This morning Microsoft announced that it’s officially launching its music streaming service, Xbox Music, on the web with other mobile devices to follow up shortly. The new platform by Microsoft, to be made available on its next-generation Xbox One gaming console upon its release, will be an updated version of the service it launched back in October and will compete with the likes of Spotify, Pandora, and Google Play Music All Access. The service is readily available to Xbox Music Pass subscribers.
Xbox Music will compete viably in the music streaming market as it offers a number of great features sure to pique the interest of harmonics everywhere. Though the web-based version of Xbox Music is consumer available to those boasting a subscription, Microsoft is running a promotion offering the entire spiel for a free 30-day trial. The web version can be accessed at music.xbox.com and will be supported by Internet Explorer 8+, Firefox 18+, Chrome 24+, and Safari 5.1+ and will also support Flash Player 11.0+.
Check out this video detailing Microsoft’s Xbox Music streaming service:
Users and subscribers will be afforded the opportunity to share the web player, access it over various devices, edit playlists, add music to their respective cloud-based collections, and search for music without restrictions. Arguably the most useful aspect of the service is its seamless and continuous use across multiple gadgets–PC, tablets, smartphones, Xbox 360, web–including iOS devices, which will continue to stream the music from the exact last spot the user leaves off on their previous device.
As mentioned before, Microsoft is offering a free 30-day trial for use of the service and all it asks for in return is your credit card info. After the trial is finished, your account will automatically be charged a $9.99 monthly fee though users can opt for a yearlong subscription, which will run them $99.99 per year.
Xbox Music will be available on all next-gen Windows 8 devices once they officially launch sometime in the fall of this year, and interestingly will be available on iOS as well. Apple is gearing up for its next-gen iPhone 5S and iPad, amid swirling rumors of a low-cost iPhone, and each those iOS devices will carry support for Xbox Music.
