Valve keeps rolling out the good stuff with a second major Steam enhancement.

There were rumors that Valve would continue making a push into media beyond games. Steam already offers a half-dozen movies and a whole slew of software. They've sold music for ages in the form of game soundtracks. Now they're giving you a way to easily play that music, along with any other MP3s on your computer.

Valve officially laid out its reasoning for a player, and media beyond games, 7 months ago:

"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.

"Beyond addressing this context-switching hurdle, we see an opportunity to broaden Steam as an entertainment platform which includes music alongside games and other forms of media. With our ongoing efforts to make Steam accessible in the living room with SteamOS and Steam Machines, the timing feels right for us to make an investment in this broader picture."

You can also have it open in a separate window, to enjoy music while not in-game. While the player isn't feature-rich (to put it kindly), you can safely bet they'll continue improving it. Overall, a great addition to a platform that millions of us are already using.

Add music: Go to "View > Settings", click "Music", and "Add" your music folders.
View music: Hover on the "Library" tab, click "Music" to change it from "Games".
View player: Go to "View > Music Player" and it should pop right up.

For this week's other major Steam news, check out the Store "Discovery" Update.

Colt "ShdwFlm" Casey
Deputy Editor