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Groove Music

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Not to be confused with Groove (music).
"Xbox Music" redirects here. Not to be confused with Xbox Music Mixer.
"Microsoft Groove" redirects here. Not to be confused with Microsoft Office Groove.
Groove Music
DiscontinuedDecember 31, 2017 (Groove Music Pass service)
Pricing modelPaid unlimited streaming in 22 countries[1]
$9.99/month; $99.99/year

Groove Music (formerly Xbox Music and Zune Music, and also known as Microsoft Groove and Groove Music Pass) was a music player software application and digital music streaming service developed by Microsoft that allowed music to be played back from OneDrive and from storage media, and allowed music streaming through subscription or purchase through the Windows Store.[2][3] The service was web-based and also available via software applications for the Microsoft Windows and Xbox product lines,[4][5] as well as Android and iOS.[6] The Groove catalogue had over 50 million tracks.

Groove Music Pass was officially discontinued on December 31, 2017 after Microsoft announced on October 2, 2017 that it would be partnering with Spotify and shutting down the service by the end of the year .[7][8]

History

Microsoft had previously ventured into music services with its Zune brand. The Zune Music Marketplace included 11 million tracks. The line of Zune players and Zune music store were somewhat unsuccessful, and the brand was largely discontinued at the beginning of the 2010s, although it continued to exist on different devices and the Zune Music Pass offered unlimited access to songs for US$9.99 per month.[9]

Meanwhile, Microsoft had been emphasizing the strength of its Xbox brand because of its appeal to consumers. It had been expanding the multimedia services available through its Xbox Live to include services such as a video store and online game marketplace. It decided to introduce a new music service to build upon these existing features.[citation needed]

Microsoft introduced the new service at its press conference at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012 on June 4. Xbox Music was launched along with Xbox Video service on October 16, 2012.[10]

On July 6, 2015, Microsoft announced the re-branding of Xbox Music as Groove to tie in with the impending release of Windows 10. The new brand utilizes the Microsoft-owned "Groove" trademark formerly used for the unrelated product Microsoft Office Groove (now OneDrive for Business). Joe Belfiore explained that the re-branding was intended to disassociate the service from the Xbox product line, making it more inclusive to non-Xbox platforms.[11][12][13]

Microsoft announced on October 2, 2017, that it would shut down the Groove Music Pass streaming service and remove all music for purchase from the Windows Store by December 31, 2017. Microsoft partnered with Spotify to allow customers to transition their music collection and playlists to the Spotify service. After December 31, 2017 the Groove apps would only play downloaded music stored in customers' local or personal cloud storage locations.[7]

On May 31, 2018, Microsoft announced in a support document [14] that Groove Music apps are being discontinued on iOS and Android on June 1, 2018. On December 1, 2018, the Groove Music iOS and Android apps will be retired.

Features

Groove Music Pass

Groove Music Pass (formerly Xbox Music Pass and Zune Music Pass) is a discontinued pay subscription service that allowed unlimited streaming of the service's catalog on any device with the service installed. The pricing in the U.S. included monthly and annual subscriptions.[15] A one-month trial offer was available, but those who previously tried the Zune Music Pass subscription prior to the rebranding were ineligible for this offer.[16] An advertising-supported streaming tier was previously available, but discontinued effective December 1, 2014.[9][17] Music could also be purchased directly from Windows Store.[18]

Users' purchased music, and playlists consisting of songs available on the service could be synced through OneDrive and accessed from multiple devices. Songs in a user's local library on a Windows 8.1 PC could be matched and made available to other devices if available on Groove Music Pass.[19][20] Custom "radio stations" could be generated using songs related to user-selected songs.[21] Songs could be downloaded for offline listening on smartphones.[22] Uploading of non-Groove music became available on Windows 10.[18]

Windows 10's Anniversary Update allowed users to hide features that require a Groove Music Pass from the interface.

On October 2, 2017, Microsoft announced the discontinuation of the Groove Music Pass service effective December 31, 2017. Existing subscribers were refunded, and Microsoft began promoting Spotify as an alternative by allowing saved playlists to be migrated to the service.[23]

Cloud Collection

Groove Music let users create a collection of songs and playlists that roam through the cloud on all the supported devices.[19] The songs could be added from the Groove Music Store or matched (within the Groove Music Catalog) to songs either saved locally on the user's machine or uploaded to the user's OneDrive account for the country the user was in.

APIs for developers

The Groove Music API provided access to RESTful web services for developers to leverage the catalog and features of the service in their application or website.[24]

Platform availability

Groove apps are available for Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10,[13] Windows Phone, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Groove Music was removed from Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, as well as the web-based version.

Geographical availability

Blue: Groove Music Pass is available
Dark Blue: Groove Music Store only is available

Countries where Groove was available included:[25]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Microsoft Xbox Music takes on Spotify and iTunes Cloud". slashgear.com. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  2. ^ Groove, microsoft.com. Retrieved 1 August 2015.
  3. ^ "What is the Microsoft Groove Music app?". windows.microsoft.com. Microsoft. 2015. Retrieved August 13, 2015.
  4. ^ "Xbox One: Xbox Music". winsupersite.com. Retrieved January 27, 2014.
  5. ^ "Xbox Music service announced, coming to Xbox, Windows Phone, and Windows 8". theverge.com. Retrieved December 20, 2012.
  6. ^ "Xbox Music launches on iOS and Android, free streaming on the web". theverge.com. Retrieved September 9, 2013.
  7. ^ a b Lardinois, Frederic (October 2, 2017). "Microsoft Will Soon Shutter It's Music Store and Streaming Service, Move Users to Spotify". TechCrunch. Retrieved October 3, 2017.
  8. ^ "Groove Music and Spotify: FAQ". Microsoft. October 2, 2017. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  9. ^ a b Brodkin, Jon (June 4, 2012). "30 million-track Xbox Music service coming from Microsoft". Ars Technica. Condé Nast Digital. Retrieved December 19, 2012.
  10. ^ Langshaw, Mark (June 4, 2012). "E3 2012: Xbox Music announced by Microsoft - watch video". Digital Spy.
  11. ^ "Microsoft rebrands Xbox Music to Groove". The Verge. Vox Media. July 6, 2015. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  12. ^ "Windows 10 preview turns Xbox Music into 'Groove'". Engadget. AOL. July 6, 2015. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  13. ^ a b "Xbox Music is now Groove, as Microsoft recycles and rebrands". Ars Technica. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  14. ^ "Groove Music and Spotify: FAQ". support.microsoft.com. May 31, 2018. Retrieved June 1, 2018. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |dead-url= (help)
  15. ^ "Xbox Music API – Music for Every App" (Press release). Microsoft. April 4, 2014. Retrieved May 9, 2014.
  16. ^ Packham, Matt (October 16, 2012). "Can Microsoft's New Xbox Music Service Do What Zune Couldn't". TIME techland.
  17. ^ "Microsoft to discontinue free Xbox Music streaming". PC World. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  18. ^ a b "Updates to Entertainment in Windows 10". Blogging Windows. Microsoft. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  19. ^ a b "Digital Music: To the Cloud". winsupersite.com. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
  20. ^ "Understanding Xbox Music". Thurrott.com. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  21. ^ "Xbox Music For Windows 8.1 Preview Adds Pandora-Like Radio Feature". TechCrunch. AOL Inc. Retrieved July 6, 2015.
  22. ^ "Xbox Music". Xbox. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
  23. ^ "Microsoft retires Groove Music service, partners with Spotify". The Verge. Retrieved October 2, 2017.
  24. ^ Viswav, Pradeep (December 20, 2013). "Microsoft Launches Xbox Music API And Affiliate Program". Microsoft-News.
  25. ^ "Xbox on Windows feature list". Microsoft. Retrieved April 7, 2016.

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Groove_Music&oldid=861185740"