Toni Hobrecht
Real-time lyrics are nothing new in the field of music streaming. Both Spotify and Apple Music have had the feature for a while. YouTube Music is finally catching up with real-time automatic tracking of lyrics as songs play. Real-time lyrics tracking works for all songs that have lyrics already available on YouTube Music. The current lyrics will be highlighted and its text size will increase in the lyrics tab of the app.
Last year, Google partnered with MusixMatch and started working on this feature. There are reports that live lyrics tracking is also supported by LyricFind. So far, we’ve only seen screenshots of the feature on Android and iOS with no concrete release timeline. Some Reddit users have already reported that the feature is included starting with Android app version 5.51.50.
YouTube Premium gets five new features
YouTube Premium now has five more features. This includes a queuing system that is commonly available on computers. In the mobile app, on the other hand, the feature is limited to subscribers. As the name suggests, it allows you to create a queue of videos to play, add new ones and change the positions for the ones you already have.
Next, YouTube Premium members can host Google Meet sessions where all participants, whether they are premium or free users, can watch YouTube videos together. The feature currently works via Meet Live Sharing on Android devices and will be added to FaceTime users on iOS via SharePlay “in the coming weeks”.
The third new feature is the ability to continue watching YouTube videos where you left off, even if you switch devices in between. The feature is already live on Android, iOS and web. The fourth new feature, Smart Downloads, adds recommended videos directly to your library for offline viewing. However, it’s unclear exactly what’s new here, as the whole thing has been available to premium members for a while.
Finally, YouTube for iOS will deliver a bitrate-enhanced version for 1080p resolution videos for premium members “in the coming weeks”. The first tests have been running since February. The company promises that the higher bitrate version will “will look extra crisp and clear, especially for videos with lots of detail and motion”. Regular users can still select 1080p, but only at the regular bit rate.
