YouTube Premium subscribers can now step into the lab and enjoy a slate of new experimental features. And the good news is that everything is free to enjoy.
Access Improved Audio, Faster Playback Speeds and More
Instead of just a single experiment, YouTube has announced you can opt into multiple features at once. Subscribers can also access five new options:
- You can now enjoy high-quality 256kbps audio on music videos.
- Fans of YouTube Shorts on an iPhone can now use picture-in-picture while watching the videos to browse other apps or check messages.
- Recommended Shorts will also be selected and automatically downloaded for offline viewing on an iPhone.
- Coming “soon” is the ability to watch videos at 4x speed on mobile devices. Previously, the fastest playback speed was 2x.
- When viewing videos on the web, you can now skip ahead to the best part of the video. That option was previously only available on mobile devices.
All the experimental features can be accessed by YouTube Premium subscribers by heading to YouTube.com/new.
A YouTube Premium subscription is $13.99 monthly. You can save money by choosing an annual plan. There are also discounts available for a family or student plan.
Google also announced its rolling out a new offer that will let you save on YouTube Premium when purchased with a Google One Premium plan or higher.
New Features for Free Are a Nice Change
While other subscription services seem to be raising prices on almost a daily basis, it’s nice to see Google adding useful features to YouTube Premium without charging extra.
If you can’t get enough of YouTube, a Premium subscription is something to consider. One of the best features is that it removes all advertisements from videos, a huge plus. Even so, there might be some reasons that Premium isn’t worth the extra cash.
