YouTube Music is one of the most popular streaming services today. In December 2020, it became Google’s official app for streaming content. Besides online streaming, you can also download your music and listen to it offline.
If you’re interested in learning how to download songs from YouTube and listen to them any time you want, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we’ll provide you with instructions on how to do that, along with a further insight into the service.
YouTube Music Premium
You can enjoy YouTube Music for free, or you can purchase a subscription. With the free version, you’ll have to deal with frequent ads. If you decide to subscribe to YouTube Music Premium, you’ll be able to use background play while using other apps. Moreover, you will be able to download music to your device. So, before we start talking about downloading from YouTube Music, make sure you sign up for a Premium subscription. Otherwise, this option will not be available to you.
How to Download Library?
YouTube Music Library contains all of your music divided into different categories such as downloads, playlists, albums, artists, etc. Unfortunately, YouTube hasn’t made it possible to download your whole library at once. However, you are able to download separate songs, playlists, and albums.
How to Download Songs?
If you’ve purchased a YouTube Music Premium or YouTube Music subscription, one option you have is to download individual songs. Here is how you can do it:
- Go to the YouTube Music website or open the YouTube Music mobile app.
- Choose the song you’d like to download.
- Tap the three dots icon.
- Tap “Download.”
How to Download Albums?
YouTube Music allows you to download albums of your favorite artists. If you wish to download an album, follow these steps:
- Go to the YouTube Music website or open the YouTube Music mobile app.
- Choose the album you’d like to download.
- Tap the three dots icon.
- Tap “Download.”
How to Download Playlists?
If you’d like, you can download any playlist you find interesting.
- Go to the YouTube Music website or open the YouTube Music mobile app.
- Find the playlist you’d like to download.
- Tap the three dots icon.
- Tap “Download.”
Smart Downloads
YouTube Music offers a feature called Smart Downloads. It downloads your music automatically based on your listening history. This way, you can ensure you always have music to listen to, even when you’re not connected to the internet, or you want to save your data. Smart Downloads can download up to 500 songs, but depending on your storage, you can choose how much storage you’d like to use.
You can enable this feature by following the next steps:
- Open the YouTube Music app.
- Tap your profile photo at the top right corner.
- Tap “Downloads.”
- Tap “Settings.”
- Scroll down to “Smart downloads.” You can also choose how much storage you would like to use for this.
- Turn it on.
If the app downloads something you don’t like, you can remove it from your list by following these steps:
- Open the YouTube Music app.
- Tap your profile photo at the top right corner.
- Tap “Downloads.”
- Find the song you’d like to remove.
- Tap the three dots icon.
- Tap “Remove download.”
Once you remove a song, playlist, or album from your list, Smart Download will not re-download it, but you will be able to see it in your app.
Smart Downloads will update your playlist every night when you’re connected to Wi-Fi or unrestricted mobile data when you have more than 40% of battery. You can listen to this music for 30 days without being connected to the internet. After this period, the content may change due to potential restrictions or changes on the part of the video creator.
Manage Your Watch History
As previously mentioned, Smart Download will download music based on your history. But, what happens if you watch some videos or listen to music you don’t like? Luckily, YouTube Music has the option to view, delete, and pause your history.
Deleting Your Watch History
You can delete your watch history if you don’t want certain videos to affect the Smart Download feature.
- Open the YouTube Music app.
- Tap your profile picture at the top right corner.
- Tap “Settings.”
- Tap “Privacy & location.”
- Tap “Manage watch history.”
- Find the video you’d like to delete.
- Tap the “X” icon.
- Tap “Delete.”
Pausing Your Watch History
You can pause and unpause your history at any moment to stop certain videos from impacting your Smart Download feature or if you simply don’t want them in your history. Once you pause it, you can watch videos without them appearing in your history. If you want to pause your watch history, follow these steps:
- Open the YouTube Music app.
- Tap your profile picture at the top-right corner.
- Tap “Settings.”
- Tap “Privacy & location.”
- Turn on the “Pause watch history” option.
If you’d like to stop this feature, you can go back to the same settings and turn it off. Once you’ve turned it off, the videos you watch will appear in your history, and the Smart Downloads feature will use them for downloading songs.
Choose Connection Types for Downloads
You can choose the connection type required for downloading from YouTube Music. This way, you can save your data or prevent accidental downloads when you’re not connected to Wi-Fi. Here is how you can customize the settings:
- Open the YouTube Music app.
- Tap your profile photo at the top-right corner.
- Tap “Settings.”
- Tap “Library & downloads.”
- Tap “Download connection.”
- Select the connection type.
Download Music to Your SD Card
If you’d like to save your phone’s internal memory, you can opt for downloading from YouTube Music directly to your SD card. Before going to the steps, make sure you have an SD card inserted and that it’s working properly.
- Open the YouTube Music app.
- Tap your profile photo at the top-right corner.
- Tap “Settings.”
- Tap “Downloads.”
- Turn on “Use SD card.”
By default, your music will be saved to your phone’s internal memory. So, if you’d like to ensure your music is saved to your SD card, follow the steps above.
If your device loses internet connection while downloading from YouTube Music, the download will resume as soon as you’re connected to Wi-Fi again.
Moving the Downloaded Music From SD Card to Internal Memory
YouTube Music doesn’t offer the option to move your downloads from SD card to internal memory and vice versa. If you’d like to change the location, you have to delete the download from your SD Card, go to your YouTube Music app, select the storage location to internal memory, and then download the song again.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I Share a Playlist From YouTube Music?
YouTube Music enables you to share playlists with other people. Here is how you can share them:
1. Go to YouTube Music.
2. Choose a playlist you want to share.
3. Tap the three dots icon next to the playlist.
4. Tap “Share.”
5. You can now share your playlist on various platforms or send it via email.
Tip: Before sharing your playlist, make sure the privacy settings for that playlist are set to “public” or “unlisted.” If your playlist is private, you won’t be able to share it with anyone.
Does YouTube Music Offer Family Plans?
Yes, YouTube Music allows you to share your membership with up to five family members under the condition that all of you live in the same household. If you create a group, you will be the Family manager, and others will be Family members.
Your playlists and viewings will be kept private. These things are not shared across accounts, so you don’t have to worry about it if you decide to share your membership.
It’s important to note that this option requires you and your family members to have a Google account. Otherwise, you won’t be able to invite them to share your membership.
Downloading From YouTube Music: Explained
YouTube Music offers various options when it comes to downloading your music to listen to it offline. You can download songs, albums, or playlists, or you can opt for setting up the Smart Download feature.
Even though you can use YouTube Music without signing up for a subscription, the download option will only become available once you’ve subscribed to YouTube Premium. You can also share your membership with your family members so that everyone can enjoy the extra features.
Do you use YouTube Music Premium? What do you think about its features? Tell us in the comment section below!
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