YouTube Music Improves Google Assistant Integration, Free Tier Features

Although Google Play Music and YouTube Music have existed side-by-side for a couple of years, the latter became rather controversial after Google decided to replace the former with it. Not everyone has been happy with the transition, with some missing core features available from Google Play Music. To its credit, YouTube Music is slowly adding those features and has today opened two more doors that could put it on par with Google's old music streaming service.

Google is always proud of how it uses AI and machine learning to dynamically create curated lists and suggests but not everyone might find those useful. Some will always have a personal selection and order that Google's AI will never be able to guess on its own. Fortunately, YouTube Music lets you create personal playlists and, fortunately, you can now use those with Google Assistant.

Previously available only when using the apps, you can now ask Google Assistant to play your carefully crafted playlist. It was discovered to be testing the feature back in August but now it's formally but quietly rolling out to subscribers both in the UK and even in the US.

Even YouTube Music's free users are getting an upgrade, again quite silently. You can now cast to Chromecast, smart speakers, and other Cast-enabled even without paying the subscription fee. This is especially useful for those who just upload their own music without using YouTube Music's streaming features, just like good old Google Play Music.

These are small but important updates that slowly but surely put it on the same level as Google's now-retired music platform. It will, however, still take some time for old Play Music fans to truly get used to the new YouTube Music way, presuming they haven't jumped ship yet out of frustration.