As previously reported, Xbox Music is available as of October 16. Many consumers want to know more about the offering, and kinds of features it has.
For one, every Windows 8 and windows RT tablet and PC will allow users to stream music from Microsoft’s huge music catalog for free. According to the company, you can listen for over 80 years and never hear the same song twice. The Xbox Music Store features over 18 million songs, and you can buy full albums or just songs
There is a music discovery feature called Smart DJ, which creates custom stations based on your favorite artists. It’s a pretty standard feature for a music offering these days, but still a good one to have included.
You can create and save playlists. With Xbox Music Pass, you can download songs to your device. Xbox Music is cloud connected, so you can automatically sync your Xbox Music Pass collection and playlists across devices (tablets, PCs, phones, and Xbox 360).
“The launch of Xbox Music is a milestone in simplifying digital music on every type of device and on a global scale,” said Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “We’re breaking down the walls that fracture your music experiences today to ensure that music is better and integrated across the screens that you care about most — your tablet, PC, phone and TV.”
Microsoft says it will add “unique” social features in the coming year that let you share your music experiences with friends and family. They don’t get any more specific than that.
Microsoft will launch the service across more platforms as they become available. It’s on Xbox 360 today (along with an Xbox Live update), and will come to Windows 8 PCs and tablets on October 26 as the OS launches. In November, it will be available for Windows Phone as Microsoft launches Windows Phone 8.