Steam Music, another miss...
Damn. I know my position looks like I'm against Steam OS and Steam Boxes. And I am. But it is because it seems to fall a bit short in everything it does. The big item was obviously that Steam OS being Linux means you need a second computer to Stream Windows games from, which makes the price tag and hardware and just about everything else they hype about it a diversionary tactic.
The latest is this. When I read "Steam Music" I got really excited. I thought "Awesome! They really are planning to beat Microsoft at the home entertainment unit game!" And then I cracked open the article, and it just sounds like yet another option for streaming music from another PC to the TV.
This is a Linux based OS. Even if Valve didn't provide an application to that end, it isn't like this isn't something you couldn't do already.
I was hoping for a streaming service along the lines of Xbox Music and Beats Music. But, even just a store to call their own would have been bigger news and better move.
I suppose next month they'll unveil Steam Video. Which allows you to once again grab media from another machine and stream it to the TV.
Yes. I'm mocking them. It isn't that these aren't good features. It is that they are trivial features. They don't really add value. They don't make it easier to access new media. They just provide a way to stream existing media. You can buy sub-$100 devices that do this. With Steam Boxes ranging in price from $500 to $1000+ which are effectively just Linux PC's, they better be able to do basic things like this.
And I know that both the Xbox One and PS4 gimped their latest consoles by dropping some functionality in this area. But both have unveiled plans to add it back, and both of those are a different animal in my opinion. The XB1 and PS4 ARE gaming consoles. They are specialized from the inside out for one purpose. Steam Boxes ARE computers running a traditional desktop OS (albeit an obscure one for the majority of people). Valve simply made a custom OS around their software which gears this general purpose OS to gaming. You can bypass all of that.
The other reason I was hopeful is that streaming services are, I think, going to be the way of the future. Xbox Music has some quirks, but a lot of that is because they were one of the first big players in the game. They negotiated contracts back while none of the other big players were trying this. New entrants have a different landscape, and services like Beats Music show that this approach is becoming more viable and potentially more competitive. So, if Valve truly was getting in that game, there was a good chance they could offer a better service than Microsoft, which might lead me to buy or build a cheap Steam Box for media purposes.
The latest is this. When I read "Steam Music" I got really excited. I thought "Awesome! They really are planning to beat Microsoft at the home entertainment unit game!" And then I cracked open the article, and it just sounds like yet another option for streaming music from another PC to the TV.
This is a Linux based OS. Even if Valve didn't provide an application to that end, it isn't like this isn't something you couldn't do already.
I was hoping for a streaming service along the lines of Xbox Music and Beats Music. But, even just a store to call their own would have been bigger news and better move.
I suppose next month they'll unveil Steam Video. Which allows you to once again grab media from another machine and stream it to the TV.
Yes. I'm mocking them. It isn't that these aren't good features. It is that they are trivial features. They don't really add value. They don't make it easier to access new media. They just provide a way to stream existing media. You can buy sub-$100 devices that do this. With Steam Boxes ranging in price from $500 to $1000+ which are effectively just Linux PC's, they better be able to do basic things like this.
And I know that both the Xbox One and PS4 gimped their latest consoles by dropping some functionality in this area. But both have unveiled plans to add it back, and both of those are a different animal in my opinion. The XB1 and PS4 ARE gaming consoles. They are specialized from the inside out for one purpose. Steam Boxes ARE computers running a traditional desktop OS (albeit an obscure one for the majority of people). Valve simply made a custom OS around their software which gears this general purpose OS to gaming. You can bypass all of that.
The other reason I was hopeful is that streaming services are, I think, going to be the way of the future. Xbox Music has some quirks, but a lot of that is because they were one of the first big players in the game. They negotiated contracts back while none of the other big players were trying this. New entrants have a different landscape, and services like Beats Music show that this approach is becoming more viable and potentially more competitive. So, if Valve truly was getting in that game, there was a good chance they could offer a better service than Microsoft, which might lead me to buy or build a cheap Steam Box for media purposes.
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