Valve’s game distribution service has been going through a lot of small changes recently: not only has Steam been given a fresh coat of paint and a completely redesigned storefront, but now it plays music, too. This isn’t a total surprise, of course, Valve has been testing music playback for months, and even rolled the feature out to beta users over the summer, but now Steam Music Player is available to anyone running the latest version of the client. It’s a pretty simple addition, too: Steam scrubs your PC’s common music folders for MP3s and, well, plays them.
The Steam Music Player is out now for all users, following a beta that launched in February. Steam Music integrates your own music library into the Steam Overlay and collects soundtracks that come with some games, and makes all of this accessible without having to leave Steam or your game at all. You’ll never have to leave Steam again. Steam is your home now. One of us. One of us. To celebrate the official public launch of Steam Music, a lineup of soundtracks for Valve games are free to anyone who already owns the base products. Included in the offer are the soundtracks for Half-Life, Portal, their sequels, and Free to Play, a documentary about proDota 2 players. That film and the Valve games themselves are also on sale, up to 75 percent off through October 1.
