In yet another rebranding for its media apps and services, Microsoft has gone ahead and changed the name of its music streaming service Xbox Music to Groove- at least on Windows 10, according to the latest build that is now available. Xbox Video, meanwhile, is now called Movies and TV, which is, I guess, a far more descriptive, but far less exciting from a branding perspective, name.

Note that these changes are essentially aesthetic branding changes only, and nothing about the service itself will change. For instance, if you were hoping that the ad supported, free streaming tier of Xbox Music would return with this change, you’d be out of luck. The service will continue without any changes.

With Xbox One getting a whole host of Windows 10 inspired changes (and Windows 10 itself) later this year, these branding changes will doubtless follow on that system too. Although let’s be honest, calling it Xbox Music on, you know, an Xbox actually does make some sense.

In what might be the most self defeating piece of news (or anything, really) that I have ever written, I am here to tell you that earlier today, Xbox Live was down, and users worldwide were reporting problems with the service; according to the service support page, users were reporting a full range of problems, including issues logging in, issues with TV, Music, and Video, and issues with Xbox Music Store and Xbox Video Store.

“We know some of you are unable to sign in to Xbox Live, and we’re on it,” Microsoft said. “Thanks for your patience while we work to correct this issue. Another update is coming your way in 30 minutes.”

The good news is, the issue is already fixed, so you don’t need to worry about any of it. So, literally everything that I just wrote up there? You can ignore all of that.

I just like wasting your time.

In one of the sadder concessions of defeat Microsoft have made, they have announced that the free, ad supported Xbox Music streaming service will cease to operate on December 1, effectively pulling the service out of the arena where it faced off against the behemoth Spotify, and smaller minnows like Sony’s Music Unlimited and Apple’s iTunes Radio. It’s sad because Xbox Music was actually pretty good.

From then on, only the subscription based option, called Music Pass and available for $10 per month, will be available. Music Pass lets you stream on any Microsoft device, and offline listening on PCs, tablets and phones.

In addition, any music that you purchase will be available on PCs, tablets, and phones, and any playlist created without a subscription will still be viewable, though you will need to subscribe to actually play the songs.

If you own an Xbox One or an Xbox 360 and want to continue using Xbox Music to its fullest, subscribing might be a good idea.

Gracenote is a Sony service that lets music storefronts and clients list recommendations for users based on a unique algorithm. Microsoft has signed up Gracenote to incorporate it within its Xbox Music service to improve its performance, reports The Inquirer.

“A big frustration for music fans is having to completely rebuild their collections when switching between streaming or download services,” said Gracenote president Stephen White.

“Gracenote music recognition and data will make it easy for Xbox Music users to migrate their collections to the cloud without searching, repurchasing or even uploading.”

Gracenote will scan your existing library, and then match it with the Xbox Music cloud servers, letting you migrate your existing library without any issues.

Xbox Music is available on PCs, Android, iOS, Windows Phone, Windows 8, and Xbox One. Microsoft and Sony collaborating to make a service on the Xbox One better is pretty hilarious, but ultimately indicative of the symbiotic design of the games industry.

Microsoft actually gained some goodwill when they announced Xbox Music on Xbox One would have free music streaming via an ad supported model- something that rival Spotify already does. However, the statement, which was made on Twitter, appears to have been an honest mistake, as Microsoft confirmed that after a complementary free 15 songs, people will have to subscribe to Xbox Music.

‘I was wrong about Music on XboxOne: You get 15 free song plays then need Music Pass for ad-free streaming. No ad-supported streaming. Sorry!’ wrote Albert Panello on his Twitter.

Xbox Music currently supports free, ad supported music streaming on web browsers and Windows 8. Like its rival Spotify, however, this model does not extend to other devices, where a subscription must be bought to continue full access to the music library.

Currently, it is unconfirmed whether Microsoft will allow music playback on the console via MP3s or DLNA- just like Sony with the PS4, it is attempting to lock consumers into its services ecosystem.

[Eurogamer]

Microsoft’s Xbox Music, which is their music streaming service (think of it as a rival to Spotify, Pandora, or Sony’s Music Unlimited) has been available on Windows 8, Windows RT, Windows Phone, and obviously, Xbox devices for a year. Now, Microsoft has announced that their service will be expanding; in addition to headlining their music offerings on the upcoming Xbox One, it will also be available on iOS and Android devices.

Xbox Music offers an unusually good deal in that for the first six months, it offers free unlimited streaming of music with no limitations, from its catalog of over 30 million tracks; following the first six months, users who won’t pay are limited to 10 hours a month (similar to Spotify), whereas they can also subscribe to the service for $9 every month (which obviously removes the limitations).

The caveat here, however is that the free streaming will only be available to you if you are running a Windows 8 device, or using the web version, meaning those on an iOS or Android app will need to subscribe; although that sucks, it is, again, like competing services, so it remains a fairly good deal.

In a recent report by Game Informer, Zune Marketplace will be replaced by Xbox Music and Xbox Video, which will also offer unlimited streaming via an Xbox Music Pass. Those with a Zune Music Pass needn’t worry though – you’ll still be able to pick up ten free songs a month. There will of course be other changes, which will be detailed in the coming months as the Xbox One readies for its November release.

Check out the Microsoft FAQ in the meantime for more information regarding Live. In the meanwhile, the Xbox One releases in November alongside Forza Motorsport 5, Dead Rising 3 and according to indications via Xbox.com, Call of Duty: Ghosts.

Microsoft announced Xbox Music, their new music service with over 40 million tracks that will be available across Xbox 360, Windows Phone 7, and Windows 8 devices.

With this, their aim to make the Xbox 360 the living room equivalent of a media device like the iPad becomes more and more apparent.

Of course, this isn’t Microsoft’s first attempt at having a music service- they previously tried doing the same thing with the Zune brand, but that failed miserably. Let’s see how much better they can fare considering that the Xbox brand is probably their most successful brand right now, and that it can act as a Trojan horse to make people more acquainted with the service, similar to how they did with Bing.

It will be launching later this year. We’ll have more details soon.