is still no sign of Google planning to offer anything similar.
Like the competition, Google raised its streaming prices in the last couple of years. It could have added hi-res streaming into the mix as a way to at least justify the price increase.
YouTube Music allows you to stream music at a maximum of 256kbps. That’s less than Spotify Premium’s 320kbps option. However, only users with high-end audio gear will notice the difference in quality. Still, this doesn’t justify YouTube Music’s failure to improve its audio quality and keep up with the competition.
3 A Spotify Connect alternative
Provide effortless music control
Spotify Connect is one of the best features of Spotify, and Google should copy it. The feature allows you to control music playback from another device. For instance, if you’re listening to Spotify on your computer or laptop, you can use your phone as a remote to control playback. This might not sound impressive, but when you get used to Spotify Connect in daily life, there’s no going back.
Given that Google owns the Cast protocol and uses it to turn your phone into a remote control for Cast-enabled Android and Google TVs, it can offer a similar integration for YouTube Music. Imagine being able to seamlessly hand over music playback from your phone to your PC or vice versa.
YouTube Music’s current Cast integration tries to emulate Spotify Connect, but the experience isn’t as good. The key reason is that Google Cast is compatible with a limited set of devices compared to Spotify Connect.
2 Native desktop app
A web app does not cut it
Source: Jules Wang / AP
YouTube only offers native YouTube Music apps for iOS and Android. That’s it. There’s no dedicated Windows or Mac app. Instead, YouTube wants you to use the web app, which is clunky and fails to offer an experience comparable to Spotify or Apple Music.
The lack of a native YouTube Music app for PCs ruins the experience, as the web app is slow to load and use. It also becomes an issue when you have separate accounts for YouTube Music and log in to Google with a different account.
I rely on some third-party YouTube Music apps for Mac to work around the lack of a native app. While it may not be the most refined solution, it delivers a better experience than the web app. Plus, they come with enhancements, like plugins for Discord integration, picture-in-picture, ambient mode, and more.
Even Apple, known for its walled ecosystem approach, provides a dedicated Apple Music app for Android and Windows, two of its competing platforms. There’s no reason why YouTube Music cannot do so. As for Spotify’s desktop app, it offers an experience that YouTube Music can’t match. Even its Android and iOS apps are superior to those of YouTube Music.
While doing so, Google should look into improving the YouTube Music app for Wear OS. It acts as a standalone app, rather than a companion to the main app on your phone. Spotify beats Google’s music streaming service, offering a better Wear OS app.
1 Spotify Blend beats YouTube Music’s collaborative playlist
Blend makes collaboration easier
YouTube Music allows you to collaborate with friends or family on a shared playlist. This is a handy option, especially for long road trips, as everyone can add their favorite tunes and artists to the mix. However, Google’s implementation is basic. Each collaborator must add their favorite tracks. This makes the process tedious and time-consuming.
YouTube Music could take a lesson or two from Spotify’s Blend feature, which takes the hassle out of creating a personalized shared playlist. When you create a Blend on Spotify and invite a friend, it generates a shared playlist that combines your music tastes with theirs. This takes the work out of building a collaborative playlist and adding music tracks one by one.
You also get a taste match score that shows how closely your listening preferences align. Plus, the Blend updates daily, helping you and your friend discover new music from each other’s libraries.
Considering YouTube Music’s vast library, it’s disappointing that Google doesn’t leverage it to provide better collaborative features and community integration.
Even with its drawbacks, YouTube Music takes the win
Despite its shortcomings, I still prefer YouTube Music to Spotify and Apple Music. Google’s music streaming wins for me due to its vast music library and discovery algorithm. It is among the few things YouTube Music does better than Spotify and its rivals.
However, this does not give Google an excuse not to improve YouTube Music. Instead, it should double down on its music streaming service and focus on improving the experience to attract more users. To its credit, Google regularly improves YouTube Music, just not in the areas that are needed. Plus, the service lags behind its rivals in several key areas, and Google will need to make a focused effort to bridge this gap.
