Anyone Else Sad to See Groove Music Pass Go?

fdruid

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Well I guess Microsoft pulled the plug on Groove Music Pass. I'm sure they did it for all the right reasons and it made business sense to do so -- at least I hope.

Looks like the Groove App will remain in tact and isn't going anywhere, but the ability to search and download and seamlessly add music to playlists, along with its seamless integration across my desktop, tablet, android phone, and xbox is going bye-bye.

Looks like they'll be "partnering" with Spotify. Not quite sure what "partnering" means, because you have to go use their software, their app, and while it looks and feels like Groove, I'm not sure what is going to happen to all my songs I've had since 2001. My library is huge.

I've been using Groove Music Pass since 2014, so I haven't bought any songs. I must have hundreds of Music Pass songs. All of which are integrated into my playlists. So I've got songs that are 10 years old, that I out-right own, and I've got other songs that are Music pass only. I understand Groove is porting all of my Music Pass music over to Spotify, which is fine, but what about the songs I own out-right? Do I just have parsed playlists now?

If they were really "partnering" with Spotify, they'd integrate the streaming service into Groove and keep everything seamless.

Sad to see Groove grow with the fluent design, adding music videos, the album art...all of that. Only to be chopped at the knees.

Anyhow, I'm just grieving and venting. Nothing more than that.

Really sad, disappointed, and angry. A major letdown, and it's hard proof of Microsoft not caring about their customers/fans, few or many as they might be.
 

Henk Badenhorst

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Well I guess Microsoft pulled the plug on Groove Music Pass. I'm sure they did it for all the right reasons and it made business sense to do so -- at least I hope.

Looks like the Groove App will remain in tact and isn't going anywhere, but the ability to search and download and seamlessly add music to playlists, along with its seamless integration across my desktop, tablet, android phone, and xbox is going bye-bye.

Looks like they'll be "partnering" with Spotify. Not quite sure what "partnering" means, because you have to go use their software, their app, and while it looks and feels like Groove, I'm not sure what is going to happen to all my songs I've had since 2001. My library is huge.

I've been using Groove Music Pass since 2014, so I haven't bought any songs. I must have hundreds of Music Pass songs. All of which are integrated into my playlists. So I've got songs that are 10 years old, that I out-right own, and I've got other songs that are Music pass only. I understand Groove is porting all of my Music Pass music over to Spotify, which is fine, but what about the songs I own out-right? Do I just have parsed playlists now?

If they were really "partnering" with Spotify, they'd integrate the streaming service into Groove and keep everything seamless.

Sad to see Groove grow with the fluent design, adding music videos, the album art...all of that. Only to be chopped at the knees.

Anyhow, I'm just grieving and venting. Nothing more than that.

I am grieving about the demise of the Windows Phone an would most probably revert to the stalwart: Nokia in due course!
 

jason hendry1

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Well I guess Microsoft pulled the plug on Groove Music Pass. I'm sure they did it for all the right reasons and it made business sense to do so -- at least I hope.

Looks like the Groove App will remain in tact and isn't going anywhere, but the ability to search and download and seamlessly add music to playlists, along with its seamless integration across my desktop, tablet, android phone, and xbox is going bye-bye.

Looks like they'll be "partnering" with Spotify. Not quite sure what "partnering" means, because you have to go use their software, their app, and while it looks and feels like Groove, I'm not sure what is going to happen to all my songs I've had since 2001. My library is huge.

I've been using Groove Music Pass since 2014, so I haven't bought any songs. I must have hundreds of Music Pass songs. All of which are integrated into my playlists. So I've got songs that are 10 years old, that I out-right own, and I've got other songs that are Music pass only. I understand Groove is porting all of my Music Pass music over to Spotify, which is fine, but what about the songs I own out-right? Do I just have parsed playlists now?

If they were really "partnering" with Spotify, they'd integrate the streaming service into Groove and keep everything seamless.

Sad to see Groove grow with the fluent design, adding music videos, the album art...all of that. Only to be chopped at the knees.

Anyhow, I'm just grieving and venting. Nothing more than that.

It's really simple. If you have a player and store that can't even read your media Content, like your music and video files, or a sd card on the best selling phone of 2016_2017 the Samsung s7 and edge then why does. Microsoft think groove could succeed. It's like having a browser that the user can't open new tabs directly. To their home page like all the other browser can. First groove and then it'll be edge next and why, we'll they are both good products but when Microsoft doesn't even give them. The basic essential functionality laity required then they ain't going to sit well with users. We'll done Microsoft.
 

smoheath

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I'm super sad about it. I used it daily on my work computer and my pixel phone. I feel like the recommendation section was spot on. I have been able to find really good stuff every week. Plus I just used my search credits to pay for it. overall it has cost me like $20 over 2 years. But then again, it's probably subscribers like me that made them drop the service since I basically didn't pay for it...
 

SimonMelb

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I was looking forward to the Harmon Kardon Cortana speaker, without Groove its dead to me. I can't believe Microsoft doesn't want to have a presence in Music. Pretty much all devices are becoming mobile, music is mobile, without a presence of their own in music, they are dead, ever if they ever try reentering the market. I just bought a HP Elite X3 and used Groove a lot, now trying to get my money back and hand this POS back.
I won't be buying anything Microsoft again, I've been bitten by them far too many times now.
 

Darkly Pure

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This pretty much the straw that broke the Camels back for me. I'm a Web Developer entrenched in the Microsoft world. Development wise I love Microsoft but, Christ, they really don't know how to treat their supporters. I've been a Groove/Xbox Music/Zune subscriber for some years and loved Groove. I understand, if it was costing them pots of money, cutting the service, but what really sticks in my craw and adds insult to injury is the way they've announced it. I mean, come on, 'We're excited to announce a new partnership' etc. etc. displays a lack of sensitivity of the highest order. So basically they're really saying. We're excited to announce that we're abandoning you, the people who've stuck with us through thick and thin. It beggars belief. What makes it worse, if anything could make it worse, is the fact that Cortana on my Lumia insists (on requesting it to play my music) on attempting to play my music through Groove. In my developer guise, I've been to one too many Microsoft do's where they've stated... 'We have to cater for where the market is' each time someone has asked why they don't support their own bits and pieces. I'm seriously starting to think, 'what's the point, why should I bother with this company'? For a company that must have a lot of clever people in it, they really really act dumb. I've just received an e-mail encouraging me to purchase a series from their store which they should know that I'm highly unlikely to do now that I know they'll probably cancel that service too.
 

Anthony Morgan

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As a Stage Crew Adviser at a high school, Groove was one of the best ways to integrate music and sound effects to create playlists for events, assemblies, and award presentations. Being able to draw from One Drive and Microsoft's Music Catalog allowed me to use current hits that the school kids liked with almost 20 years of collected sound effects.

I have to admit, I am thoroughly puzzled by the decisions being made both at Microsoft and by many consumers, so these thoughts could be skewed.

Microsoft says that the future is in the cloud, but I live on earth. Consumers need devices (computers, smart phones, tablets, iot devices) to connect the earth to the cloud.

Microsoft Innovations
1983 HP pc with a touch screen running MS-DOS
1990 Speech Recognition (Dragon Dictate) comes to Windows
1992 MS releases Windows for Pen Computing (Win 3.1 based)
1996 MS releases Windows CE, an OS for robots, industrial controllers, gas station pumps, voting machines, kiosks, POS terminals, video games, medical equipment, digital music players, interactive televisions, Internet appliances, cameras, etc.
1996 HP OmniGo smartphone could run MS DOS 5.0 and early versions of WINDOWS!
1996 Intellimouse with scroll wheel - integrated with OFFICE 97 (the first scroll wheel mouse appeared in 1995)
1998 AutoPC - First Automotive Operating System (developed with Clarion)
2002 Visual Studio and C# released
2007 Live Search for Windows Mobile with SPEECH RECOGNITION (3 years before Siri)
2010 Kinnect sells 8 million units in 60 days
2015 Hololens shown off to the public
2016 Hololens Developer version ships

Yet they are now giving up control of their future. Platform MATTERS! They are letting Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon control the connection between the users/consumers and Microsoft's services. This would be like having to walk through a McDonalds to get to a Burger King, oh and the McDonalds' manager has the keys to the doors.

As I see it Microsoft is heading down one of two paths:
A) A continual retrenchment that shrinks MS's footprint and relevance in the world that will have them conforming to the companies that will control the consumers access to their services, or
B) A complete rethinking of how technology fits into our lives, including the devices that connect the earth to the cloud.

With his pattern of choices so far, including the shutting down of Groove Music Pass, I fear they are following Path A.

 

AMcDWeb

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Two points.

1. Let me ask a simple question. Did Groove fail due to Microsoft's diminishing footprint in Mobile? If the assumption is a simple "yes" because everyone uses their phones like old fashioned iPods then it tells us something else about Microsoft. They cannot have a singe ambition, or simply think they cannot, or will never compete again in the global consumer mobile marketplace. Simple as that, else you wouldn't kill your music service at this point in time if you had the next big thing waiting just around the corner.

2. Microsoft are no longer prepared to grind out consumer market share. Windows mobile had built up 10% of sales in some countries, even iPhone sales are not much greater in some territories. Look at the band, they had two simple issues to fix, make the straps stronger and fix the battery connectors. People would have been happy with Band 2.1 and wait another year for Band 3. If you destroy consumer confidence in your products and lack commitment then don't be surprised when nobody buys anything you make anymore.
 

constantreader16

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My issue with Groove going away is it seemed like it was the only honest to god part of Windows 10 that Microsoft even cared about. It was constantly getting updates, I think it was still the only mobile app that let you swipe in from the side (wtf Microsoft, every app on android and iOS lets you do that...), it looked great, there were constantly new features, etc.

The Skype app is garbage, especially as a SMS app on Mobile. I still use it right now, but it's on my secondary phone and it is nothing short of atrocious when it comes to SMS.

Movies & TV is alright, but nothing super special there. I don't really buy movies from the store, so I don't care about it. It at least seems to get some love.

Photos is another app that actually has gotten a lot of work and seems to work well, but there is only so much you can do with it.

Outlook Mail and Calendar has for the most part been left behind, but it works very well. No complaints, just no outstanding anything about the effort Microsoft put in.

Point is, it was consistently the only app that they actually seemed to care about, and then they killed it. It's still pretty much the only service that had any focus on you listening to music you purchased not in a digital store, and that's why I liked it so much.
 

Stephen Townsley

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Groove and the music service were one of the many consumer services Microsoft built, badly marketed, rebooted, rebooted again, didn't market and then closed.

It wasn't a core business but like other non-core activities it was built around the idea of ecosystems. Walled gardens of services to lock you in.

However some of these services were too walled in. Music was "upgraded" to Windows 8 applications that were built like fisher price toys. Key marketing like a family plan were not included. The service wasn't global and was presented on devices that a minority of Windows users were using.

Also users were playing more music on mobile and the failure of mobile further diminished user numbers.

Microsoft's foray into consumer was always sat on top of indifference, poor marketing, late implementation, buggy software and flawed strategy. This stands against laser focus in the enterprise space.

With effort they could have developed compelling services but there is no effort being expended just money in the wrong direction to be successful in consumer.

Nadella's enterprise only strategy has doubled the share price and increased profit. Wall Street are happy. People who supported Microsoft's ecosystem as consumers have been pushed to other services.
 

Random Thoughts

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Let's put it this way. After the experiences I've had trying to get my remaining 25-months credited back to my account I will no longer be investing into any Microsoft ecosystem when that's a feasible option.

I say that as a nearly 20-year veteran of Microsoft having worked on Xbox and related teams for a majority of my on-campus working career.

I'm friends with many of the folks in support, Groove, Xbox, Windows, Office, etc.

I know these people. I've been camping with them. I've been white-water rafting with them. I've been there for proposals, weddings, births...so it's a sad day for me when I can say that I no longer want to support my friends teams. I can't because I can't trust that corporate won't yank the rug out and then try to leave customers high and dry like they are doing with me.

It's ridiculous.
 

Aden Rossinni

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It's TERRIBLE. I know that what they have done has been solely done on the grounds of money, and that is disgusting. This will come back to bite them on the ***. Is Spotify making money? No, and if a profit this year - low. Rome wasn't built in a day Microsoft. Just as Groove has become the best service both aesthetically and function wise. Easy to use, great between all devices, the pen and photo application of albums, and now they just f###ing pull the plug. MS needs to listen to what people want and not make **** up in their mind. Weak. Weak. Weak. The arguments people post about it not being viable is bull****. Otherwise Surface devices wouldn't exist today. Dickheads. Yes, I'm pissed because now I'm being forced to go to Spotify. Yuck. Terrible on mobile.
 

badtzbuzz

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i think it is okay because spotify is awesome. microsoft should buy spotify

Enterprise doesn't need a music service... So it's not likely they really buy Spotify. They bought LinkedIn, not Twitter.

Message is pretty clear... Remaining PC and Education services are to lock in habits for Enterprise....Office, 365, Windows 10, etc.

Not sure what use the Cortana speaker will be for?
 

SvenJ

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Bummed, as I use Groove every single day on my desktop for background music and with my iPhone and Pixel. I understand Groove will continue and be able to play local and OneDrive resident tracks. No is the time for MS to do something right. If I am playing Groove in my office and wander to some other room and start Groove, when I get back to the office, it has stopped playing because 'it is playing somewhere else.' OK that's a licensing thing, can't stream two different places (unless you have figured out how to do a family plan like every other service). Now, though, all Groove will only play what I already own. SO, how about getting rid of that one instance restriction? MS isn't renting my the tracks and paying royalties per track on my own music, so no reason to restrict my playing it. How about it MS?
 

Yangstax

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Movies & TV will be the next.

Well I guess Microsoft pulled the plug on Groove Music Pass. I'm sure they did it for all the right reasons and it made business sense to do so -- at least I hope.

Looks like the Groove App will remain in tact and isn't going anywhere, but the ability to search and download and seamlessly add music to playlists, along with its seamless integration across my desktop, tablet, android phone, and xbox is going bye-bye.

Looks like they'll be "partnering" with Spotify. Not quite sure what "partnering" means, because you have to go use their software, their app, and while it looks and feels like Groove, I'm not sure what is going to happen to all my songs I've had since 2001. My library is huge.

I've been using Groove Music Pass since 2014, so I haven't bought any songs. I must have hundreds of Music Pass songs. All of which are integrated into my playlists. So I've got songs that are 10 years old, that I out-right own, and I've got other songs that are Music pass only. I understand Groove is porting all of my Music Pass music over to Spotify, which is fine, but what about the songs I own out-right? Do I just have parsed playlists now?

If they were really "partnering" with Spotify, they'd integrate the streaming service into Groove and keep everything seamless.

Sad to see Groove grow with the fluent design, adding music videos, the album art...all of that. Only to be chopped at the knees.

Anyhow, I'm just grieving and venting. Nothing more than that.
 

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