If you love listening to YouTube videos in the background, in cases of music or podcasts, for example, then you might have noticed a short-coming in the metro version of IE10 in Windows 8 and Windows RT. If you play YouTube videos or audio from, say, Pandora, and you switch away from IE to another app, all audio stops. To listen to web audio in the background you must use IE10 on the desktop. This is very annoying for tablets, like the Surface because the desktop is hard to use with touch. Luckily, we have an elegant solution for listening to YouTube in the background without going to the desktop. Meet YouTube RT.

The biggest reason for me to recommend this YouTube app over any other is because it keeps playing the audio even if you switch away from the app. Almost all other YouTube apps fail at multitasking this way. In addition, this app embraces the metro design language and has an overall polish to it. As an added perk, you can even download YouTube video for offline viewing! There are some other neat features that I detail in the Pros/Cons section later in the post.

A picture is worth a thousand words, so there are some screenshots!

 

As you can see from the screenshot above, you have various download options. In addition, can add videos to your “Now Playing” playlist for a lean-back experience, change streaming quality, or exit in or out of fullscreen mode. We’ll get to that in a bit.

 

Here, the video keeps playing even when I switch away from the app. You can see the name of the video and the uploader when you use your hardware volume keys while in another app. Very handy.

 

Another cool thing this app does is it keeps playing the current video even when you browse YouTube or do a search. On the screenshot above, notice the mini playback controls while I am browsing.

 

Finally, here’s a screenshot of playing video in non-fullscreen mode. Here, you can view video description, related videos, rate and comment on the videos, etc. You can also click on the uploader icon and check out their latest uploads, subscribe, and other standard stuff. There are a lot more that I didn’t take a screenshot of, including the download manager.

Now, before going any further, I will let you know this is a paid app, with a free trial option. At the time of this writing, the app costs only $2.49. Note that I will take extra care when recommending a paid app for obvious reasons. I want our readers to be confident that you are paying for quality products. I always recommend trying the app before buying, and will rarely recommend apps that doesn’t offer a free trial. So go ahead and try the app before deciding if you want to buy it.

Finally, let’s summarize the pros and cons.

Pros

  • Good YouTube streaming experience, with multiple streaming quality options
  • Play YouTube video in the background while working on other apps.
  • Video keeps playing when you browse YouTube; offers search suggestions.
  • Download YouTube videos in various qualities to your PC
  • Connect with your Google Account to see new subscriptions, favorites, watch history (They also appear on your live tiles)
  • Like, comment, and favorite apps. Make playlists and watch multiple videos in a row automatically
  • Your settings syncs with your Microsoft Account. No need to reconfigure when installed on a new PC.
  • Well implemented Snapped view

Cons

  • Paid app (try before buying)
  • Occasional crashes
  • Videos are cached. They take up large disk space over time. The only solution I found is to uninstall and reinstall the app to clear the cache.

There you have it. You can download this app from the Windows Store! YouTube RT

Source: Windows Store

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