Xbox Music out today: Spotify and iTunes slayer revealed

The Gadget Show  Monday 15 October 2012

We heard last week that Xbox Music would be arriving on 26 October with the grand debut of Windows 8, but it’s actually launched even earlier. That’s right: on Xbox 360, it’s out today. Microsoft’s lifted the lid on all the details on it so read on to find out what it can do.

Starting today, you can find Xbox Music on your Xbox 360: the service requires an £8.99 per month subscription on Microsoft’s game console, much like Zune Music did, but you can start off with a 30-day trial. The music catalogue also boasts a library of 70,000 music videos to watch on the big screen, and when Windows 8 arrives, you’ll be able to sling tracks from your computer to your console, much like you will be able to with the YouTube app for Sony PS3.

Spotify Music streaming hits Samsung TVs!

Xbox Music isn’t just a Spotify-style subscriber streaming service though. Oh no. When it launches on Windows 8 on 26 October, you’ll be able to listen to radio-style music stations with ads for free (much like Pandora or Nokia Music), as well as download individual songs for purchase like Apple’s iTunes. It’s also be available on Windows Phone 8 at launch soon afterwards.

Microsoft’s also aiming higher, and announcing more features coming in the next year. Those include a cloud locker for your songs, like Amazon’s Cloud Player, plus support for other platforms, which more than likely means apps for iPhone and Android.

Xbox Music certainly sounds ambitious, though Microsoft has a lot of catching up to do. Will this be enough? Check it out in action in the video below and let us know what you make of it in the coments.