Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Microsoft includes music on iOS and Android - BBC

Microsoft has released an updated app music service Xbox Music platform for iOS and Android. Thus, the company not only surpassed the competitors who had failed to update their music services, but settled on their operating systems, some experts believe. Others note that the steps Microsoft is still lagging.

Microsoft has updated the music service Xbox Music and released it for iOS-and Android-application. The new version of Xbox Music allows you to listen to music online and download it after the subscription Xbox Music Pass. For users of iOS and Android subscription price will be either $ 9.99 per month or $ 99.99 per year. In Russia Xbox Music service is not yet available, but according to unofficial sources, can earn at the end of 2013 – beginning of 2014.

Microsoft has announced that will free access to 30 million tracks for a browser version of Xbox Music accompanied by advertising. To disable the ads, users still need a paid subscription. In this Xbox Music is completely free for owners of devices on Windows 8 and Windows RT.

Later, Microsoft plans to add the feature “Radio” to the web version of Xbox Music. This feature will allow personalized playlists and discover new music in the required style.

October 17 Xbox Music will be the tool Web Playlist, designed as its name implies, to create a playlist of all the music and the artists whom he identifies on any web page. And finally, in the coming months, Microsoft will add to the app for iOS and Android to download tracks for offline listening.

company plans to update the app every four – six weeks, said Xbox Music general manager Jerry Johnson in an interview with The Verge.

developers are thinking about other innovations.

According to Johnson, the company is testing and social functions of the application, such as adding users to friends and music sharing, as it is lacking in their service.

«The ability to automatically mark that you listen to, and see what your friends are listening to, has caused a mixed reaction – he explained. – That is why we try to be careful ».

Microsoft introduced the Xbox Music service in October 2012, the same year launched the first application service for the Xbox 360 and the devices of Windows, later appeared application platform for Windows Phone. Most recently, in July 2013, Microsoft presented a web version of the service.

worth noting that Microsoft has had time to run a version of the Xbox Music for iOS and Android, ahead of its main competitors: the company Apple, the prepared open for users to access their own service iTunes Radio, and the company Google, which plans to expand the geographical coverage of service All Access.

Xbox Music Launch applications for competing mobile platforms will enable Microsoft to expand the potential audience for the service, experts say.

Apps for iOS and Android still “very basic” and the version of the service for Windows Phone 8, too, need to be improved, but the service is generally a good choice for any owner of disparate gadgets, says columnist portal The Verge Tom Warren. “If the strategy Microsoft« Devices and Services “will justify itself, then Xbox Music will be an important element in the success of the company,” – he stressed.

Microsoft was late to the Xbox Music, when there is nothing special, and it lacks important features that have some of its competitors, expressed the opposite point of view, the browser portal Ubergizmo Mario Aguilar. However, the changes are for the benefit of the service, and it is moving in the right direction, I am convinced Aguilar. “Accessibility for all platforms and reducing the distance between the start of the application and listening to music – the important conditions for success”, – he said.

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