These days, I use YouTube for more than just watching videos; most of the time, I have music or podcasts playing in the background while I work. One feature I rely on heavily is “playback speed,” which lets me speed up or slow down videos or audio. and I often set the speed to 1.25x or 1.5x for podcasts with a slower pace. Although these are only slight adjustments, they really save a lot of time when I’m pressed for time.
YouTube is considering making playback speed adjustment a paid feature
That’s why playback speed has always been one of the most useful little features of the free version of YouTube, in my opinion—but this convenience may soon be a thing of the past.
Recent reports indicate that YouTube is testing making playback speed an exclusive feature of YouTube Premium. In other words, in the future, users who want to adjust video playback speed may have to pay to use the feature.
According to foreign media reports Android Authority According to reports, this change was first noticed by a Reddit user, who suddenly found that they could no longer adjust the playback speed for free and saw a pop-up window stating, “Watch at faster speeds with Premium.” It appears that Google has now positioned playback speed as one of the paid benefits of a Premium subscription.
Youtube and playback speeds
byu/Background_Solid5886 inyoutube
According to posts by Reddit users and a report by Android Authority, YouTube appears to be conducting an experiment that divides the “adjust playback speed” feature into two usage scenarios. In this test, most users (Group A) can still adjust playback speed for free; however, another group of users (Group B) will be required to subscribe to YouTube Premium to use this feature. The Reddit user who discovered this discrepancy noted that his two Google accounts were being treated differently: one had the playback speed feature locked and required payment to unlock it, while the other account could still use it for free.
I also tested this using an account without a Premium subscription and found that playback speed could still be adjusted normally, both in the browser and in the app. However, Google is likely only conducting this test in specific regions or among a very small user base, so not many people are currently affected. Nevertheless, this test itself reveals Google’s direction: they are seriously evaluating whether to include playback speed as a paid feature in the Premium subscription. Regardless of whether it is ultimately implemented, Google is clearly working to make Premium more appealing to users who are still on the fence.
Currently, YouTube offers two paid plans: Premium at $14 per month, and Premium Lite at $8 per month, which provides only an ad-free experience. The full Premium plan also includes features such as YouTube Music, background playback, offline downloads, and cross-device playback. Given that Premium Lite’s features are quite limited, and considering that the prompt seen by Reddit users indicated that playback speed is a benefit of Premium (US$13.99 per month), it’s likely that if YouTube does eventually introduce a fee, this feature will be included in the full Premium plan.
Personally, I sincerely hope YouTube doesn’t go through with this. Playback speed has been a free feature from the very beginning, and suddenly introducing a paid requirement would not only be likely to cause resentment but might not even succeed in enticing users to upgrade to Premium. Of course, this is still just a test, and Google may ultimately decide not to implement it—which would be the best-case scenario.
Source: KOCPC Chinese