Google Play Music gracefully bowed out of existence back in 2020 to make way for YouTube Music. Many of us, myself included, made the migration and hoped for the best. After all, Google promised us this would be an even better music experience. And while YouTube Music boasts some great features, we’re still left missing a few of the beloved tools and functions from Play Music. Features such as metadata editing, play counts, and light mode are still nowhere to be found.
1 Song info editing
The power to personalize
Google Play Music included the ability to change the metadata on songs we had uploaded to our library. We could edit the artist’s name, album, the song’s title, and even the genre of music. This is a fairly standard option across music streaming services, from Spotify to Apple Music. It is also a blessing, because it gives you supreme organizational power and lets you meticulously curate your music library.
Google never included that function in YouTube Music. All of our own music is locked down now. Whether this is intentional or simply an oversight isn, but now that Google Play Music is gone, we’re left at the mercy of Google’s mysterious organizational powers.
2 An audio-only app
Why does YTM insist on giving me videos?
YouTube is the single best source on the internet for music videos. After all, the platform was created for videos. Likewise, Google Play Music was one of the best audio-streaming platforms. This clear separation between the two services was simple. YouTube Music, on the other hand, blends them together and my home page and my searches are often riddled with video suggestions.
It’s not so bad on the web app, but the YTM app on mobile is where the line gets blurred between video and audio. If you’re listening to music while driving and leave it to Google to randomly select songs for your listening pleasure, you run the risk of music videos popping up (and eating data). The only way around this is to curate your playlists before hitting the road.
3 Play counts
Music stats for the audio nerds
Google Play Music understood that there’s something satisfying about seeing how many times you’ve blasted that banger of a song. It would let us organize our library based on play counts if we so desired. YouTube Music has decided that our musical interests are best kept secret. Our listening history does not exist on YouTube Music, at least not for us to see.
Sometimes we music nerds need our stats. Play counts are not just a vanity metric, either. They tell a story about our tastes and give us the ability to go back through memory lane. Remember how nuts I was about the Chainsmokers back in 2016? Good times.
4 Light mode
GPM was bright and colorful
Google Play Music had a brighter and cleaner look. Its light mode was a welcome option, a refreshing contrast to the Spotify-esque dark-only trend. It’s baffling that so many apps offer light and dark modes that automatically adjust based on your device settings, yet YouTube Music stubbornly insists on a dark-only interface.
We miss the light and airy feel of Google Play Music’s interface and wish YouTube Music would implement it.
5 Crossfade
Where did smooth transitions go?
Google Play Music understood the beauty of crossfade: a seamless, smooth, magical transition from one song to another creates an uninterrupted flow of music. The feature has been around for a while. Even the old Windows Media Player had it. Sadly, it’s nowhere to be found on YouTube Music, leaving us with jarring moments of silence between our tracks.
Those gaps can be brutal when listening to a carefully crafted playlist. But then again, perhaps Google no longer wants us to craft our own playlists?
The best of GPM and YTM
Google could bring these missing features to YouTube Music
There’s a lot to like about YouTube Music. For starters, the Explore page is exceptional and one of the best of any music streaming service. The service’s recommendations are great and even better than Spotify’s Discover page (in my humble opinion). It just needs to bring some of that Google Play Music user-friendliness over.
After all, Google successfully implemented these things in Google Play Music, so we know they are capable of doing it. With a little effort, they could easily introduce customizable metadata, play counts, and a crossfade feature into YouTube Music. A light mode should be a no-brainer. And get rid of music videos for goodness sake. Leave the videos over on YouTube.
Hey Google, can we get these features back?
YouTube Music has certainly evolved since it first appeared way back in 2015. However, Google promised Play Music features would come over to YouTube Music when they announced they were shutting down their much-beloved streaming service. Many of the details are still missing, and it’s baffling.
We miss the ability to track our play counts or customize our song info to carefully curate our playlists. Nearly everyone is scratching their head at the lack of crossfade. Each of the elements we’ve discussed played a role in making Google Play Music one of our favorite music streaming platforms. Consider this a gentle nudge from your user base to bring back Google Play Music features so we can also love YouTube Music.
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