YouTube Music Is Making It Easier To Like Songs, Not Blow Your Eardrums Out
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Summary
- YouTube Music introduces a new way to like a song.
- YouTube Music also adds a new feature called “Consistent volume.”
- However, new features seem to be rolling out in a phased manner, so be patient if you don’t see them.
YouTube Music does a lot of things better than its competitors, but that doesn’t make it the best music streaming platform for everyone. This is simply because YouTube Music is currently missing some popular features, including crossfade, better organization of playlists, and more, which you’d find on streaming platforms like Spotify and Apple Music. While there is no official confirmation as to when, or if, Google will introduce those missing features to its music streaming platform, the company seems to have started rolling out two noteworthy quality-of-life improvements to YouTube Music.
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YouTube Music’s new features want to make music streaming more enjoyable
As spotted by folks over at Android Authority, YouTube Music now allows users to double-tap on the album art to like a song. This feature is available to users running YouTube Music v8.14.53A or later. However, you have to be mindful of where you double-tap. If you double-tap at the center of the album, it’ll instantly like the song. On the other hand, the same touch gesture on the sides will skip ahead or move backward in a track.
This might not be the most useful way of liking the song, especially when you’re using your phone with one hand. YouTube Music has dedicated like and dislike buttons, and they are easier to tap because they are just below the album art, making it easier for your thumb to reach. But since this is a common way to like a clip or image on platforms like Instagram and TikTok, Google might be more interested in leveraging that muscle memory than wanting to make a real difference.
Liking the song is an effective way of making YouTube Music suggest songs you might like, but it doesn’t improve the listening experience. If that’s what you’re looking for, you might be more interested in checking out another new feature on YouTube Music called “Consistent volume,” which will “Normalize volume across tracks.” This is useful when you are listening to different genres, each of which is remastered differently.
This feature is available on YouTube Music version 8.15 across Android and iOS (via 9to5Google), though we don’t see it on our Android and iOS devices, suggesting that this is a phased rollout. You can find the feature by going to the Playback (Playback and restrictions on iOS) page in the YouTube Music Settings. If you don’t see it, wait a few days before Google rolls it out to everyone. In the meantime, you can learn how to get the most out of your YouTube Music subscription.
