Watch music videos on Windows 8′s sidebar
I usually head over to YouTube when I'm interested in a particular artist or song, and while I can't watch all the music videos uploaded to the video hosting site thanks to Germany's GEMA, it usually does not take long before I find the video I was looking for. If you like to watch and listen to music videos while you are working, you may be interested in a new application for Windows 8 that you can use for that very purpose.
Like most apps designed for Microsoft's new operating system, it ships with options to use the app in full screen or in the sidebar next to other applications.
Top Music Videos's start screen may look messy when you first fire up the application. You see a list of countries on the left, the music channels offered on the right, and the center area where the music videos are played in. The default selection is music from all countries and all genres. Once you start making a selection you will see a playlist open up at the bottom of the screen highlighting upcoming videos. You can use that playlist to skip videos right away.
Hovering with the mouse cursor over the video displays a menu with an option to watch the video fullscreen, well almost, since the one ad that is displayed at the top is still displayed on the screen. The country, genre and music video playlist on the other hand are not there anymore.
You can furthermore attach the music video app to the left or right sidebar on the screen to listen to music videos while you are working with other applications or programs. To do that move the mouse to the top of the app screen until you see a hand icon. Press and hold down the left mouse button and move the window to the left or right where it is then attached to the sidebar.
Top Music Videos has a few quirks right now which limit the experience somewhat. The advertisement is not static but changes frequently which may be distracting, especially in full screen mode. You will also notice that the app won't run in the sidebar if you open the start screen, only when you are working on the desktop or running a second app on the screen.
Some music videos consist only of a static image, a cover shot for instance, likely because the videos are streamed from an online service like YouTube instead of being hand picked to avoid this. It may still be worth a shot if you like to watch and listen to music videos while working on Windows 8.
By the way, you can still make use of the service even if you do not run Windows 8 or do not want to install an application for the purpose. Just head over to the service's website to watch music videos on there. Another alternative is to head right over to YouTube and check out some of the user generated music playlists there.
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