Steam music player

[MaPi_svk]

I would like it if steam had support for some kind of plugins. So them would things like a plugin for controlling music player from overlay or skype chat in overlay and such things possible.

[Dane Vogel]

Originally Posted by warheat1990

just no, steam isn't MP3 player, facebook, skype, etc

Never said it should be. I just remember being able to listen to custom music on the Xbox 360 back in 2006 lol and thought it would be a cool feature for Steam. Anyways thanks for your input everyone.

[JazzyMusicK]

Originally Posted by warheat1990

just no, steam isn't MP3 player, facebook, skype, etc

funny because it has facebook integration and it has features that directly relate to facebook (like posting on walls)

and as for skype it has instant messaging and voice chat integration and also uses the same voice codec as skype.



personally i think steam should at least offer us (if possible) soundtracks to games they sell. they sell gameguides already, and game soundtracks would be nice pre-order additions.

but valve isn't very good at video/music implementation. our embedded videos don't even have volume sliders yet.....

[ericL]

why would you want steam music player? The overlay crashes enough as it is. Just use spotify or winamp.

[caiosm1005]

I think that would be a great feature and I don't see any plausible argument against adding this in here.

Also, granted we can access Facebook, see email and such through the webrowser on the overlay - which I find quite useful to search for videos on youtube without having to alt-tab my game for example - why not make a better social network integration anyway?

I'd love to see my Messenger chat in the overlay instead of having to alt-tab my game to reply my friends.

Anyhow, on the topic of a Steam player, I sometimes set my own soundtrack for some games (Batman Arkham City for example, there's no soundtrack after you beat the game and free roam); again, a Steam player could be pretty useful to keep me from alt-tabbing my game just to change the track or something.

Originally Posted by warheat1990

just no, steam isn't MP3 player, facebook, skype, etc

Well, from your perspective, I guess you want Steam to do solely its main function, which is online media distribution.

Scrap the whole idea of having forums, a chat system, VOIP, friends system and in-game web browser altogether, shall we? Bet nobody ever uses any of those anyway.

[MagFlare]

Originally Posted by caiosm1005

I think that would be a great feature and I don't see any plausible argument against adding this in here.

Klaount's objection was pretty solid. Steam is a program people are going to have open even while they're running some demanding games. We don't need the client to eat up any more RAM then is strictly necessary here.

[crunchyfrog555]

Originally Posted by caiosm1005

I think that would be a great feature and I don't see any plausible argument against adding this in here.

Also, granted we can access Facebook, see email and such through the webrowser on the overlay - which I find quite useful to search for videos on youtube without having to alt-tab my game for example - why not make a better social network integration anyway?

I'd love to see my Messenger chat in the overlay instead of having to alt-tab my game to reply my friends.

Anyhow, on the topic of a Steam player, I sometimes set my own soundtrack for some games (Batman Arkham City for example, there's no soundtrack after you beat the game and free roam); again, a Steam player could be pretty useful to keep me from alt-tabbing my game just to change the track or something.

How about the plausible argument that more features adds up to more resources used and more potential for problems? That's the most poignant reason.

I really don't see any reason for it, as I like Steam for what it is - a game platform. To add features that not only divert from the core purpose, but also add load is to invite problems. Look at Firefox, which started out very similar to Chrome - lean, simple and quick. Now it is rather different.

It's highly debatable whether this is a feature a lot would want, but even so, the point that you can still do it anyway renders it fairly moot.

[caiosm1005]

It's all about the design and engineering. You can have a device with a handful of features and still manages to be elegant and minimalistic. Take an iPad for example.

I'm confident Valve would find a way to make these additions not necessarily run on the background while not used as many steam users set the program to start on logon and have a relatively slow system - that is, if they haven't done it already for the current features.

Don't take it that adding features means making the application too resource intensive, cluttered and bugged (although sadly that seems to be a common mistake most developers tends to do).

[crunchyfrog555]

Originally Posted by caiosm1005

It's all about the design and engineering. You can have a device with a handful of features and still manages to be elegant and minimalistic. Take an iPad for example.

I'm confident Valve would find a way to make these additions not necessarily run on the background while not used as many steam users set the program to start on logon and have a relatively slow system - that is, if they haven't done it already for the current features.

Don't take it that adding features means making the application too resource intensive, cluttered and bugged (although sadly that seems to be a common mistake most developers tends to do).

I wasn't, and I am quite confident in Valve's talents. However you cannot avoid the fact that even if such an application is well-coded, it still takes up more resources than if it wasn't there - it's unavoidable. Just as it is unavoidable that for some, it will invite problems.

So, sorry if I didn't make that clear, but I meant that even in the best case scenario.

The other point is precedent. If they did this, they would be expected, quite reasonably to add more features, which would then exacerbate the problem. Again, this is why I referenced Firefox.

There is a very good reason Steam is black, grey, and white and with a clear font, likewise with these forums and the lack of stupid signatures and cluttered images. It makes for an easier experience, and does what it does well, without distraction.

I'm all for keeping it that way. But as I said, it is rather moot to add something which can easily be done anyway.

[one of them]

Originally Posted by MaPi_svk

I would like it if steam had support for some kind of plugins. So them would things like a plugin for controlling music player from overlay or skype chat in overlay and such things possible.

This seems more realistic in my opinion. Adding plugin support would be a little more convenient than developing integrated music players and whatnot. That way the modding community could improve Steam in their own way.

[Lightvision]

Originally Posted by MagFlare

Klaount's objection was pretty solid. Steam is a program people are going to have open even while they're running some demanding games. We don't need the client to eat up any more RAM then is strictly necessary here.

Solution
1. get VLC
2. setup the web interface
3. load up music into VLC
4. load a game from steam
5. shift+tab and open browser
6. enter the url to the VLC
7. control your music

Pic here shows it works

it basically gives you all the basic controls of a media player in your web browser

[Teh_Guy]

I'm beginning to think people don't look at post dates on these forums any more.

Anyhow, I don't think Steam needs to be anything other than a distribution platform. It distributes games, it's not a media player, it's not the next facebook, etc.