Xbox Music on Xbox One

[coip]

I don't have an Xbox Music subscription, but I have Xbox Music apps on a plethora of my devices: two PCs running Winodws 8.1 (one at work, one at home), a Surface RT tablet, a Lumia 928 Windows Phone, and an Xbox One. Below I will list my understanding of the options for using Xbox Music on the devices above without an Xbox Music Pass.

• Windows 8.1 PCs = play .mp3s in your library that are on that PC (no commercials), stream .mp3s in your library that are on other PCs (with commercials), stream radio and songs that are not in your collection, kind of like Grooveshark or Pandora (with commercials)
• Windows RT Tablet = same as Windows 8.1 PCs above plus the ability to stream 10 hours of music free per month (not sure if this is the same as Windows 8.1, but it explicity says it when I use this app).
• Windows Phone 8 = can only play music that I have on the device itself; cannot stream my cloud collection; cannot stream radio/songs like Pandora.
• Xbox One = cannot seem to do anything except for serving as a passive recipient from a Windows 8.1 PC using the Play-To
• I'm not sure if it's possible to physically import songs to the Xbox One hard drive (perhaps via the USB port, but I know of no file manager on the Xbox OS), but it definitely cannot stream my music collection from the cloud, nor am I even able to stream radio with commercials a la Pandora like I can on the Winodws 8 and RT devices. Is the Xbox Music app on Xbox One really so limited to those without a subscription? Even for Gold subscribers? After a very brief free trial, it no longer lets me stream any songs (say, like Pandora would), and it also cannot access my library in the cloud, so I can't even play the songs I own. The only work around I've found is if I open up Music on my Home Laptop and use the Play To function to stream it to Xbox Music on Xbox One that way. Am I correct then in my understanding of Xbox Music on Xbox One? Why wouldn't they adopt a Pandora-esque platform that can be supported by commercials? Seems like a no-brainer. At the very least, it should be able to stream my library from the cloud.

 

[Christopher Senn]

ya im not too experienced with Xbox Music. I had the app on android 3 months ago, and it was like an app that was made back in 2009...actually worse.
Ive been reading reviews about the thing since im looking into WP8. No idea whats up with the XB1 and MS. Figured it would of had a stronger launch support. I would think enventually XBM will support streaming and cloud services on all devices for free. Most other services do. Cant you play it via skydrive?

 

[InvisGhost]

The cloud streaming isn't really what you think, it doesn't upload files that you then stream from other devices (like what Google Play Music Does). It matches your music with what it has in the marketplace. This means you won't get your personal song you recorded onto the cloud but you can get that popular pop song without a problem. Only the Xbox Music app on Windows 8 can do this music matching at the moment.

Xbox One music's features are exactly the same as the Xbox 360's. Streaming only. I believe you can create playlists that sync to your other devices but I'm not positive. The gold subscription is still required if you plan to use the Xbox Music app.

As far as the free streaming that you're referring to, they are doing a trial run on the PC's and with music.xbox.com. You can stream from there with commercials but that hasn't been rolled out to other devices and I'm not sure if it will.

 

[Christopher Senn]

Ok update lets you download your music to the device.
Now can I do anything for free with Xbox Music? Or do i have to shell out the money to do even the simpliest of functions available for free from other apps?

 

[InvisGhost]

Any music you've purchased previously can be streamed for free and if you access the music.xbox.com website you should be able to stream music from there for free.

Why don't you just try and see what you can do without paying instead of asking the question?

 

[coip]

I really don't get why Microsoft doesn't make the Xbox Music app on Xbox One on par with the Xbox Music apps on all other platforms for non-subscribers: should have ad-supported radio, plus it should be able to play your cloud-synced library, with ads.

I want to be an Xbox Music user but I just do not see the benefit of paying $9.99 per month to temporarily borrow music when other sites let me do the same thing for just a few ads (Pandora, Grooveshark, etc.). If part of that $9.99 subscription was like Games with Gold and allowed me to permanently own and keep two songs per month and gave me discounts on other song purchases, then we'd have ourselves a deal. But as is, I just can't justify the costs. It's the same reason I think Games with Gold is better than PS+'s 'free' games deals: you don't get to keep the games forever. I don't like glorified rental programs.

 

[kingkoopa09]

well for starters xbox music for 9.99 allows library over nearly +30mil songs to download or stream through your devices on demand. so the price of 1 cd a month u have access to nearly every song that is out and will come out that month. with the cloud most of my songs travel seemless from web, to xboxone, wp8, to w8.1. if im not mistaken xbox is the largest library of them all. last i saw was like 28 mil to itunes 25 and the rest goes down from there with spotify and the rest at around 20mil

 

[coip]

well for starters xbox music for 9.99 allows library over nearly +30mil songs to download or stream through your devices on demand. so the price of 1 cd a month u have access to nearly every song that is out and will come out that month. with the cloud most of my songs travel seemless from web, to xboxone, wp8, to w8.1. if im not mistaken xbox is the largest library of them all. last i saw was like 28 mil to itunes 25 and the rest goes down from there with spotify and the rest at around 20mil

That's a pretty good library, but I already give Microsoft so much money. They need like a "Premium Microsoft" annual subscription option where I can get:
1. Xbox Live Gold
2. Office 365
3. Skype Premium
4. SkyDrive extra storage
5. Xbox Music
6. Xbox Video (make it like Netflix)

All of that in one nice subscription, at a reduced rate. Instead of having to pay them all separately. By the time I get down to the Xbox Music one, I'm feeling pretty fleeced.

 

[Stephen Burysek]

That's a pretty good library, but I already give Microsoft so much money. They need like a "Premium Microsoft" annual subscription option where I can get:
1. Xbox Live Gold
2. Office 365
3. Skype Premium
4. SkyDrive extra storage
5. Xbox Music
6. Xbox Video (make it like Netflix)

All of that in one nice subscription, at a reduced rate. Instead of having to pay them all separately. By the time I get down to the Xbox Music one, I'm feeling pretty fleeced.

I agree they should at least have a premium XBL membership that includes Xbox Music and Video. Also agree that Xbox Video should be like Netflix. If they did all that, it would be the perfect service!