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Play music has no desktop client so it's not even worth considering. I think apple music and Spotify are both very nice. The android apps of both are particular

Play music has no desktop client so it's not even worth considering. I think apple music and Spotify are both very nice. The android apps of both are particularly good and both have acceptable desktop clients.

jewel 10y ago
I'm using it in chromium in app mode, with the Streamkeys extension for global hotkey and media key support. Notifications seem to work, but I've got them disabled. They could release an electron app, but I believe it'd be an identical experience. I'm on a desktop so I don't care about offline support, perhaps that's the feature that removes the web version from consideration for some people.
- dingo_bat 10y ago
  > They could release an electron app, but I believe it'd be an identical experience. That's why they should release a proper native app.
LynxInLA 10y ago
That's true, their desktop client is just a Chrome wrapper. I still use it and like it more than Spotify. Other than Discover weekly, I've enjoyed Google Play's recommendations more, and the ability to upload 20,000 of your own songs to stream anywhere is a huge bonus.
- dingo_bat 10y ago
  I don't have 20k songs so that feature is useless to me. And the music library on Spotify and iTunes is far, far superior.
KallDrexx 10y ago
Why do you need a desktop client? I used Play Music for over a year just using the web client. That has worked better for me than Spotify's desktop client, which while is nice is extremely buggy.
- the_mitsuhiko 10y ago
  > Why do you need a desktop client? I used Play Music for over a year just using the web client. Offline usage and media keys.
  - BinaryIdiot 10y ago
    Fair enough on the offline access (though the only time I'm offline and want to listen to music I am using my phone so I've never had a use case to keep the music on my computer) but Chrome supports the media key access and you can grab extensions on any browser to use them so those work the same.
    - dingo_bat 10y ago
      Why would I work for something that should be readily available as a basic feature? In my opinion this is a perfect example of the contrast between apple and Google. Google simply does not care about user experience. They will make a functional service and that's it. Apple will create a good user experience. The service exists to enhance that experience.
      - BinaryIdiot 10y ago
        Oh I agree but it's also a limitation of the web itself. Fortunately it's easy to get media key support (I honestly wanted it for things other than google music support so that was a little bit of a happy accident). But yeah Google never focuses on the UX (case in point: they haven't updated the calendar, contacts or tasks in at least 8 years now which is INSANE; some of the bugs from years ago are STILL THERE). But I digress.
- dingo_bat 10y ago
  I haven't found any bugs in Spotify yet. And I think the experience is far superior to play music in the browser. Things just feel smoother and snappier. Also both apple music and Spotify let you download tracks for offline playback. Another problem is the play music android app. It's probably the worst designed android music player. OTOH Spotify and apple music are so well designed that I consider them actually beautiful.
dragonwriter 10y ago
> Play music has no desktop client so it's not even worth considering. It has no first-party native desktop client, but...so, what, really? Its streaming content from the internet anyway, so I can't really see what the problem is with using a web client as the first-party desktop client. (OTOH, there is at least one third-party non-web desktop client for it.)
- Tiktaalik 10y ago
  If you have many windows and tabs open it's super annoying to track down the one with the music player on it. Much easier to Apple-Tab to an app.
  - parthdesai 10y ago
    Eh just open play music in a new browser window and only use it for music?
    - dingo_bat 10y ago
      Eh just release a proper native client if you want to compete? I don't understand why people would prefer a Web client over native. Tell me one advantage. For the user.
      - kaishiro 10y ago
        Simple. I don't need to install another app.
        dingo_bat 10y ago
        Installing is a one time, one click thing. Think of it as opening another web app, except you have to do it only once :)
        kaishiro 10y ago
        And this gets me absolutely nothing extra over the web app.
ferbivore 10y ago
The web client is pretty good, at least if you're using Chrome. It also works fine with Tomahawk if you really must have a desktop app.
- dingo_bat 10y ago
  Pretty good doesn't cut it when others have excellent native apps.

jewel 10y ago

I'm using it in chromium in app mode, with the Streamkeys extension for global hotkey and media key support. Notifications seem to work, but I've got them disabled. They could release an electron app, but I believe it'd be an identical experience. I'm on a desktop so I don't care about offline support, perhaps that's the feature that removes the web version from consideration for some people.

dingo_bat 10y ago
> They could release an electron app, but I believe it'd be an identical experience. That's why they should release a proper native app.

LynxInLA 10y ago

That's true, their desktop client is just a Chrome wrapper. I still use it and like it more than Spotify. Other than Discover weekly, I've enjoyed Google Play's recommendations more, and the ability to upload 20,000 of your own songs to stream anywhere is a huge bonus.

dingo_bat 10y ago
I don't have 20k songs so that feature is useless to me. And the music library on Spotify and iTunes is far, far superior.

KallDrexx 10y ago

Why do you need a desktop client? I used Play Music for over a year just using the web client. That has worked better for me than Spotify's desktop client, which while is nice is extremely buggy.

the_mitsuhiko 10y ago
> Why do you need a desktop client? I used Play Music for over a year just using the web client. Offline usage and media keys.
- BinaryIdiot 10y ago
  Fair enough on the offline access (though the only time I'm offline and want to listen to music I am using my phone so I've never had a use case to keep the music on my computer) but Chrome supports the media key access and you can grab extensions on any browser to use them so those work the same.
  - dingo_bat 10y ago
    Why would I work for something that should be readily available as a basic feature? In my opinion this is a perfect example of the contrast between apple and Google. Google simply does not care about user experience. They will make a functional service and that's it. Apple will create a good user experience. The service exists to enhance that experience.
    - BinaryIdiot 10y ago
      Oh I agree but it's also a limitation of the web itself. Fortunately it's easy to get media key support (I honestly wanted it for things other than google music support so that was a little bit of a happy accident). But yeah Google never focuses on the UX (case in point: they haven't updated the calendar, contacts or tasks in at least 8 years now which is INSANE; some of the bugs from years ago are STILL THERE). But I digress.
dingo_bat 10y ago
I haven't found any bugs in Spotify yet. And I think the experience is far superior to play music in the browser. Things just feel smoother and snappier. Also both apple music and Spotify let you download tracks for offline playback. Another problem is the play music android app. It's probably the worst designed android music player. OTOH Spotify and apple music are so well designed that I consider them actually beautiful.

dragonwriter 10y ago

> Play music has no desktop client so it's not even worth considering. It has no first-party native desktop client, but...so, what, really? Its streaming content from the internet anyway, so I can't really see what the problem is with using a web client as the first-party desktop client. (OTOH, there is at least one third-party non-web desktop client for it.)

Tiktaalik 10y ago
If you have many windows and tabs open it's super annoying to track down the one with the music player on it. Much easier to Apple-Tab to an app.
- parthdesai 10y ago
  Eh just open play music in a new browser window and only use it for music?
  - dingo_bat 10y ago
    Eh just release a proper native client if you want to compete? I don't understand why people would prefer a Web client over native. Tell me one advantage. For the user.
    - kaishiro 10y ago
      Simple. I don't need to install another app.
      - dingo_bat 10y ago
        Installing is a one time, one click thing. Think of it as opening another web app, except you have to do it only once :)
        kaishiro 10y ago
        And this gets me absolutely nothing extra over the web app.

ferbivore 10y ago

The web client is pretty good, at least if you're using Chrome. It also works fine with Tomahawk if you really must have a desktop app.

dingo_bat 10y ago
Pretty good doesn't cut it when others have excellent native apps.