I didn't like the old music player, it felt like a step backwards coming from the Nokia N9, but 8.1 music player is even worse.
Does anyone else find it ridiculous that when you are playing a song, a third of the screen is taken up displaying the words 'xbox' and 'now playing', and there's a massive amount of free space on the right hand side of the screen. I would have assumed that the UI guys would have placed more emphasis on the important content - the cover art should be front and centre, along with the controls, not the tiny controls & cover art we currently have. At the moment it looks like a big ad for xbox or something. And don't get me started on not being able to swipe next song, or the questionable performance