Microsoft is shuttering Groove Music. The company announced the news on Monday in a blog post on its site, explaining that the streaming service will be discontinued on December 31 and any customers subscribed to the service will be refunded on a pro rata basis.
Microsoft said it would cease sales of Groove Music Pass memberships soon, and in a partnership with Spotify, would make it easy for existing Groove Music subscribers to move their playlists over to the rival music streaming service.
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With the continued advancement of music streaming today, all the world's music has become easily accessible across a variety of devices, unlocking new ways to discover and experience music. As we continue to listen to what our customers want in their music experience we know that access to the best streaming service, the largest catalog of music, and a variety of subscriptions is top of the list.
Which is why we're excited to announce that we're expanding our partnership with Spotify to bring the world's largest music streaming service to our Groove Music Pass customers. Beginning this week, Groove Music Pass customers can easily move all their curated playlists and collections directly into Spotify. Plus, you may be eligible for a 60-day free trial of Spotify Premium.
Microsoft said users of the Groove Music iOS app will be able to continue using music purchased through the service and stored on OneDrive, but streaming, buying, and downloading through the app will end for good on December 31.
It's unclear how many subscribers were still using the ailing service, which is home to a 50-million track library, but the announcement will be good news for Spotify, with Microsoft now officially promoting the rival as the go-to streaming service across both Windows 10 and Xbox platforms.
Top Rated Comments
I’m sure all 7 of Groove’s customers will migrate :-)
Microsoft and Music was always a struggle.
Not true. Years back they had Zune as a service, app and device all of which were excellent. People to this day use the Zune device (even though the service no longer exists). The software was amazing. Unlike the "glorified spreadsheet" that was iTunes, the Zune app was graphically rich and to be honest, worked very, very well. I used it as my main media streaming software, and had the Zune Pass which gave me unlimited access to their catalog plus a FREE DRM-free album every month as part of my $10/mo subscription.It’s interesting to see how they struggle with some areas they don’t have a good grip on.
The problem was, despite everyone saying how great it was, Microsoft has a problem HEARING people, and wound up retiring the whole Zune system to the dismay of their subscribers.
In general, MS has a problem making anything they do intuitive, easy to use, and having the features people want. Their XBOX and Office365 account websites, for example, are complete disasters with no clear lines between your accounts, yet they are connected. It's like the people that design those sites think so differently than everyone else, that their products are unusable by most. The sites defy logic when it comes to simple functions.
Apart from Windows 10, I don't think MS has a "good grip" on any of their products. And even with Windows 10, the goal posts seem to keep moving when it comes to making things easy as they remove access to things (like control panel) just to make it harder for us to access it.