Opera adds music player with streaming services like Spotify to sidebar

Opera has added a music player to the sidebar that allows users to log in to a streaming service and play music. This player automatically pauses when the user starts watching a video and restarts the music when the video is finished.

The developer says the built-in music player works with Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube Music. Users can log into one of these streaming services in the sidebar, which is under the messengers section. The streaming service works similar to a standalone app. Users can search for songs and playlists, stop, pause or choose the next song.

One of the advantages of the Player feature, according to Opera, is that the music is automatically paused when a video or audio file is started in the browser. In addition, users can use the media keys on a keyboard to pause the music, or via a mini playback menu that appears when the user hovers the mouse over the Player icon in the sidebar. According to Opera, the Player function can be turned off in the settings menu.

The sidebar is part of Opera in which other services are integrated. WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger were added in 2017 , Twitter was added last June . Opera wants to use the sidebar to ensure that users stay in the browser and do not have to switch between different programs.