What's the point of Steam music player?

[Tiger88]

I just set up the Steam music player and tested it on a few games. It works, but I can just as easily listen to music using Winamp (or any other music player) while gaming. Winamp has a much nicer interface and way more sorting and playing options.

I'm not trying to start a war, but I'm just wondering what advantages the Steam music player offers? Maybe I'm missing something?

[Xnaker Eyes ⭐⭐⭐]

Its because they plan, in the future, steam to be a media center that its in your pc, TV, buy music and stream it to other devices, buy movies and stream and see it in a TV... things like that.

[kiśelinko]

It says in the FAQ that they're planning to become a platform for other media, do the whole iTunes thing.

[Tiger88]

I just hope Steam doesn't forget why we are here and why they are successful. It's all about the gaming. It would be a shame if Steam loses their focus.

[Chewy]

If you play with a gamepad away from your keyboard and mouse you'll find it's much more difficult to alt-tab out and change tracks, volume etc while you're playing a game.

[Night_Fiend6]

Steam OS. While you can add regular Debian repos to add a music player such as Amarok or Clemintine or even VLC, poeple not familar with Linux won't know how to do that. Plus you would have to muck about with overly complicated Linux sound stack.

[Eyes Only]

Not having to alt+tab to change a track or manage your music playlist is always nice. Though as others have stated here Valve seems to want to make steam into an all-encompassing content delivery platform, which will be incredibly nice if successful

[RayeGunn]

Originally posted by Chewy:

If you play with a gamepad away from your keyboard and mouse you'll find it's much more difficult to alt-tab out and change tracks, volume etc while you're playing a game.

Also some games react poorly to alt-tabbing, some simply crash or freeze up when you try.

[BoromiR]

Originally posted by Chewy:

If you play with a gamepad away from your keyboard and mouse you'll find it's much more difficult to alt-tab out and change tracks, volume etc while you're playing a game.

^this
and

Originally posted by RayeGunn:

Originally posted by Chewy:

If you play with a gamepad away from your keyboard and mouse you'll find it's much more difficult to alt-tab out and change tracks, volume etc while you're playing a game.

Also some games react poorly to alt-tabbing, some simply crash or freeze up when you try.

^this
ps. how can i control music player from ingame? sorry im new to all this. Just reading FAQ. any hotkeys to show up music player?

[Pelican 86]

"For years, customers have been asking us to provide a basic way for them to access and play music while in-game. Task-switching between resource-intensive 3D games and other desktop apps has never been a graceful experience for gamers, so an in-game player can help by eliminating that pain point."

Also just open up the overlay and click music that's how you open it

[HerZie]

Honestly I only use Steam music when I'm playing a specific game. It's just so much easier to quickly go through your collection in the Steam overlay without alt tabbing.

I currently use Steam music a lot in Dota 2 and Killing Floor while more serious games like Rising Storm/Red Orchestra I use no music at all - that sh1t will get you killed.

[PorcusGrunzus]

Having Steam as my Music platform would be great.
I often wish there would be something similar to iTunes.
I hate Apple and iTunes...
I wish Steam would start selling music on their own Steam Music Plattform.
For me I would finally have a music home.
The question is if enough interpretes offering their music here like in iTunes.
Im listening a lot of Underground stuff and nearly no mainstream stuff.
Also I would like having MP3 and Flac as filetype when buying.

[Not A Jetplane]

I believe steam is trying to encompass everything so you can do almost anything without ever leaving the game.

[cheeseburger]

I honstly think this is a good idea, although I already have a few playlists on youtube and I can't be bothered to transfer my music.