Today’s music market is dominated by streaming platforms such as Spotify and Apple Music. So much so that people often forget the benefits of a minimalist music player or media manager. Groove Music is one such music player and offers a free and simplistic method of playing music on your PC.
Contrary to popular belief, Groove Music is far from dead. It has managed to keep its head above water and has an active clientele. Let’s take a look at what keeps the app alive and how you can make Groove Music your default media player.
What is groove music?
Groove Music is an audio player developed by Microsoft and included with Windows 10, Windows 8.1, and Windows 8. It was previously known as Xbox Music, but adopted its current brand name in 2015 to make it more accessible to non-Xbox platforms.
Groove Music was the client app for the Groove Music Pass, once a music streaming service on Windows, Android and iOS. However, Groove Music survived the streaming service discontinuity and established itself as the best desktop music player for Windows computers.
The defining feature of Groove Music is its simplicity and ease of use. It had robust integration with cloud storage services, but this feature is no longer available.
The main features of Groove Music
Groove Music remains relevant even in the face of more popular music streaming platforms. As expected from a modern music player, it offers several advanced features such as sorting by artist or music genre. The following list highlights other benefits of using Groove Music.
1. Sound Equalizer
Groove Music features an easy-to-use sound equalizer that you can customize for different audio devices. This equalizer allows you to adjust the audio output of specific sound frequencies. In addition, you get immediate feedback about the difference in audio quality.
In addition, the sound equalizer offers a selection of pre-configured settings for different environments and audio output devices. You can choose configurations such as TV, Auto, Headphones and Bass Boost.
You can access the sound equalizer by pressing the Settings button at the bottom left of the menu and navigate to Play > Equalizer.
2. A simple and powerful user interface
Groove Music is perfect for you if you prefer a minimalist design that you can get used to in a short time. The user interface is not cluttered with confusing settings and menus. Despite its simplicity, Groove Music doesn’t leave you wanting any extra features.
This application is feature rich without being overwhelming. With little effort, you can create custom playlists and fill them with music. You can rename, delete and even combine playlists. Plus, Groove Music lets you pin playlists and albums to the start menu for quick access.
In addition, the playback menu is intuitive to use. This menu contains buttons that play, pause and skip the current track. It also allows you to shuffle the current playlist or repeat tracks. Finally, you can control the music volume independently of the PC volume.
3. Automatic music detection
Groove Music automatically detects all music files in the Music folder of your Windows PC. These files must be in one of 13 supported formats, including .mp3, .wav, .3gp, and .aac. This means you don’t have to manually add each music file to the audio player.
You can also add other folders where Groove Music can search for music. Click on the Settings button and navigate to Music on this PC > Choose where we look for music. From there you can click on the + to select folders containing music files.
Aside from folders on your computer, Groove Music can also detect and play music files on CDs on your drive.
4. Customizable Music Information
You can set Groove Music to scan your music files and generate missing metadata such as album art, release date and artist. The process is automatic and takes place when you have an internet connection. This feature allows you to easily identify songs in the app.
In addition, Groove Music allows you to edit metadata for any music file in the app. You can edit music information by right-clicking a song and selecting the Edit information choice. You can also use this function to edit album information and improve the sorting algorithm.
5. Free Offline Storage
Groove Music is perfect for people who want to enjoy their music without the distraction of the online world. With this app you can turn off your internet connection, select your favorite playlist and play your music without constant notifications.
Moreover, Groove Music is free to use, unlike online music players that require a subscription to enjoy music without ads. You can download songs from the best free music download sites and keep them offline without fear of losing them when your subscription expires.
Set Groove Music as your default music player
If the benefits of Groove Music appeal to you, consider making this application your default music player. Fortunately, setting Groove Music as your primary music player is pretty easy and only takes a minute or two.
The following steps describe the process of making Groove Music the default audio player app.
- Open the Settings application on your Windows PC. You can do this by opening the Home menu and click the little gear icon on the left. You can also type “Settings” in the Windows search bar and click . to press Enter.
- Go to Settings > Apps and select Default apps in the left part of the menu.
- Find the Music player section, click it and select Groove Music from the pop-up menu. After a quick refresh, Groove Music is now the default music player on your Windows PC. Therefore, opening a music file will launch the Groove Music application.
- In addition, you can set Groove Music as the default application for individual music formats. Scroll to the bottom of the Default apps menu and click Choose default apps by file type.
- From the resulting menu, you can search for the music formats and set Groove Music as their default player. The file formats are arranged alphabetically so that you can easily find the formats you are interested in.
The Future of Groove Music on Windows
With the latest upgrade to Windows Media Player in Windows 8, Microsoft Corporation shifted its focus to the Zune Music streaming service. However, Zune was discontinued in favor of Xbox Music, which was renamed Groove Music Pass in 2015.
Microsoft eventually discontinued Groove Music Pass in 2018. Still, it continued to support Groove Music as the default music player on Windows 8 and 10. On Windows 11, Media Player succeeds Groove Music as the official music player.
Despite this, many Windows 8 and Windows 10 users are still actively using Groove Music. As such, it’s safe to say Groove Music will have a bright future as long as these operating systems remain in use.
Don’t count out Groove music
While there are many different media players out there, defaults don’t rule it out just yet. Groove Music still has a place on everyone’s Windows PCs, and it’s worth a try if you haven’t already.
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