Spotify and Apple Music are great if you know what you like and want to keep listening it, but while those services do have music discovery features, new music junkies swear by SoundCloud. The service does have a major drawback though: It has mobile apps, but for desktop users, the service’s website is their only option.
Until now, that is. Soundnode is a new app by Chicago-based developer Michael Lancaster that brings the service to the desktop in a slick-looking package. The main draw here for many is that the app allows you to use the media keys on your keyboard to control playback, something that can’t be done on the SoundCloud website.
In addition to the native media key shortcuts, the app offers a full playlist feature, the ability to follow and unfollow users, and doesn’t need to be installed in order to be used. According to the project’s GitHub page, Soundnode already has more than 100 daily users, and has been downloaded over 30,000 times.
If you’ve ever used a desktop music app, SoundNode will look familiar, with a definite similarity to Spotify, right down to the dark color scheme. A simple navigation menu occupies the left side of the window, with the playback bar at the bottom of the window. The rest of the layout is dedicated to displaying track information and cover art.
For those who have been using SoundCloud for a while, you might remember that the service once had its own desktop app, but stopped supporting it years ago. This is likely as close as you’ll get, but fortunately Lancaster has done a great job developing an app that feels like it could have been made by the company itself.
Soundnode is available for Windows, Mac, and Linux, so no matter your platform of choice, it has you covered. You can find downloads for your platform of choice on the app’s website.
