YouTube Music, Google's widely-used music streaming platform, has recently introduced offline music downloads for its desktop website, a move aimed at improving user convenience. This update brings the web experience in line with the capabilities already available on its mobile app, allowing users to save their preferred songs and playlists for offline playback. After undergoing a testing phase, the feature was officially rolled out on March 29th.
While it may not be available to all users universally at this point, some users have reported receiving a notification inviting them to explore this new functionality within their Library tab, as detailed in a report by 9to5Google.
Saving music for offline listening has become simpler. Users can easily do so by visiting the album or single page they want and clicking on the download button, which is placed between the "Save to library" and three-dot menu options. Previously, this feature was only available on the mobile app, leaving desktop users without this convenience. Now, similar to the mobile experience, downloaded content on the web will be organised in a dedicated "Downloads" section within the library, making it easy to access and manage.
Device Limit & Feature Limitation
Offline downloads on the web platform will contribute to YouTube Music's 10-device download limit, a generous allocation that should suffice for most users. However, similar to the mobile app, downloaded content will expire if a device fails to connect to the internet at least once every 30 days. This addition marks a significant milestone, especially considering the lack of native desktop applications for YouTube Music. Previously, Chromebook users had to resort to downloading the Android app as a workaround.
While it is expected that downloading songs will require a YouTube Premium subscription, it remains uncertain whether podcast downloads will be included in this feature. Compatible with Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Opera browsers, this update aims to improve the accessibility and functionality of YouTube Music's web platform.