APPS
Words by Ren Alcantara
Music streaming is where it’s at right now. The appeal of being able to listen to an absolutely massive library of content without having to store files locally cannot be denied. Google, through YouTube is getting in on the action here in the Philippines with the recent launch of YouTube Music. We are all familiar with the resources big G has at its disposal, and it’s no surprise that they’re taking on the music streaming space all over.
We were given a trial subscription to YouTube Music, and while I was apprehensive to give up my usual music streaming app for the duration, I decided there was no way to do it without going all in, so I swapped to using the YouTube Music app solely until I felt the need to switch back. I’m quite happy to report that I have had no regrets so far. The first time you start the app, it’ll go through a long list of artists, asking you to pick your favorites. This lets it build an initial set of suggestions. It’s a comfortingly comprehensive list, and one that I actually enjoyed browsing. Genres were well-represented, from foreign to local, down to artists I had neither heard of, or listened to before. This made the initial selection process more fun than it had any right to be. It was like looking for the red Skittles in a big bag of skittles— unusually rewarding. The YT Music app itself is straightforward, with an artist list that’s as complete as one might imagine from a Googlebacked endeavor. I have a fairly eclectic taste in music, with a fair share of obscure acts, and I found that even the lesserknown artists showed up with a quick search (Khruangbin, anyone?). A little niggle I did find was that whenever you tap on a song in the list after running a search, the player immediately goes into full screen mode, so you lose sight of the rest of the list. It makes hunting for songs a little less convenient, though swiping down does return you to the entire list. On its own, without a paid subscription, you do have access to all the music, though you’re going to run into ads, and background play will be disabled, meaning you need to keep the app open to keep listening, putting a damper on listening on your phone while browsing the Internet, for example. The paid subscription also enables downloading tracks for offline listening, such as on a plane, or where you won’t have access to an internet connection.
66
DECEMBER 2019-JANUARY 2020
www.gadgetsmagazine.com.ph
