Microsoft to Relaunch Xbox Music as Groove

BY Alex HudsonPublished Jul 7, 2015

As Apple storms into the streaming market with Apple Music, Microsoft is now looking to up its game. This month, the company's Xbox Music will be rebranded and relaunched under the new name Groove.

This service will be launched with the new operating system Windows 10 on July 29. It will initially launch on PC before coming to other devices in the months that follow.

Groove aims to be easier to use than Xbox Music for both PC and mobile decides, and it employs Microsoft OneDrive cloud storage to allow users to access their personal mp3 libraries from various devices. And, of course, subscribers will get access to a library of more than 40 million tracks.

The ad-free Groove Music Pass costs $9.99 a month or $99 a year, giving full access to streams or downloads from the Windows store. Those with an Xbox Music Pass will have this automatically transferred to become a Groove Music Pass. There doesn't seem to be a free tier.

As Xbox Music is available in Canada, it seems most likely that Groove will also be fully available in our country. Look for its roll-out later this month, and read more about Groove here.

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