Google is currently in the process of testing a fresh feature on YouTube, allowing users to hum or record snippets of songs for search purposes.
For those involved in the YouTube feature trial, the ability to hum or record at least three seconds of a song has been introduced, enabling Google to attempt song identification. Once the song is recognized, YouTube will present pertinent content related to that particular song. Essentially, this mirrors Google’s distinctive approach to Shazam, a service owned by Apple.
However, the experimental phase won’t be accessible to everyone initially. Google has specified that it’s being gradually rolled out to “a small portion of individuals around the world who use Android devices to access YouTube.”
This feature isn’t entirely novel for Google, as it initially introduced a hum-to-search capability within the Google app and Google Assistant back in 2020. According to information shared by Google with TechCrunch, the YouTube edition harnesses the same technology, yet it reportedly operates more swiftly than its Google counterpart, which typically takes 10–15 seconds to identify a song.
Additionally, Google has revealed the testing of another YouTube attribute. This feature groups various uploads from a single content creator within a concise time frame into a dedicated “channel shelf” in the subscriptions feed. Google’s rationale behind this experimentation is multi-fold: it simplifies content discovery for viewers, diminishes the necessity for creators to upload content multiple times daily, and enhances viewer interaction with the content in the shelf while navigating through their feed. This particular functionality will first be accessible to a select “small percentage” of users.
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