I think Google realizes the future is still text search, even with the popularity of online video. What better way to bridge the gap between the two then invest time and money into things like this.
Not to mention it's also great for the hearing impaired.
Many non-native English speakers will understand videos better (and there are more of them than the natives) and Google gets to make more money from more relevant ads.
That's amazing !
I wonder what is the legal side of it ( RIAA side).
For example now to get music video lyrics you need to search for them , on some sketchy or not so sketchy sites(that get their api shut down like LyricWiki).
So if I use the youtube api with captions for my project
is it going to be safer than relying on a lyrics websites ...?
Not to mention it's also great for the hearing impaired.