# Is it possible to save bandwidth and listen to youtube audio? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 4, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-save-bandwidth-and-listen-to-youtube-audio/820765 "2018-09-04T21:25:11Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-save-bandwidth-and-listen-to-youtube-audio/820765/1 "2018-09-04T21:25:11Z")
I never waste my cellular data on YouTube. The audio wouldn’t be a drain. It’s the video that kills you. It’s especially galling when the video consists of a few still images in the video. My consumer Cellular plan gives me 2GB of data. Plenty to check email, news headlines, and my weather app. YouTube could rip through my quota in a afternoon. Is it possible to save bandwidth and listen to youtube audio? ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-save-bandwidth-and-listen-to-youtube-audio/820765/2 "2018-09-04T21:28:40Z")
If you want music, use soundcloud or spotify. If something else, I don’t know. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-save-bandwidth-and-listen-to-youtube-audio/820765/3 "2018-09-04T21:38:55Z")
[https://music.youtube.com/](https://music.youtube.com/) With Premium, you can do audio-only mode: > **[Choose between song and video mode - Android - YouTube Music Help](https://support.google.com/youtubemusic/answer/6313574?hl=en&ref_topic=6277001)** > > With a YouTube Music Premium membership, you can choose whether to listen to your music or enjoy the music video experience with a YouTube Music Premium membership. In song mode, you can listen to the That subscription also gets you Google Play Music, which is a very similar service. You can choose which you want to use. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-save-bandwidth-and-listen-to-youtube-audio/820765/4 "2018-09-04T22:08:03Z")
I’ll look into Spotify. I’ve heard of it but know nothing about how it works. I have music on my Google drive. It’s inefficient. Seems to copy the file and then play. EVERY TIME . I guess they never heard of caching. YouTube premium is an option. I suspect that eventually they’ll restrict the free service and force people to the premium plan. ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-save-bandwidth-and-listen-to-youtube-audio/820765/5 "2018-09-04T22:32:16Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > I’ll look into Spotify. I’ve heard of it but know nothing about how it works. > > I have music on my Google drive. It’s inefficient. Seems to copy the file and then play. EVERY TIME . I guess they never heard of caching. > > YouTube premium is an option. I suspect that eventually they’ll restrict the free service and force people to the premium plan. [DRIVE.google.com](http://DRIVE.google.com) is not for caching It is for file storage like documents and other things. If you want your music online to stream [MUSIC.google.com](http://MUSIC.google.com) Which you can play back on your android device or PC The different storage areas of google are optimized differently to suit their intended media types ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-save-bandwidth-and-listen-to-youtube-audio/820765/6 "2018-09-04T22:34:52Z")
TLDR, most of the online music industry has moved to streaming models (with downloads available). Spotify, Apple, Google, Pandora, it’s all similar. Doesn’t really matter much. You pay a monthly fee (or endure ads), listen to most available mass-market songs, and you can download albums or playlists to your phone. I chose Google just cuz you get music and youtube both without ads. Most of these places have family plans, too, if you can get a few friends & family together. Cheaper that way. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2018, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-it-possible-to-save-bandwidth-and-listen-to-youtube-audio/820765/7 "2018-09-04T22:52:40Z")
> [@Weisshund](#): > > [DRIVE.google.com](http://DRIVE.google.com) is not for caching > It is for file storage like documents and other things. > > If you want your music online to stream > [MUSIC.google.com](http://MUSIC.google.com) > Which you can play back on your android device or PC > > The different storage areas of google are optimized differently to suit their intended media types Didn’t realize google drive didn’t stream files for repeated use I’ll look into Google music. I’ve never used it before.