Microsoft kills Groove Music Pass and pushes users to Spotify
Groove Music is an integral part of the Windows 10 and Xbox One ecosystem. Microsoft have announced that as of the end of December 2017 it will no longer contain music streaming. But don’t fear. You can move your existing collections to Spotify courtesy of an expanding partnership between Microsoft and the streaming giant.
Groove Music
It’s the evolutionary descendant of the good old Windows Media Player. Along with its clean, modern and touch-friendly interface came “Music Pass” which was a music streaming service designed to compete with Spotify, Apple Music and other subscription-based systems. This enabled your Windows 10 PC, phone, or Xbox One to enjoy millions of tracks via the integrated app rather than having to sign up to a third party.
As with many of Microsoft’s good ideas it failed to gain the visibility, traction and momentum it really needs to compete. I always found it worked quite well and I much preferred it to the Spotify interface. Although it was a bit too simplistic and if you wanted to do anything remotely clever I found you always had to dig out Windows Media Player. Groove Music will continue to exist as a music player and you can still stream all your music from OneDrive.
The process of transferring your playlists and catalogue to Spotify is pretty painless. The new Spotify apps on Windows 10 and Xbox One will ask you if you want to do it. Provided they can find a match in their own database you’ll be good to go. You’ll then have a 60 day free trial of Spotify Premium in which you can decide whether you want to stay. Ultimately Spotify Premium will give you a handful of better features for a similar price to your Groove Music Pass.
More Information
- Full Microsoft FAQ on Groove Music and Spotify – click here.
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One response to “Microsoft kills Groove Music Pass and pushes users to Spotify”
Groove was dead long ago, it’s just that its Microsoft daddy didn’t want to admit that. it’s the same story with every Windows release – its native and supported apps for music streaming, its spellcheckers, its media players and all the other minor stuff gets so bad so fast they need to push something else.
https://software.informer.com/Stories/best-windows-10-programs-to-stream-music-with.html
https://software.informer.com/Stories/best-windows-spell-checkers.html
Spotify isn’t much better, to be honest. It’s terribly slow and the interface is clunky. But at least it works, and doesn’t play music randomy not responding to commands like Groove did.