Google Music for Mac

Consumer and social

music streaming client

SHOW HN2014

193points
99comments
#107of 2,272 in 2014
Top 5%of 2014 by points

How HN took it

MixedNo clear lean

14 positive, 18 neutral or asking, 5 mixed, 11 critical, out of 48 comments about the project. Thread score +0.08.

Idea: 7 for, 6 againstDesign: 2 for, 4 againstExecution: 3 for, 1 against

The thread, comment by comment

Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.

positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker

What HN said

What people liked

  • Native app with notifications and media keys

    From 3 comments
    • Thank you so much for this! It's just a Safari wrapper, but it's the first native solution I've seen. Google is really horsing around with Google Music, it's sad that I pay them…
      ansimionescu on HN
    • LOVE THIS! I have wanted this for so long! It's such a breath of fresh air to have a native app like this!
      otisfunkmeyer on HN
    • Media keys are actually really nice to have. I use Rdio's desktop app which has similar functionality and it is really handy not to have to sort through browser windows to find…
      philwebster on HN
  • Looks clean and works well

    From 3 comments
    • I'm testing it right now and it looks pretty nice.
      meerita on HN
    • Looks great. Would love a way to build more complex playlists!
      jdalgetty on HN
    • Is there any option to disable the vertical expansion of the song rows when hovering over them? The effect bothers my eyes and makes browsing distracting. Otherwise, what an…
      hardoncollider on HN

Objections

  • Looks too much like iTunes or Google web design

    From 2 comments
    • Looks like iTunes, which happens to be a product that I truly dislike. I'd rather see some differentiating features indicated front and center, and not a derivative-seeming…
      rch on HN
    • Outside of implementing the notifications this offers nothing for me that the original one, from James Fator, doesn't already do. I dislike the table display and the attempt at…
      mtchavez on HN
  • Name and logo suggest Google affiliation and trademark risk

    From 3 comments
    • Google Music , Google play logo , a project ready from a DMCA takedown ... dont be stupid, remove all the google trademark stuff or your project wont live long in github.
      camus2 on HN
    • IANAL, but I guess you might want to add a big "this product is not affiliated with google" disclaimer on your page?
      phaer on HN
    • He's using the logo, trademark and strongly implying that this is either (a) created by Google or (b) sanctioned by Google. The disclaimer is a waste of time. The guy is acting…
      threeseed on HN
  • Closing window quits the app and stops playback

    From 2 comments
    • I use Google Music extensively from within a Fluid wrapper, and the key thing this doesn't seem to do that that solution does is keep music playing and background the app when…
      benburton on HN
    • Agreed, generally closing the window shouldn't terminate the app on OS X. So far that's the only negative I can find, otherwise I love the app!
      andrewpi on HN

Requests

  • Chromecast support

    From 3 comments
    • Works well and looks great. It would better meet my needs with Chromecast support, but I don't see a way to do this on MacOS without having embedded the Chrome browser instead of…
      dade_ on HN
    • What an awesome app! Few things I missed: 1. Chromecast support. 2. Navigation back/forward?
      amaks on HN
    • Chromecast support would be cool, not sure if this is possible though.
      pacemkr on HN
  • Last.fm scrobbling

    From 2 comments
    • One thing that stuck me about Google Music is its lack of built-in support for last.fm. Was kind of hoping this had it.
      sudomal on HN
    • For me personally, just scrobbling. At this point, that's the only thing stopping me from using it. Looks great, but I'm a stat freak and I need my scrobbling.
      Wheen on HN
  • Sonos or AirPlay integration

    From 2 comments
    • They could really use a Sonos integration as well.
      adamkittelson on HN
    • Iirc, AirPlay would actually be possible. Would be fiddly, but possible. I have a plugin that lets me send any video in a web page to my Apple TV, and that's just a safari plugin…
      girvo on HN

Questions

  • How to launch unsigned app on Mavericks

    From 2 comments
    • How do you actually launch this on Mavericks? My Mac just complains that the App isn't signed.
      thrownaway2424 on HN
    • Have you tried Right-click -> Open?
      chm on HN
  • Why people want a native app over the browser

    From 1 comment
    • Great work. It looks really slick, and from the comments so far it appears many people are excited to have a native app. That said, I'd be interested to here why exactly people…
      turing on HN

Alternatives named

  • G-Ear Player

    From 3 comments
    • No one seems to have pointed out the already native Mac app: G-ear https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/g-ear-player/id513751032?mt=12
      h-go on HN
    • There's also G-Ear player, available on the app store. It works very well, though it's not as good at search as the web app is - so sometimes it's easier to add music to your…
      vosper on HN
    • There's a couple, actually. G-Ear Player is totally native, and then there's gTunes and omPlayer. Yours is the only one that's open source though. Nice!
      pkulak on HN
  • Fluid wrapper

    From 1 comment
    • I use Google Music extensively from within a Fluid wrapper, and the key thing this doesn't seem to do that that solution does is keep music playing and background the app when…
      benburton on HN
  • Bearded Spice

    From 1 comment
    • If all you want is media keys support, Bearded Spice does the job. It supports a bunch more web apps too, like Youtube and spotify. http://beardedspice.com/
      Kudos on HN
  • Alfred workflow

    From 1 comment
    • For those who have been looking for a native app to use hotkeys check out Alfred (http://www.alfredapp.com). With Alfred you can use the workflow feature to control Play Music…
      mikebracco on HN

Category, keywords, summaries and labels on this page were made by AI (Thread Reader v2) and not checked by hand. Each point links to the comments it came from.

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