Microsoft will discontinue Groove Music Pass and music purchase
Microsoft announced plans today to discontinue the company's Groove Music Pass music streaming service, and music purchases in the Windows Store.
The company partnered up with the music streaming service Spotify to give users of its services an option to migrate to the service beginning as early as this week.
Microsoft plans to shut down the functionality to stream, purchase and download music in Groove Music after December 31, 2017. Groove Music itself won't be shut down, but it can only be used to play local music once the switch has been made.
Groove Music changes
Microsoft plans to release an update for Groove Music that includes the option to move music to Spotify. The company plans to release that update to Windows Insiders this week, and make the update available to stable builds of Windows 10 and Xbox One in the week of October 9, 2017.
Existing users of the Groove application may migrate to Spotify in the following way:
- Launch the Groove application on a compatible device and sign in to your account if you are asked to do so.
- Once you are signed in, a popup is displayed in the application that explains what is happening (Groove Music Pass shutting down, migration to Spotify an option).
- Select the "move my music to Spotify" button to start the process.
- The next step depends on whether you are a Spotify customer already or not. If you are, sign in to the Spotify application. If you are not, create a Spotify account to continue with the migration.
- Once you are signed in, you may select the "move music" button in a popup to start the moving of your music collection and playlists from Groove Music to Spotify.
Groove Music Pass content remains available in the Groove Music application until December 31, 2017. Users of Groove Music can move the content to Spotify until at least January 31, 2018.
Groove Music Pass users get 60 days of Spotify Premium access provided that they are eligible.
Microsoft gives no reason for the discontinuation of Groove Music Pass. The most likely explanation is that the service did not perform as well as Microsoft hoped it would be.
Important questions and answers:
- What happens to downloaded music after December 31, 2017?
- All Groove Music Pass content will be unplayable. This includes downloaded tracks, music videos, and streaming music.
- What happens to purchased music after December 31, 2017?
- Purchased music remains playable in the Groove application. It is important that users download and back up all their purchased music, as they won't be able to download it after December 31, 2017 anymore.
- What happens to playlists?
- Playlists that you have created will be migrated. Playlists that you follow won't be available anymore, and they won't be migrated.
- What about Groove Music on older devices?
- Migration is not supported on older devices, e.g. Windows 8.1 or Xbox 360. A Windows 10 or Xbox One device is required to migrate to Spotify.
- What about subscriptions that extend beyond December 31, 2017?
- Microsoft plans to give customers a refund. Either in form of refunds issued to the credit card or payment instrument on file if possible, or in form of a 120% Microsoft Gift card.
Can we at LEAST expect to be able to remove Groove Music from our devices??
I have a Lumia mobile phone running Windows 10 Mobile. Happily, it’s a spare phone we keep in the car. One of the reasons I don’t care for it is the amount of unremovable rubbish pre-installed. (Android? I know I know – don’t get me started.)
Including Groove, which I’ve never used and never wanted. But it’s not just ON my phone – it seems determined to run all the time whether I want it or not. So now MS are telling me I can’t use it anyway??? Then at least let me REMOVE it you %^*:@~# !!!!
Probably not that important as I understand the whole Windows mobile scene is about to become history. Not a huge problem for me, other than I have to wonder why MS imagine I might EVER want to buy another product bearing their name??!!
Groove Music is a streaming service right now, but after Dec 31, it’ll just be a fancy name for the local music player. There are almost no *mobile* OS’s where you can actually remove built-in apps.
And what if I only use the Groove web interface and Groove Android client? Can I move my collection to Spotify as well then?
Edit: doesn’t seem like it. Crap. Gonna install Windows 10 in a virtual machine then just to move my collection.
M$ introduced Groove Music subscriptions with Win 10 in 2015/2016. It could not compete on a level-playing field = not many customers/subscribers, so M$ are now forced to discontinue it.
……. Similarly, for the discontinuing Windows Lumia smartphones, which could not compete against Android smartphones.
Windows desktop OS, ie Win 7/8.x/10, has not much competition = M$ arrogance. How come there are no paid OS like well-supported Win 7/8.x/10 or no free desktop OS like well-supported Android.?
Actually, MS introduced these subscriptions much earlier than 2015. It was previously called XBox Music. In 2015, they changed the name to Groove and in 2016, they changed it to a subscription-only service (it used to be 30 days trial, then subscription-only).
Beats me why they didn’t have many subscribers. They had more songs than Spotify and are a much bigger company than Spotify as well. I loved Groove and I’m still using it to this day. The only negative thing I can think of is that the streaming through the Android client has always been spotty: it frequently craps out in the middle of a song. Then you hit pause and play and usually, it starts playing the rest of the song.
Exactly. They promise you they are committed to something and pretty soon they abandon it instead of continuing to improve it. Everyone knows this by now which is why people avoid the Windows Store ecosystem except for free shit which is still nowhere near as good as Win32 programs. Even as far as any features are concerned, they always kill and abandon the best ones to sell something new that’s trending at the moment. This is what Microsoft does – they cannot commit for the long-term on anything which is why Windows is going down. Always screwing people.
Eh, I’m a Groove user but I don’t use Windows. I use the web client and Android app. So this doesn’t have anything to do with the Windows Store.
Kind of missing my point. They discontinue everything shortly after people have invested in it. They are fickle minded and have no concept of committing to something for a longer time.
“If you buy apps/ebooks on Windows 10, finger cross that it will still works in 2020.”
You’re optimistic.
Users will be lucky if their stuff still works after the next W10 update. :(
I don’t know why anyone would buy anything from MS anymore.
Microsoft is always like this, and I no longer trust their platform anymore. Every item you’ve purchased becomes unusable on newer platforms. Windows/Windows phone 7, 8, 8.1, 10 for example. It is just a never ending reiteration of the same abandonment starting from XP era. If you buy apps/ebooks on Windows 10, finger cross that it will still works in 2020. Totally different from amazon.