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NEWS

Microsoft Spotify Rival Could Hit Xbox 360

Tom Ivan's picture

By Tom Ivan

July 14, 2009

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Microsoft will launch a new music streaming service similar to Spotify by the end of this month.

The service will enable users to stream music for free and also download to own.

“Music is an important area for Microsoft. We are looking at launching a music streaming service imminently,” Peter Bale, executive producer of MSN, told the Telegraph. “It will be a similar principle to Spotify but we are still examining how the business model will work.”

Spotify enables free, ad-supported music streaming, or ad-free streaming for a fee of £9.99 a month.

Microsoft will promote its new service through MSN and other parts of the company’s network. The service is likely to feature on the company’s portable Zune media player, and Bale hinted it could also be made available via Xbox Live.

At E3 last month Microsoft also announced plans to offer free music to Gold Xbox Live members through a new partnership with Last.fm streaming radio, which plays home to over 3.5 million songs.

Rival platform holder Sony recently introduced online music streaming service VidZone to PS3 in some PAL territories. The free, ad-supported service launched with 10,000 music videos, and enables users to create a video library and playlists.

OmegaVader's picture
On July 18th OmegaVader said:

I am displeased by this. I was excited about the Last.FM partnership (a site I am an avid member of). I was hoping the Zune HD would feature some Last.FM functionality as a result, but this just dimmed my hopes considerably....

Bharhani2Skulls's picture
On July 14th Bharhani2Skulls said:

Maybe Microsoft will include a usb connection to our microwave ovens to remote start for
our convenience to compete with our significant others!

brothergrim's picture
On July 14th brothergrim said:

Let's hope it has a better user interface than the one used on Vidzone for fuck sake.

SunKing's picture
On July 14th SunKing said:

I'm sort of confused about this. Wouldn't this mean that Last.fm would then be competing with Spotify on the Xbox 360?

Poffle's picture
On July 14th Poffle said:

If true, this will be great news. I don't really have a problem with streaming my own music from my PC to 360/PS3 but with a Spotify type thing I will have access to even more music and don't have to leave my PC on all the time just in case I want to listen to a few songs.

I really like Vidzone too. It's a nice idea having thousands of music videos at the touch of a button. Better than praying they play someone other than Lady fucking Gaga on the music channels.

I love all these new features coming to the consoles. I used to be in the Gamecube way of thinking - it's only supposed to play games, that's all that matters. But now I want them to do everything!