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Tech News
YouTube Music is rolling out two updates: a new AI-audio feature called 'your podcast lineup' that gives spoken previews and reasons for recommended podcasts, and expanded capabilities for its Ask Music assistant, letting users customize their listening queue and get more details about artists. Both features will roll out worldwide soon and are available to regular app users and YouTube Premium subscribers.
YouTube unveiled two AI features for YouTube Music at its Made On YouTube event: Ask Music, a conversational search tool covering over 300 million songs including remixes and live versions, and Your Podcast Lineup, a personalized weekly audio guide highlighting recommended podcasts and episodes. Ask Music lets users type natural-language requests, like building a mix based on a song's influences or asking who played on a track, instead of searching by title or artist.
Spotify is trialing a 'Premium Early Access' feature that withholds new album releases from free users for three days in select markets like India and Bangladesh, while paying subscribers get immediate access. The delay reportedly stems from licensing terms pushed by Universal Music Group rather than a decision Spotify made unilaterally, and the same restriction is expected to hit rival ad-supported services like YouTube Music and Amazon Music.
Users across iOS, Android, and web are reporting that YouTube and YouTube Music apps hang or fail to load content, with some unable to play older videos or seeing blank home pages. The issue reportedly persists even after reinstalling apps and clearing cache, and some users say they've experienced it for months. Google has not yet acknowledged the problem publicly.
A tech writer subscribed to YouTube Premium Lite hoping for an ad-free experience without bundled services like YouTube Music, but found sponsored videos still appearing throughout the app on both TV and mobile after activation. Despite accepting that ads would remain on Shorts and music videos, they discovered sponsored placements interspersed regularly in their regular viewing feed as well, prompting them to cancel the subscription after just one month.
The unofficial Android Auto app Xtream Player, successor to Fermata Xtream, has released version 1.4.0 with a new Games add-on for Premium subscribers, starting with Chess and Connect 4, meant only for use when the car is parked. The update also refreshes app icons, improves YouTube Music playback behavior, and fixes a bug that caused a black screen when using the side-panel skip control.
A tech guide outlines steps drivers can take to improve music streaming quality through Android Auto, including pre-downloading playlists to avoid network-dependent quality drops and adjusting download quality settings. It also recommends reviewing EQ and normalization settings, since phone-based bass boosts or Spotify's Loud normalization can clash with a car's own audio processing.
Google confirmed via its Nest Community account that it has resolved a bug causing Google Home devices to play unrelated songs, albums, or playlists instead of the ones users requested. The issue had been reported by multiple users on Reddit's r/googlehome, with some saying it persisted for months across services like Spotify. Google has not detailed the cause of the bug or what specifically was changed to fix it.
A longtime Spotify subscriber says the company canceled his legacy Premium Duo plan in July, citing a payment issue despite no changes on his end, after already phasing out the Duo tier in India months earlier. He suspects Spotify was quietly pushing users onto pricier plans, and in response he tried YouTube Music's free trial bundled with YouTube Premium, finding its app and recommendations surprisingly solid.