Youtube red - a honest review.
Features & Price
Red has three basic features: ad free videos, offline music & video streaming, and YouTube's pre-made personalized playlists and mixtapes for your convenience.
It costs $9.99/month for non iOS devices, and $12.99/month if purchased on any iOS device. Considering that Spotify is $9.99/month as well, and Tidal has a $9.99 and $19.99/month option, I think the pricing is very fair.
Design
YT Red is split into a desktop version and a mobile version, with the mobile version being split into 3 separate apps: YouTube, YouTube Gaming, and YouTube music.
Desktop
One word to describe the desktop side of YouTube Red is lacking. The only feature you have is ad free videos. There is no offline streaming and you can't download videos to your desktop. Because of this, I will say do not use Red if you do not use your phone or any other mobile device often. It is not worth it.
Mobile
This is where Red shines, but it does have some flaws I wish to point out. There are three different YouTube applications. THREE. That's just arbitrary. A more efficient way to implement the service would be to have one application, and inside that one YouTube application, there could be a gaming section and a YT music section for Red subscribers.
YouTube
After subscribing, I get the Red label next to the YouTube logo. I can now save offline videos, shuffle through them, and play videos in the background. Everything flows very nicely, especially the background play. I did not have any stuttering or lag when switching between other applications on my fine. The offline streaming is also very nice, but that is expected.
YouTube Gaming
There isn't much of a difference between this and the YouTube application, except for the fact that you can ONLY watch gaming and gaming-oriented videos on here. Now How To's, no comedy, no Tutorials. Just gaming. Other than that, the features between this app and YouTube are identical. The interface is slightly different, though.
YouTube Music
This remains the meat of YouTube Red. I really like the design of the interface and the darker colors, it makes the red standout. You are greeted with three different sections: (1) home, which has automated playlists, radio stations, and suggestions, (2) fire, which displays music trends, and the (3) thumbs up tab which shows your liked songs.
On the top right, there is a little slider to switch from video mode to music mode and is only available on this app. I'm assuming this helps with data usage and gives the user a little more freedom to choose how they listen to their songs. The issue with the video mode is that it is cropped when in fullscreen. I imagine it will be fixed soon, but for now, it's bad.
You have a premade offline mixtape which is good when you need to rush to the gym or finish errands. The choices here are made based on your past listens, so more often than not, you will enjoy the songs. Radio station is also available. It's pretty much an online mixtape with infinite loops. It does not connect to an actual radio (shame).
Finding songs was not difficult. Since YouTube is huge, you are bound to find the song you want. My gripe was that many unofficial songs (covers, parodies, random remixes) were added to my playlists. While some may enjoy that, I will safely assume most don't. Hopefully there's an option to only include official songs and not fan videos.
Other than that - there are a few bugs and annoying nuances. Occasionally, the thumbnail won't update when listening to music in the background. YT music has no X button to rid the background player. You must pause and swipe, unlike with YouTube and with YouTube gaming.
If you don't use mobile devices much, no. If you do, then I would consider it. You support your favorite channels through the subscription while getting ad-free streaming, offline music AND video play, and pre-made playlists. I definitely recommend
Hope you enjoyed the review :)
Red has three basic features: ad free videos, offline music & video streaming, and YouTube's pre-made personalized playlists and mixtapes for your convenience.
It costs $9.99/month for non iOS devices, and $12.99/month if purchased on any iOS device. Considering that Spotify is $9.99/month as well, and Tidal has a $9.99 and $19.99/month option, I think the pricing is very fair.
Design
YT Red is split into a desktop version and a mobile version, with the mobile version being split into 3 separate apps: YouTube, YouTube Gaming, and YouTube music.
Desktop
One word to describe the desktop side of YouTube Red is lacking. The only feature you have is ad free videos. There is no offline streaming and you can't download videos to your desktop. Because of this, I will say do not use Red if you do not use your phone or any other mobile device often. It is not worth it.
Mobile
This is where Red shines, but it does have some flaws I wish to point out. There are three different YouTube applications. THREE. That's just arbitrary. A more efficient way to implement the service would be to have one application, and inside that one YouTube application, there could be a gaming section and a YT music section for Red subscribers.
YouTube
After subscribing, I get the Red label next to the YouTube logo. I can now save offline videos, shuffle through them, and play videos in the background. Everything flows very nicely, especially the background play. I did not have any stuttering or lag when switching between other applications on my fine. The offline streaming is also very nice, but that is expected.
YouTube Gaming
There isn't much of a difference between this and the YouTube application, except for the fact that you can ONLY watch gaming and gaming-oriented videos on here. Now How To's, no comedy, no Tutorials. Just gaming. Other than that, the features between this app and YouTube are identical. The interface is slightly different, though.
YouTube Music
This remains the meat of YouTube Red. I really like the design of the interface and the darker colors, it makes the red standout. You are greeted with three different sections: (1) home, which has automated playlists, radio stations, and suggestions, (2) fire, which displays music trends, and the (3) thumbs up tab which shows your liked songs.
On the top right, there is a little slider to switch from video mode to music mode and is only available on this app. I'm assuming this helps with data usage and gives the user a little more freedom to choose how they listen to their songs. The issue with the video mode is that it is cropped when in fullscreen. I imagine it will be fixed soon, but for now, it's bad.
You have a premade offline mixtape which is good when you need to rush to the gym or finish errands. The choices here are made based on your past listens, so more often than not, you will enjoy the songs. Radio station is also available. It's pretty much an online mixtape with infinite loops. It does not connect to an actual radio (shame).
Finding songs was not difficult. Since YouTube is huge, you are bound to find the song you want. My gripe was that many unofficial songs (covers, parodies, random remixes) were added to my playlists. While some may enjoy that, I will safely assume most don't. Hopefully there's an option to only include official songs and not fan videos.
Other than that - there are a few bugs and annoying nuances. Occasionally, the thumbnail won't update when listening to music in the background. YT music has no X button to rid the background player. You must pause and swipe, unlike with YouTube and with YouTube gaming.
If you don't use mobile devices much, no. If you do, then I would consider it. You support your favorite channels through the subscription while getting ad-free streaming, offline music AND video play, and pre-made playlists. I definitely recommend
Hope you enjoyed the review :)
Photos used under Creative Commons from Portland Seminary, Homedust vinayaketx
