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MS Integrates Xbox Music & OneDrive: Free Streaming Music & 100GB Extra Music Pass Storage

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Microsoft announced today that OneDrive will now be integrated with Xbox Music. As a result, users will be able to stream music from their OneDrive directly through the Xbox Music service. This means the music will be available on PC, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Windows Phone.

Perhaps the best highlight of this new feature is that it’s free. Anyone who has a OneDrive account will be able to access their music without a Music Pass on the Xbox system, which costs $9.99 per month. Also, Xbox Music's paying Music Pass subscribers will get an additional 100GB of space.

Announcements here, here, and here.

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  • +1

    Well.. I guess I have a reason to use OneDrive now… Assuming I want to listen to music on my Xbox…..

    • +4

      Edit: after re-reading the post, it includes windows phone. Also note it's free - only the additional 100gb has a cost.

      Even owning an xbox, I don't see why I'd want a music service on anything other than my mobile.

  • +11

    Microsoft is on such a roll in the last few years.

  • +2

    (profanity) YEAH!

    Sorry got a bit excited

  • +2

    But it looks like they have killed the previous free music matching service and now you can ONLY store your music in OneDrive. I opened Music on a Windows 8.1 computer and the 297 artists available streaming counted down to zero.

    For me this is not an enhancement it's a shafting!

    • Might it be a syncing issue? Mine still all show up (though some still show a "artist does not allow streaming" error).
      Have had numerous issues with Win 8.1 Xbox Music app not syncing to when I make changes in the browser or phone versions. Once it took 2 days for a new playlist to be detected & sync!!

      Edit: I also have a paid subs, so maybe that's why I still have it?

      • -2

        I've checked it on two 8.1 PCs and my 8.1 phone and all streaming content is gone. I've had sync problems before as well, but now when I open the app it no longer tries to sync content. Given your experience perhaps you now only get music matching without OneDrive if you've got a paid subscription.

        I now give up on Xbox Music, I'll use the windows 8.1 PC app OutColdPlayer to play from my Google music library, wish they had a Windows Phone app.

        • -2

          Looking at the online player all of my matched music is now in a "Music pass" section where I can listen to 30 seconds of each of the songs I own. So if I want to access the music that I went through a load of hassle to get them to finally match I now have to pay $10 a month. This is way worse for anyone who doesn't want to play their music through an Xbox!

          Now I either need to pay more for extra OneDrive storage for all of my music or pay more for Xbox Music Pass, this is not a bargain!

  • does this mean you can play your own music whilst playing an XBox game ?

    • +1

      Like on the original xbox?

    • +2

      If you're talking about the XB1 - only if you snap the Music app. Still no background music unfortunately.

      • +3

        I really hate the snap feature, it's so annoying and clunky. It was a decent concept but it doesn't work for me at all.

  • Does anyone know if theres an iOS app to listen if ones got a music pass? or is it strictly xbox only?

    • Yes, Xbox Music :)

      • From https://music.xbox.com/Onedrive

        iOS and Android devices are not supported. If you have an Xbox Music Pass and use iOS or Android, OneDrive content will not show up.

        • Aw :(

        • OneDrive content. I thought you meant streaming from xbox music itself, rather than your own OneDrive content.

  • So how do I stream free music lol? I have a windows phone and the xbox music app, but it only streams a 30 second sample for each song.

    Or this 'streaming' service for songs that you own only?

    • +1

      I believe it means that music you upload to your OneDrive can be played through XBox music?
      I don't use XBox music, but that's what I gathered from reading… :)
      Sounds pretty cool!

      • So we can stream music during gameplay?

      • +4

        I still don't see the point - so for music I put on my computer, I can now use my data to upload to onedrive, and then use my data on the road to download it to my portable device. In the days of $20 32 gig USB sticks, let alone $80 2 terabyte hard disks, why would I bother. For the minor convenience of being able to pause a song, then resume later on another device if all the stars align, and a chance to look at pictures on my phone in the absence of a record sleeve, I can take the thousands of hours music that occupy < 5% of my hard-drive, and trust my entire collection to the safety of a U.S based sever. Given the present behaviour of Brandis et al in support of Sony and Fox's aim to decide what media can come to this country and the circumstances under which it can come here, this looks like something I want to give a miss. The extra bit of money I paid for the tapes a few decades back don't cover my digital back-ups, even if I could find the receipt for the record I bought in '77 :-/
        For those who think this is a tin-foil hat rant, remember, this is Microsoft we are talking about….

        • +2

          "I can now use my data to upload to onedrive, and then use my data on the road to download it to my portable device. In the days of $20 32 gig USB sticks, let alone $80 2 terabyte hard disks, why would I bother"

          If your portable device is a mobile phone, then you aren't going to be able to use the hard drive or USB stick to play the music. If you have a phone with small capacity (particularly one that doesn't take expansion cards), then having your music collection with you at all times can be a struggle which is the problem this is looking to solve, not necessarily having a song resume as you go from device to device. Not having to cherry pick songs to go on the device, and change that selection whenever your mood changes, is a huge advantage for many people too.

          Also, it's one less thing to carry around with you and the service acts as a backup should your local drives fail. You aren't trusting your music's safety alone, you can retain the local copy as well and that'd probably be advisable.

        • +2

          The point is you can log on to any computer/phone/xbox in the world and listen to your music.

        • +2

          @Smigit: If your portable device is a mobile phone, then you aren't going to be able to use the hard drive or USB stick to play

          I don't. I use them to transfer the music. If my phone doesn't take cards and has small capacity, I'm hardly likely to be in the cohort that could afford a data plan that would allow the streaming of music.

          Then again, it's still a good strategy if one's friends have a wi-fi link regardless of the portable devices storage size. It is still worth bearing in mind that "Xbox music" is Microsoft's answer to iTunes/Sony/Google music stores - a sales app rather than a service. I can manage to kill Sony's thinly disguised marketing offered as "features" on my phone, but it will be interesting to see how this "Cloud" storage for one's data files pans out in the next couple of years.

          I'm old enough to remember why Macs and PC's took off - an alternative to the model of purchased share time on large central main-frame servers than IBM, Ferranti, ICL, Sun and the like hoped would be the future of computing.

          As a paid service, this could be a good idea. As a "free" service, I'm not that sure lol….

        • @terrys: The streaming can also occur over a wifi network too, so it's not entirely data plan dependant. Regarding prices, the uptake of cloud storages might actually justify the purchase of cheaper models at the expense of storage due to the fact a data plan can now compensate for that without much sacrifice around file access.

          Certainly I'm in no rush to go cloud only, but I like having cloud storage as a convenient second option and backup solution. I'll probably go home and begin uploading my collection to One Drive now so it's available on my Xbox. My collections already in iCloud and Google Music.

  • +1

    Sweet, I already uploaded 100+GB of music To Onedrive as a backup, best way I could think of using the 200gb of storage I have now….

    • +1

      Nice work they don't have to look hard to send copyright infringements.

      • +1

        And you assumed that it's all illegal?

        • +2

          Yeah fair enough I guess it could be 100GIG recordings of him playing the drums in the basement.

        • @Duram: again, you are judging without any proof my friend. Innocent until proven guilty.

      • I'm curious on how they would be handling this.

    • +1

      I'm looking at 17 Gig of music on my re-purposed N97, and wondering if I'm going to live long enough to play it all :-p

  • +1

    Lumia 635 here.
    It.
    Just.
    Worked.

    I have a small number of files in the default 'Music' folder in OneDrive.

    Checked yesterday and they showed when I went to Albums and then selected 'Streaming' from the 'Showing' drop down.

    This morning, I found the titles were fully searchable and the album art had refreshed.

    Haven't tested on my old iphone but will tonight.

  • Microsoft are really smashing it. While for me I'd rather my own music stored on the device so I could listen where I can't stream, this would be awesome to stream my music while at work on the wireless.

    I guess you could set a WM phone to sync the music folder offline if you had enough space (I gave up my WM phone at work so can't test)

    It's a nice eco system Microsoft are building with OneDrive at the centre. Windows 10 is shaping up well, Office 365 is affordable with an additional 1tb of storage. I'm almost at the stage to ditch iOS. They just need the killer phone. Maybe the news of Android to Windows 10 ROMs is what I've been waiting for…

    • +2

      Office 365 actually gives you unlimited storage now, though it hasn't been rolled out to everyone yet.

      I'm loving "new" Microsoft. They're hitting pretty much everything they do out of the park.

      • If you haven't received the unlimited storage just contact support and they will give you 15TB of storage until your account gets the unlimited upgrade.

  • This is nifty, but I must say since I don't pay for data on my phone and having various music services. I actually have no digital music left on any of my devices.

    PS: xbox music is great for parties through the xbox as they also display the music video in most cases.

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