Spotify and Apple Music are the two dominant forces in music streaming at the moment, but they are far from the only options available. One of the other big names in streaming is YouTube Music, and while it may not be able to compete with Apple and Spotify on every front, it does some things those services can’t. For example, this week, the company added a new feature allowing users to seamlessly switch between audio and music videos.
As of Thursday, YouTube Premium and YouTube Music Premium subscribers have the ability to transition between the audio of a song and its music video on the fly without interrupting the song. So now, if you’re ever sitting around watching a music video on your phone and need to head out, you don’t have to start the song over.
“Switching between songs and music videos is as simple as the tap of a button,” explains YouTube Music’s Brandon Bilinski. “Users will notice a video button at the top of the screen as they start listening to a song, and with a simple tap, they can instantly start watching the music video or flip back to the audio at the same point in the track.”
Use one music app instead of two. Seamlessly switch between video and audio on the YouTube Music app → https://t.co/xL6zsWyhnU pic.twitter.com/esFUB7K0nl
— YouTube Music (@youtubemusic) July 18, 2019
Bilinski adds that YouTube Music has time-matched over five million tracks to their respective music videos, so if it’s a popular song, there’s a good chance this new feature will work with it. But if music videos aren’t your thing, just head over to the settings menu and toggle “Don’t play music videos” to the “on” position.
