Anyone Else Sad to See Groove Music Pass Go?

[tgirv4]

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.

 

[EyeoftheHawke]

One of the things that MSFT management at the top is missing is that they are trying to sub-optimize the components of their eco system. The profitability of the whole has to be one item. If you sub-optimize the parts you cannot build the whole. They will continue to fail under current management because of a lack of vision and commitment to their stated goals. Time for new management!

 

[tgirv4]

Mixed Feelings. The demise of Groove is just another "same old, same old" Microsoft move where the little guy gets the shaft. *SIGH* Long-term thinking at Microsoft appears to include Windows 10 and Office products. Mostly Enterprise markets. Where consumer products like music services are concerned I'd say Microsoft is a rudderless ship.
I used and loved Windows phones for years but recently surrendered and bought a BB KeyOne running Android N, when another in the long list of essential apps went away. Groove was my music service and player from its inception, just like Zune before it. Both were fine and worked as well as most anything else out there.
I'm thankful for being able to download my purchased content so now it's goodbye Groove and on to something that will hopefully be around longer.

 

[Gregory Newman]

Microsoft's it appears from now on will kill any component of their system of software, Servise or
hardware they fell doe not work well. unfortunately Windows smart phones and grove Music did
not make the money and usage Microsoft felt they should have. in the case of smart phones.
I still think MS CEO Nadella is wrong to think there should be only 2 barands of smart phones
on the Market place. Microsoft will suffer because it dies not have a smart phone unless the Phone that does not look like a smart phone comes to the market place CEO Nadella said Microsoft will bring to the market place.

 

[KeegdnaB42]

I'll miss Groove but the reality is it just didn't have the scale to compete. Without the userbase it wasn't going to be anything more than an afterthought to the big music labels and that cost it things like exclusives and even new releases dropping at midnight. As for Spotify, there's definitely things I like and dislike about it. The connect function that passes your now playing between devices is a great thing and their iPhone app is a lot more polished than Groove.

I have to wonder if this deal has been in the works for awhile and they were just waiting for the Xbox app to be ready because that would be one truly the big loss if they shut down Groove without it because I have to believe Xbox users were a good chunk of what userbase they had.

Assuming this deal involves Microsoft dumping some cash into Spotify, it should mean eventually they'll move to a true UWP app and hopefully add OneDrive integration. It will also put them in a better position if Spotify keeps losing money and decides to put themselves up for sale in the near future. If they stayed truly independent I wouldn't put it past Google to try and snatch them up since I don't think Play Music is doing *that* much better than Groove so if Microsoft has any intention of keeping a foot in the consumer door cozying up to Spotify will at the very least keep them away from Google even if they don't necessarily buy them themselves.

 

[DaleAStiles]

Why am I not surprised? I have invested in Microsoft many times since I got my start in computers in the late 80's. Each time I have been left with hardware that gets tossed in a box, another relic in the life and times of things that Microsoft abandoned. This time it is time and money invested in Music and Movies that can't be watched on any other platform. My future music and movie purchases will be on a physical disk. No more of this digital format that gets abandoned.

 

[Hophead1994]

I got 3 months free using Microsoft points in the store and I was planning on subscribing in November when it expired. I have around 6000 songs I own on my phone and I used the service to find and buy songs to add to my collection. Now that it is ending and the Spotify app sucks on Windows phones I'll go back to buying from Amazon because I don't like iTunes.

If Microsoft had popular hand held devices this wouldn't be happening but since they failed in that market they've lost out on many opportunities.

 

[lrdvdr]

I work at a school in administration which, like most schools, blocks Social Media (specifically FB). I liked Groove because it was embedded within Windows 10 and presented in a way which made its interface and use super easy. I am not going to bask Spotify - I attempted to create an account, which might have been successful, except it wants to bring FB into the login process. At that point, I can't access it when I'm at work. Many 3rd party music services do that because they pander to the young listener, who want to talk to others about their love of Justin Bieber. That's their choice, just as it will be mine to switch platforms to either Amazon, Google, or Apple Music. I'm dissappointed in Microsoft. Instead of being a partner with somebody to improve Groove, they bailed to a 3rd party random music provider - and it could have been any. Please tell me again why I fill out the feedback survey's for Microsoft when it is obvious when we are giving them isn't being heeded in any way?

 

[Rensul]

Very, very unfortunate but I'm glad Groove as an app will still be around. IHeartRadio fills the gap for me while still able to use Groove for listening to my personal music collection which is the majority of the time anyway.

Having said that, this cancellation has a particular sting to it - not sure why exactly but it made me truly question where Microsoft is heading in the consumer space.

 

[Lepoete]

Doesn't affect me. Never subscribed to streaming services, I only use the app to play locally stored music and the app will still be around for that.

 

[Random Thoughts]

One of the things that MSFT management at the top is missing is that they are trying to sub-optimize the components of their eco system. The profitability of the whole has to be one item. If you sub-optimize the parts you cannot build the whole. They will continue to fail under current management because of a lack of vision and commitment to their stated goals. Time for new management!

I have tried to explain this many times internally, but they seem to think I'm crazy to think that sometimes you have to focus on the forest, not just the trees. The whole ecosystem matters, not just the individual pieces of it.

Then again this is the same company (and I don't know if they're still trying this) that was trying to find a way to make the Xbox Support teams profitable.

Not Xbox, but the actual Xbox Support teams themselves. It took me 3 months to get them to understand (or at least pretend they understood) that Support is a sunken cost to help create customer loyalty through good support and also expands your customer base through word of mouth.

It's one of those 'spend money to make money' scenarios. Support itself will never be profitable, but can help add to the overall profits via customer retention and loyalty from having great support for a product.

When I would try to explain this some folks seemed to get it, others it seemed like it totally escaped them.

 

[negative1ne]

Sorry, never used groove pass. or the app. Always stuck with ZUNE, so it has no impact on me.
sorry for the people that used it. hopefully spotify is better.

later
-1

 

[AltanJace19]

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 unaffacted by this. Microsoft did not make any effort into bringing many of Groove's services beyond North America and Europe. As someone who lives in the Asia Pacific, I am disappointed that I couldn't avail some of MS services just because it is regionally locked. I would've been willing to give the Music Pass a try but yeah, I don't have a credit card with dollars in it lol. Spotify is great for me because 1) it allows me to listen to music from our country and 2) I can pay for a subscription in our country's currency.

 

[Brian Mueller]

Sad, no. Angry, yes. Groove in isolation is no problem. But groove is not in isolation it is part of an ecosystem. Closing Groove is a message that any asperations for consumer ecosystem is gone. Any trust the store had for Games, Movies, or Books is gone. Invoke, which I had planned on buying is DOA. Surface phone dream dead. We were so close. I'm angry because MS had the most potential to have the most compelling ecosystem. It always seemed liked MS would support things like Windows phone or Groove with one one hand and undermine it with the other. They always said they were all in on phone, then immediately after they would do something that would diminished the confidence in it. Did Nadella actively try to kill it? I don't know, but they never seemed fully committed.

 

[neo158]

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 think a solution to this would be plugins for Groove to add services and stores. This would allow people to continue using Groove but have access to third party services as well.

 

[FunGuy13]

Not surprised...I thought they would have sold it off...anyway because I have been burned in the past by MSFT (Zune HD, Band, Surface RT), I hedged my bets by also being in an Amazon ecosystem. MSFT seems to have lost its stomach for the personal consumer market. Since I purchased all my music from Amazon, I will not migrate to Spotify, but subscribe to Amazon's Unlimited Music service. I am a Prime Member, so my annual service will be discounted. Only pain for me is that there is no way for me to import my Groove playlists, which is extensive and compiled over 10 years from Zune days...

 

[M_A_Adams]

What will be next? Cortana? Bing? XBOX? Windows? Probably not office, that is their big cash cow -- at least until apple or android can muscle in on that too....

 

[Cerif27]

I feel you man. Objectively it's the most fully featured and almost the most widely available. I've had countless conversations with friends trying to find something with the same features that's on all of my devices. There is NOTHING out there I have been made aware of that fits the bill. This is a HUGE disappointment.

Not to mention my subscription (which I had since the first day it launched) happened to expire on the day before they cancelled the service. Thus putting me in a situation where I couldn't re-up, couldn't connect my playlist to spotify, and now for some reason can't even LOOK at my list because they deleted everything I had carefully curated since the service began.

I'm moving over to android at the end of the month. Reluctantly. I've been with WP since day one of WP7 and I was doing it with the confidence I would still have groove. So pissed right now.

 

[Cerif27]

Cortana and bing will be next I would guess. And like everything else it will either be a surprise and immediate announcement or they will just let them slowly die without saying a word.

 

[ChrisLynch]

I totally understand where you are coming from. I have tried the Spotify app on both PC and Mobile (including Android), and I must say I hate the UX. Not only is the UI dreadful, I can't even play my local collection (which is synced with OneDrive) at all. I don't want to always stream content that I already own and have.

I find it so infuriating that MS had a great service in Zune, expanded the library with Xbox Music, which became Groove, over Apple. Then Apple launched their Apple Music streaming service and quickly leapfrogged them. All the while MS didn't advertise a single instance or time for Groove. And no, I'm not including the one time someone may have launched the Groove app in Windows 10. The Surface team does a decent job of advertising the hardware devices, but what about your services MS. They truly have given up on the consumer, which is a death sentence.