Xbox Music App For Android, iOS Ditches Xbox Music Pass

If you are using Xbox Music app for your Android or iOS mobile device, here is some good news for you. Microsoft has decided to get rid of the Xbox Music Pass, which means that you will no longer be required to pay more than $10 a month in order enjoy access to most of the mobile app’s key features and functionalities.

Microsoft launched the latest version of its Xbox Music app for the Android and iOS mobile operating systems just recently. This newest version comes with various improvements which should please existing users of the mobile app, and at the same time, attract new users so that they will give Xbox Music a try.

The world of music streaming services is a very competitive field. Aside from contending with established music streaming service providers like Spotify, Pandora, and Rdio, just to name a few, you also have to compete with newly launched services. Chief among these newbie providers is Apple’s own Apple Music, which was officially released to the masses in early June last month. 

This is basically what Microsoft’s Xbox Music has to deal with now. Back in 2012, Microsoft introduced Xbox Music as a way of supplanting its Zune service, which never really took with music listeners. In more ways than one, Xbox Music was a definite upgrade compared to Zune, offering services that include music streaming, track storage, and purchasing of songs. Despite being made available to PCs and mobile devices, Xbox Music has so far been limited to Windows 8 and Windows 8.1 on the PC environment, which happens to account for only 16 percent of the entire market for desktop operating systems. But with the launch of the new Windows 10 operating system this coming July 29th of this year, Microsoft is offering Xbox Music with a new brand name -- Groove. With the anticipation of Windows 10’s release, Groove should get some needed media mileage, and hopefully, it should be exposed to more potential users. 

As for the launch of the latest version of the Xbox Music mobile app for Android and iOS, it is certainly consistent with Microsoft’s recent thrust of making its apps and services available to other operating systems out there, not just Windows and Windows Phone. And Microsoft is clearly hoping that with some new enhancements, users should pay more attention to the new Xbox Music than ever before. The most notable change, perhaps, is the elimination of Xbox Music Pass. This allows users to access their songs, albums, and playlists without having to pay extra. However, users can not access the Xbox Music Radio station, which makes personalized radio stations based on the user’s preferred musical artists. 

Moreover, users can now play any track that is stored in their Microsoft OneDrive online music folder, just as they can on their Xbox console. Tracks from OneDrive will simply be displayed as part of the user’s music collection, which means they are easily accessible anytime. Plus, users also get to enjoy offline playback. They can download songs, albums, and playlists for offline listening on various mobile devices. They can also filter their tracks in order to display songs that are made available for offline listening.