The launch of YouTube Music was a nice treat for any music fan out there. With endless hours of music all while the screen is off, there are so many reasons to be happy about the relatively new app. All this aside, it still has a long way to especially heavy listeners who prefer having a lot more control over their music.

Here are just a few things we need from the YouTube Music application

Playback and playlists

When using YouTube Music app, its never just about listening to one song. Similar to Spotify and Pandora, once you select a video on YouTube Music, the app will attempt to create an entire station around it. However, it lacks a repeat function as well as an option to shuffle. This means if you want to keep listening to your that song you can't get enough of, you need to wait till the song ends then press the rewind button.

Moreover, it is not possible to create your own playlists, which you can do in the YouTube proper. Playlists only include the online-automated stations and the one that's generated from the videos you liked. Basically the only control you have on the Liked videos playlists, is unliking videos, which could also affect the vital YouTube algorithms, and still the play order can't be changed unless you hit shuffle. Therefore, all you can do, is like a station or look for a new one. The app however, has three different modes to choose from, this include more variety, balanced and less variety.

Offline content

In addition to not being able to make your own playlists, you also have no control over which videos are or aren't downloaded to play offline. All you have access to is the offline mixtape. Just like the stations, the offline music often features music videos based on standard-bearers, which means you won't always get the specific type of music you prefer.

It would be beneficial if it was possible to pin a specific station for offline playback akin to Pandora and Play Music. Furthermore, if YouTube proper and YouTube music could access each other's downloaded videos, then may be it would generate a more enjoyable offline mixtape.

Better browsing

YouTube Music browsing basically includes: scrolling on the main pages between the Recommended and What's Hot, searching for something or navigating through Explore as something similar plays back. And the search can only be successful based entirely on the video title, as the search for a particular genre only results in videos with the genre as the title.

So what YouTube Music's best features?

The videos that are unable to play with the screen off in YouTube are able to play with the screen off in YouTube Music. A number of stations can be really good once the algorithm get used to what you want. The app doesn't include YouTube comments, ads and there is no device limit. In addition, its dark theme gives off a relaxing feel which is lacking in the Play Music and YouTube proper.

Which improvements would like to see in the YouTube Music app? Let us know in the comments.

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