YouTube, which has always required people to stream videos while connected to the Internet, is finally going to let some videos queue up for offline, mobile viewing.
Google's behemoth of a video-sharing site - which streams more than six billion hours of video every month - is going to allow users to save some videos on their smartphones for up to 48 hours starting in November. Smartphones now account for an average of more than a billion video views every day.
YouTube announced the big change of policy on its blog for YouTube users who manage channels:
"We're always exploring ways to bring more viewers to your content. As part of this effort, later this year we'll launch a new feature on YouTube's mobile apps that will help you reach fans -- even when they're not connected to the Internet.
This upcoming feature will allow people to add videos to their device to watch for a short period when an Internet connection is unavailable. So your fans' ability to enjoy your videos no longer has to be interrupted by something as commonplace as a morning commute."
The morning commute has always been an internet interrupter. Ironically, both the most extremely urban and rural environments are not conducive to streaming content on the go, either because users are underground in a subway for a long stretch of time with no cellphone signal, or because they're driving through patchy coverage areas, out in the sticks.
And while wireless providers are working to enable more coverage on both fronts, the YouTube video-saving option is of much more immediate use to users.
Many of the details about the new option are unknown at the moment, but a couple of important technicalities are whether YouTube channel owners can opt out of the deal, how many videos can be saved, and how long the saved videos can be - for example, are we talking podcast length or short clips?
Another sticky situation involves copyright complaints, as the ability to queue up several songs -- perhaps a full album's worth -- might constitute a threat to the holders of copyrights on albums. And of course, Spotify, Rdio, and other mobile streaming (and offline saving) music services will probably not be happy with the change as well.
YouTube promises more details on the upcoming YouTube mobile move when its launched in November.