Google Play Music adds the ability to upload songs directly from your browser

One of the great things about Google Play Music is the ability to upload your existing music collection for easy access from the cloud. Unfortunately, getting your music library uploaded from your PC to the web can actually be a bit of a chore since you first need to download the Music Manager app in order to do it.

What if there was an easier web-based drag-and-drop solution? Thankfully, there is. The Google Play team officially announced on their G+ page that they have added a new way to upload music via the Chrome browser. The feature is currently found in the labs section of Play Music, meaning that it is still an experimental offering.

After you enable the labs feature, you simply drag your files over to an open Google Music tab and it will prompt you to download a special Chrome app that makes the magic happen. In addition to dragging over files manually, you can also set Google Play Music to automatically upload music as you add it to specific files on your PC, such as the “Music” folder.

As if this wasn’t enough, the experimental lab feature even brings a nifty little mini-player app that shows up in the Chrome apps launcher. The mini-player makes it easy to skip, pause and go forward or backward through your entire music library.

For Chromebook owners that previously had no other option for uploading to Play Music, the new lab feature is a very welcome addition. For everyone else? It’s certainly an easy-to-use alternative to the Music Manager desktop app.