Microsoft has certainly been busy adding and updating services to Xbox users. Yesterday they introduced Xbox Music, touting it as their "all-in-one" music service" "designed to let users listen to music in exactly the way they want."
Microsoft believes they have identified core issues in the way users have to listen to music today. Microsoft VP of Interactive Business Marketing and Strategy Yusuf Mehdi gave this example.
"You’re listening to an Internet radio station at work, say Pandora, and you hear a new song you love. You quickly stop what you’re doing and bookmark the song before it stops playing. Later, in the car, you open Pandora to look up the name of the bookmarked song, then you open Spotify so you can use your subscription to listen to it again. Two weeks later, you’re thoroughly in love with the song, and decide you want to buy it so you can burn it to a mix CD you’re making a friend, so you purchase the MP3 on Amazon or iTunes."
Okay, sure when they put it that way it sounds like a pain to legally listen to music. Medhi wants to solve that problem by simplifying it. He says that Xbox Music will have the largest music catalog of all music services, with 30 million songs. And he boasts that Xbox Music will be the only all-in-one music service that allows users to listen to music on any device they want.
Users can also listen to "individual songs or full albums for free on their Windows 8-based tablet and PC; create music mixes and playlists; create artist-based Internet radio stations; use Smart DJ to create playlists with unlimited skipping; and purchase the music they want to own."
Xbox Music will come pre-installed as the default music player for Windows 8 and will not have ads. You'll need an Internet connection however. So how much is this for Xbox users? $9.99 a month will get you access across all systems, from Windows Phone 8 to Xbox 360, and eventually Android and iOS. It will be released on Xbox tomorrow, in Tuesday's update and expanded when Windows 8 launches.
