There are no music controls, why?
Over the last couple of years, I have floated between three different operating systems for my work and personal use. Depending on where I am and which computer is in front of me, I’ve been using mac OS, Chrome OS, and less frequently, Windows. I’ve become more or less comfortable with all three platforms and I’m able to keep a similar workflow across them all, save for one teeny tiny missing key that ruins my Chrome OS experience: there’s no skip button on my Pixelbook’s keyboard, and many Chromebooks don’t even have the play/pause one.
You might be thinking this isn’t a huge dealbreaker. And I have to admit that it doesn’t categorically stop me from using my Pixelbook. It just adds a layer of annoyance to my experience when I do. If I’m listening to music, I need to be able to pause and resume playback and skip the current song. The latter is the most basic feature of music and media consumption. You don’t like what’s playing, you move ahead.
Literally every Windows and Mac desktop and laptop I’ve owned has come with a keyboard that has music controls. I’ve been informed, while writing this editorial, that this isn’t a common thing in the PC world, at least when it comes to desktop setups, and that these keys aren’t standard. While that means that Google isn’t doing something out of the ordinary by removing them from the default Chrome OS configuration, I still maintain that they should be there. They’re present in all Macbooks and in many PC laptops, so why not Chromebooks?
On the Pixelbook, and a few other Chromebooks, the keyboard features a Play/Pause button. However, that’s not a given. Recent models skip this, and it looks like Google doesn’t include it in the default keyboard configuration for Chrome OS anymore. Even the Bluetooth keyboards from Brydge and Logitech that are tailor-made for the platform don’t have it.
Worse yet, the skip button doesn’t even exist on the Pixelbook. I’ve also looked at plenty of other Chromebooks and didn’t see it there. (I’d say it’s never been seen on a Chromebook, but I know enough not to make this kind of general statement because there’s always that one exception I haven’t checked.) This means I can’t raise a finger while typing, hit that skip key on the top row, and keep working. No, I have to stop what I’m doing and be deliberate about skipping a song by:
- Switching to the active music app and moving to the next song there
- Moving my hand to the trackpad, clicking the new media controls, and then hitting the skip button
- Raising my hand to my Bluetooth headphones to use their skip function.
The software media controls are nice, but not as practical when you’re typing.
It’s a first-world problem, for sure, but it’s a disruption to my workflow and the opposite of a frictionless experience.
The issue, however, is not that Chrome OS doesn’t support these media keys. If you pair it with an external keyboard that offers media controls, it will treat those inputs appropriately. It’s just that Google has decided these keys don’t deserve to be front and center on the platform’s laptops, be it as a first-level button or even as a secondary function. You can’t even assign them to the customizable keyboard buttons (Search, CTRL, Alt, Escape, Backspace). There’s a bit of hope this will change in the future, but that’s still an in-development feature we don’t know much about yet.
You can customize these keys, but can’t assign media controls to any of them.
For now, the missing media controls will remain the smallest but most annoying issue I face when I’m using my Pixelbook or any Chromebook. I almost avoid playing music if I’m only working for an hour or two, because it’s not worth it.
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