Google today announced that it is revamping how its streaming service YouTube will be handling offline caching with “smart downloads.” The smart download feature will automatically be able to download up to 500 songs that you’ve clicked the “like” button on. The feature will be available on Android devices for YouTube Music Premium subscribers.
This selection includes the Offline Mixtape (a 100-song playlist which will be based on your listening history) and “songs from your Liked Songs playlist and your other favorite playlists and albums.” You can also set a limit for how much music smart downloads will pull down, and the process only happens at night and when your phone is connected to Wi-Fi. It will be more than enough to get you through a few hours of getting stuck without the internet.
Smart Downloads is likely an expansion of an existing YouTube Music feature called Offline Mixtape which when enabled, YouTube Music will create a mix of songs you like as well as songs that fit your taste profile and downloads it to your phone so you can listen to it without being connected to the internet. The feature is still available alongside Smart Downloads, so that you can continue to get your mix of music discovery along with access to your favorite jams while offline.
However, YouTube hasn’t still commented on as to when exactly it will migrate user libraries from Google Play Music over to YouTube Music.