As expected, Microsoft announced a new “all-in-one” music service called Xbox Music.
“Xbox Music, Microsoft’s new all-in-one music service, specially designed to let users listen to music in exactly the way they want, begins rolling out to millions of people around the world Oct. 16 on the Xbox 360, then to the masses with Windows 8 on Oct. 26.
The all-in-one music service combines the best aspects of free-streaming radio, music subscription services and music purchasing options, all in one elegant package, says Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business Marketing and Strategy. No longer do people have to rely on “service hopping” to get the music they love.”
There’s lots of alternatives such as Pandora, Spotify, etc. Will a free service that’s heavily integrated into the new Windows 8 OS help or just turn people off? Unfortunately, this service won’t be available on Windows 7 or Windows Phone 7, so you will need to “upgrade” to take advantage of it.
Video demo - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/videos/videodetail.aspx?uuid=9ca98430-7379-4fa4-861c-183b7490d049