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Google has made some changes to YouTube Premium, announcing a set of experimental features and a Google One add-on deal that reduces the cost of the Premium membership.
The new experimental perks include the ability to enhance the audio quality of music videos to 256kbps, use picture-in-picture video and smart downloads for Shorts in iOS, and a “Jump Ahead” feature that skips to the best parts of the video.
The picture-in-picture for Shorts will minimize the video when you browse through the YouTube app and when they switch between apps (like the Twitch app already does for free on iOS), while Smart Downloads are recommended Shorts that YouTube automatically downloads for offline viewing.
The “Jump Ahead” feature, launched for Premium subscribers in May last year, let you skip to the parts viewers visit more often than others. Previously limited to mobile devices, this feature is now available on the web.
YouTube has also announced that it will now let Premium subscribers try out all of these experimental features simultaneously, eliminating the previous limitation of one at a time. Soon, they will also receive a perk to increase the playback speed on mobile devices by 4x.
In addition to these features, Google also introduced a new add-on for Google One Premium bundles, which reduces the cost of YouTube membership to $11.99 per month from the regular price of $13.99.
To save $2 a month, you'll need to be on a Google One Premium (2TB or higher) or Google One AI Premium subscription and add YouTube Premium to your plan.
The add-on is also valid for those already on an annual YouTube Premium subscription. If choosing the new version, Google will cancel any existing annual plan, refund the amount for the remaining months, and switch you to the discounted monthly billing.
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