Listening to your favorite music throughout the day can help you relieve stress, improve your mood, and give you an energy boost. That’s the power of music, and if you are a Chrome user, it’s now easier than ever to access and even create new tunes right from your browser. Chrome extensions can be excellent companions for any music lovers out there. Check out the best options for you if music is a big part of your life.
Good to know: enhance your browser’s looks with these beautiful Chrome themes.
1. Web Scrobbler
If you love keeping track of the music you listen to via Last.fm or similar services, you’re going to love the Web Scrobbler extension. Since scrobbling from YouTube and other web services, such as Bandcamp or SoundCloud, isn’t officially supported by Last.fm at the moment, this extension provides a way to include the music you listen to in your browser into Last.fm statistics.
To start scrobbling, install Web Scrobbler, and log in with your account(s). The extension also supports Libre.fm and ListenBrainz.
Web Scrobbler offers support for many other music services that have a browser presence, such as Spotify, Pandora, Deezer, iHeartRadio, BBC Sounds, Plex, and more. Once you’ve connected your account(s), the extensions will immediately start scrobbling your music. Verify that’s the case by clicking the extension in the Chrome toolbar.
2. Sound Booster
Sound Booster by AudioMax is a useful extension for those who aren’t satisfied with the sound volumes on their device. The add-on lets you increase the speaker volume level for the current tab in your browser by up to 600%.
Once you’ve set the volume to your liking from the tab where the audio is streaming, you’re free to switch to other tabs in Chrome or even other apps without a problem. The extension lists all the tabs that are currently playing audio so that you can switch between them.
There’s also a handy Reset button embedded in Sound Booster that lets you go back to previous levels of sound with just one click. The extension worked on all services we tested it with, including YouTube, Spotify, Bandcamp, and Vimeo.
Tip: getting the “Spotify can’t play this right now” error? Learn how to remove it from your device and get back to listening.
3. Sound Equalizer
The Sound Equalizer extension can offer several benefits related to audio customization and enhancements. The add-on allows you to fine-tune the audio settings, including adjusting frequencies to achieve a better audio balance and quality. This can result in clearer, more pleasing sound for music, video, and other content.
The extension offers a range of presets (such as Electronic, Rock, Piano, Pop, etc.) that automatically adjust parameters for a superior audio experience while listening to that particular genre.
Sound Equalizer also includes a volume boost component and allows you to save your own sound configurations for later use.
4. Hotkeys for YouTube Music
Hotkeys is an extension that lets users easily control YouTube Music in Chrome. You can set a variety of shortcuts by accessing the extension’s options from the browser toolbar. After switching to the Keyboard shortcuts section, you can set shortcuts for jumping to the next track, play/pause, volume up/down, and more.
You can set the shortcuts to Global to switch to the next track or adjust the volume, even when you’re not active on Chrome anymore. It’s very important, though, that the YouTube Music window needs to be open in Chrome. Otherwise, this won’t work.
While the extension doesn’t offer any additional options to boost your YouTube Music experience in Chrome, it does what it is supposed to do very well.
FYI: learn how to edit JSON files inside Chrome.
5. YOU.DJ
YOU.DJ is a fun extension that allows you to try your hand at mixing music from your browser while streaming any service with a Web presence, such as YouTube, Spotify, SoundCloud, and more. Press play on the track you want to mix, and activate the extension (by toggling the On button), then start applying effects via a dedicated XY pad.
Users also get access to volume and bass boosters and can apply the popular famous hipass/lowpass resonant filter. There’s also a sampler launchpad to use.
If, after using the extension for a while, you decide that mixing is fun and want more, just click it to open a full DJ mixer that can also be accessed through your Web browser.
6. Aha Music
Let’s say you’re listening to the radio online, and an interesting song comes up. Or you stumble upon a Reel on Instagram with a really interesting audio background. How can you find out what song is playing? Install Aha Music, and it will tell you.
Activate the extension in the tab where the music is playing, and it will quickly tell you the name of the song. If you’re having second thoughts about the results, click the track in the extension, and you’ll be taken to the Aha Music site to play the song and compare.
Interestingly, this extension proved to work better than Shazam in our testing, which is why it made it to our list of the best Chrome extensions for musical lovers. However, if Aha Music can’t identify your song, you can also have Shazam give it a go. Maybe you’ll get lucky!
Tip: need to identify a song quickly? Check out some different methods to do so.
7. Transpose
For users who are active in the music field, whether professionally or simply as a hobby, having an extension like Transpose can be very helpful. The addon lets you easily adjust the pitch of a song you’re playing in your browser. This can help users to master riffs or lead lines in specific keys. In addition, Transpose can also help vocalists learn a song by allowing them to sing along in a key that’s better suited to their own vocal capabilities.
There’s also the option to slow down the speed of any song playing in the browser. This can aid users in practicing songs a little slower before unleashing them at full speed.
If you need to identify or isolate certain parts of a song, this extension provides a looping option. Just set the markers, and the extension will loop that part for you. Transpose works with any audio track playing in Chrome.
8. Spotify Player
Spotify needs no introduction, and while the service used to have a dedicated Chrome app, it is no longer available. You’ll have to stick with the Spotify web player in your Chrome browser. This can be inconvenient, as you’ll need to revert to the webplayer tab each time you want to increase or decrease the volume or repeat a track.
Fortunately, you can still take advantage of the Spotify Player extension that lets you control your Spotify music stream from any tab in Chrome. You can also love the track and repeat tracks through the addon.
While these are basic controls, they may make a difference if you’re doing something important in another tab and require maximum concentration.
Tip: has your Chrome scroll bar gone missing? Learn how to bring it back.
9. Audio Visualizer
Audio Visualizer is an interesting extension to have in your Chrome browser when you’re having people over or if you want to hide your music-playing tab for whatever reason.
The extension offers a selection of effects, some of which are superimposed on the web page that is playing music. In contrast, others will completely cover the page.
You also get a full-screen mode so that the extension can act as a sort of musical screensaver for your PC. It’s possible to add various effects by enabling different parameters. Finally, if you’ve achieved an interesting effect that you wish to share with others, take advantage of the Save screen option.
10. Smart Mute
Smart Mute is an extension that allows you to easily control all your audio-playing tabs in Chrome. It has a handy Silent mode, which mutes all sound in your browser with a simple click. Alternatively, selectively mute just one tab.
Keep in mind that the extension merely mutes the sound and does not pause the media. Smart Mute also has a blacklist option, where you can add all the annoying sites that use autoplay for their videos for a more relaxed browsing experience.
In our testing, the extension proved successful at muting sound on Spotify, Bandcamp, Vimeo, and even Instagram, but it did not work on YouTube.
11. Bandcamp New Tab
For those who love to discover new music, this extension is a must-have. Every time you open a new tab in Chrome, Bandcamp New Tab will populate it with a random artist/album from Bandcamp.
Press the play button at the bottom of the album art to quickly see what the artist sounds like. If you like it, hover your mouse at the top and click the artist’s name to go straight to their Bandcamp and listen to more.
If you don’t feel like listening to new music right now, ignore the recommendation, and type in the URL in the Chrome address bar, like usual. The Bandcamp suggestion will disappear as soon as you press Enter. Just remember that there’s no way of getting it back. Once it’s gone, it will forever return to the vast sea of Bandcamp music.
FYI: want to take a little break from all the noise? Learn how to delete your Spotify account.
Immersing Yourself in Music
If you’re really passionate about music, then make sure you check these free radio stations for music listening. Alternatively, Apple fans might be interested to know that they can listen to Apple Music even on Windows. Check our post to find out how.
Image credit: DepositPhotos. All screenshots by Alexandra Arici.
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