Microsoft has finally given a release date for its new premium music streaming service for its Xbox 360 console that is looking set to remove the Zune Music features currently available.
Tech website The Verge is reporting that Microsoft will launch the new service in the US on October 26th which will coincide with the official launch of the Windows 8 operating system, so some tie in can be expected.
Any customers who are already on the Zune service will be automatically rolled over onto the new Xbox Music premium service, and customers who want to use the feature can register interest immediately and then when the service goes live Microsoft will make the account live.
Microsoft hasn’t yet officially revealed the service, but thanks to a few leaks we know that it will cost £8.99 per month or £89.90 for an entire year, and that subscriptions are known as ‘Music Passes’. Gamers will also require a Gold subscription to the Xbox LIVE service in order to stream music on their console.
It’s also all but confirmed that Microsoft will offer an advert-supported free subscription model for the service, just as Spotify does now. It’s not yet clear whether the service will limit users to a certain number of listens per week or month, however.
The removal of the Zune branding is a move by Microsoft to bring all of its successful brands together in a similarly feeling format, with Windows 8 being the focal point of all of this change. There has been talk of the Xbox Music service being used on other devices via Microsoft’s SkyDrive service for syncing music and playlists across multiple devices through the cloud.
This would mean that users may be able to play music and playlists from an Xbox account on Windows 8 and Windows Phone devices after the launch.
There is no official information on the Xbox Music features but with the US pricing already leaked and now the release date, there is very little information to come from Microsoft themselves except a confirmation.
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