Microsoft announced that they are officially ending their long-running Groove Music service originally called Zune music and before that MSN music. Microsoft is ending its service with style and class to its long-running die-hard customers by offering customers a seamless transition to Spotify. Microsoft will also stop selling music from the Windows Store but will continue with sell movies, TV, and ebook (only a matter of time I think till this stops).
Groove Music Pass will officially close on December 31, 2017, anyone who has time remaining on their subscription will get a prorated refund which is a good move by Microsoft since many users of this service are Microsoft fanboys and I am sure die-hard Microsoft software users.
Microsoft will keep the Groove app in Windows 10 so users can continue to play music on your PC or on your OneDrive. This I believe is a trade-off since there is still no way for users to upload music to Spotify I would not be surprised if Spotify adds support for uploading or playing personal music storage from OneDrive or Dropbox in the future.
With Spotify on the Xbox, it makes sense for Microsoft to try to push whatever customers they have on Groove Music Pass to them. Spotify is available on the Windows store and does music better than any company on the market right now it’s the choice that makes sense and is a real endorsement for Spotify.
Microsoft had many nice words about Spotify on their blog post
“Which is why we’re excited to announce that we’re expanding our partnership with Spotify to bring the world’s largest music streaming service to our Groove Music Pass customers. Beginning this week*, Groove Music Pass customers can easily move all their curated playlists and collections directly into Spotify. Plus, you may be eligible for a 60-day free trial of Spotify Premium.**”
Microsoft added
“An update to the Groove Music app including the ability to move music to Spotify, will be available for Windows Insiders beginning this week. The Groove Music app update for Windows 10 and Xbox One devices will roll out broadly the week of October 9, 2017 and will enable Groove Music Pass customers to move existing music collections and playlists to Spotify. Groove Music Pass content will be available to move to Spotify until at least January 31, 2018. ”