Wondering how to integrate audio into your Zoom video meetings? With over 300 million daily participants now, Zoom has become the top choice for everything from classroom lessons to virtual dance parties. This guide will explain Zoom‘s music sharing features compared to rivals, along with tips to DJ your next online gathering.
Overview: Zoom‘s Unique Music Sharing Capabilities
While platforms like Skype and Google Meet support video conferencing, Zoom stands apart with robust options specifically for playing audio. Integrations with music apps, stereo sound quality, and flexible hosting controls give Zoom the edge.
Zoom‘s ability to broadcast audio during screen sharing opens up use cases like:
- Fitness instructors streaming workout music playlists
- Teachers conducting virtual music lessons
- Therapists leading guided meditation sessions
- DJs hosting online dance parties
Now supporting over 50 million meeting participants per day at its pandemic peak, Zoom provides an unmatched platform for sharing computer audio.
Step 1: Getting Started with Zoom
Let‘s go through getting setup on Zoom before we dive into the music features:
Signing Up for an Account
First, you‘ll need a free Zoom account which allows meetings up to 40 minutes for 3+ participants.
- Go to Zoom‘s signup page and enter your email address
- Validate your email and confirm your birth date
- Provide your name to finish creating your account
With a Zoom account created, let‘s move on to starting or joining a meeting.
Starting vs Joining a Meeting
There are two ways to get started on a call:
Option 1: Start a New Meeting
In the Zoom desktop app, select New Meeting to initiate a call and get a randomly generated meeting URL and access code to invite others.
Option 2: Join a Meeting
If someone sends you a meeting link, simply click it and enter the meeting ID and passcode to join an existing gathering already in progress.
Easy enough so far! Now we‘re ready to get into the good stuff…playing music in Zoom!
Step 2: Sharing Computer Sound in a Meeting
Here‘s how to share audio from your computer to the Zoom call:
- Once in your meeting, click the Share Screen button at the bottom
- Select the Advanced tab
- Check the box for Share computer sound
- Choose "Stereo" high-quality audio rather than Mono
Click Share and any sounds played from your computer will be shared in the meeting across devices and speakers!
| Device | Audio Quality |
|---|---|
| PC/Mac | Up to 192 kbps stereo |
| Mobile | 64 kbps mono |
For comparison, audio CD quality is 320 kbps, so Zoom‘s PC audio quality should result in rich music quality.
Step 3: Play Music from Your Computer
With computer audio successfully enabled, now cue up your tracks!
Desktop Options:
- Media player apps: iTunes, Windows Media Player, VLC, etc
- Music services: Spotify, Pandora, SoundCloud web players
- Local audio files: MP3s, WAVs, playlists
I‘ll use Spotify, but the process is the same across music sources:
- Open your audio player or streaming web app
- Select a song, playlist or album
- Use the player controls as normal to pause, skip, adjust volume
- Zoom will broadcast your computer‘s sound to the meeting 🥳
Just be sure to alter audio levels within the music app itself, not your computer‘s system volume.
Step 4: Share Video and Audio
What if you want to share your screen and play a music track?
Zoom has you covered there as well with these steps:
- Select a specific window or app to present from like Powerpoint, Keynote, or a media player itself
- Check "Share computer sound" to enable audio sharing
- Click Share to present the visuals + audio in your meeting
Presenters can now share a slide deck with an accompanying soundtrack or mute the music during speaking parts with precise control.
Zoom Plans with Audio Features Compared
Zoom offers several tiers depending on use cases like meetings, webinars, calls, and conference room hardware:
Audio features are available across all plans including:
- Playing audio during screen sharing
- Broadcasting computer sound to meetings
- HD stereo audio quality
- Integration with computer/mobile audio
However, the higher tier Business and Enterprise plans do add more robust conference room hardware compatibility. So if you need Zoom music integration with pro mixing boards and speakers, consider upgrading from the free basic plan.
For one-on-one lessons or playing background music during meetings though, Zoom‘s free version should suffice just fine.
Origins of Zoom‘s Superior Audio Quality
Zoom actually began its life named Saasbee back in 2011, started by former Cisco engineer Eric Yuan. Frustrated with existing enterprise video platforms, he left to found Zoom focused on higher reliability and audio clarity.
“I would say, ‘Hey, it doesn’t work most of the time!’ It was so unstable. And when the video did work, the audio quality was so bad.” – Eric Yuan, Zoom CEO
That laser focus to eliminate garbled conference calls and frozen video streams gave Zoom its edge once the coronavirus pandemic fueled remote work and learning. Now Zoom has achieved status as a household name and platform allowing teachers, trainers, retailers and more to play music together virtually.
As described in this step-by-step guide, unlocking Zoom‘s audio features takes just a few clicks and tweaks to start sharing songs or playlists in online gatherings.
With many services and apps supporting virtual sessions today, only Zoom delivers premium sound quality and reliable performance specifically tailored for music playback.
Now get out there, DJ your own online parties, liven up lectures with audio, or set the mood with ambient background tracks using the instructions above!
Let me know if you have any other questions on getting up and running playing audio through Zoom.
