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YouTube adds 'playing' icon to browser tabs to track down blaring audio

YouTube adds 'playing' icon to browser tabs to track down blaring audio

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youtube play icon in tabs
youtube play icon in tabs

For those whose browsing style consists of opening countless tabs at once and hoping for the best, it can often be difficult to find the source of music or other sounds playing in the background. At least one site is playing its part in finding a solution, however — YouTube tabs now display a "play" icon when a video is active, letting users see at a glance where audio is coming from.

Similar functionality is available on music services such as Spotify and Soundcloud; the feature is particularly welcome on YouTube since videos play automatically upon clicking on a link. It's not quite the comprehensive solution recently teased in an open source build of Chrome, but it has the advantage of wider browser compatibility — hopefully the biggest video site on the web adopting the functionality will see others follow suit.