Love or hate Windows 8, you have to give Microsoft credit for its tenacity. Most companies would’ve tucked their tail between their legs and run home crying after the disaster that was Zune, but Microsoft doubled down to bring a better-than-before effort rebranded as Xbox Music to its Live Tile-equipped ecosystem. With unlimited music streaming and the ability to buy individual tracks, Xbox Music looks like a hit on the Surface. (Get it?) But how does the new music streaming contender stack up to Spotify?
Device support and ease-of-use are important, but when it comes down to brass tacks, the real reason to subscribe to a music service is for, well, the music. Xbox Music and Spotify stand neck-and-neck if you plan on sticking to streaming, with each offering around 18 million on-demand songs. Even the coverage gaps are largely similar; neither service streams Pink Floyd, The Beatles, or Led Zeppelin, for example.
Xbox Music earns the nod here because many of the artists that aren’t available for streaming can nevertheless be downloaded (after being paid for) as stand-alone albums and tracks, in à-la-carte iTunes fashion. Spotify doesn’t match that ability, but Microsoft’s advantage doesn’t matter if you’re only interested in streaming songs.
Xbox Music focuses on its oh-so-attractive design to the occasional detriment of usability. “Too Close,” indeed.
Winner: Xbox Music
With all tunes being equal on the selection front, let’s take a look at pricing: Which streaming service dishes out dirty deeds dirt cheap? Again, it’s a close call. Disregarding the à-la-carte Xbox Music Store downloads, a full subscription to either streaming service costs $10 per month, and each offers up free and unlimited ad-supported listening, as well.
Spotify shines in the details, however. The old hand offers truly unlimited ad-supported listening, while Xbox Music says its free ride drops to a fixed number of monthly hours after half a year of rocking out. Spotify also offers a $5/month plan for listeners who want to ditch the ads on their PC client but don’t want the full subscription’s mobile and home theater device support.
Winner: Spotify
Speaking of device support, people who haven’t drunk the Microsoft Kool-Aid need not apply at Xbox Music. The service’s native Windows 8 inclusion is a killer feature that services like Spotify can only dream about, but Xbox Music’s non-PC support is limited to the Xbox 360 and the Windows Phone 8 handsets—you know, the phone platform that isn’t selling any units. Microsoft promises Android and iOS support will pop up sometime in the next year, but Windows Phone 7 and Windows 7 users will be stuck with Zune Marketplace forever.
Or, more likely, Spotify. Spotify works with Windows 7 and Windows 8 alike, while a $10 premium subscription opens up streaming to all the major mobile phone platforms and several major home theater electronics.
Winner: Spotify
Click the next page for round four (audio quality), round 5 (interface), and the final conclusion
Comments are closed on this article
Modred189
March 26, 2013 at 9:54am
I'll be sticking with my ZunePass until tehy tear it from my cold dead hands. I love my 10 songs per month, add-free streaming and my Zune HDs.
broodwich
March 23, 2013 at 9:23am
What about Rhapsody? I think they are a hidden gem no one ever talks about. I started with Napster's service and then stayed with Rhapsody when they bought them out a couple years ago. I've tried Spotify several times now and can't stand the playlist style they have.
dotCARBON
March 21, 2013 at 7:37pm
The part about Xbox Music being limited after six months is only true for the free version. You're never limited with a subscription.
remc86007
March 21, 2013 at 6:30pm
"Love or hate Windows 8, you have to give Microsoft credit for its tenacity. Most companies would’ve tucked their tail between their legs and run home crying after the disaster that was Zune, but Microsoft doubled down to bring a better-than-before effort rebranded as Xbox Music to its Live Tile-equipped ecosystem."
You obviously do not actually use the Xbox Music app daily if you think it is better than Zune.
I will never understand why Microsoft ditched the fabulous application that Zune had become.
DDRDiesel
March 21, 2013 at 5:31pm
Might want to update this article. An official Pandora app was released for the Windows 8 platform (Including Windows Phone) and gives users of the app a free year of listening, courtesy of Microsoft
rmiller1959
March 22, 2013 at 8:04am
In fact, Pandora's new app is for Windows Phone 8 only, at least for now. It's probably a safe bet that a Windows 8 version is not far behind, but it hasn't been officially announced yet:
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-pandora-windows-phone-20130321,0,5838480.story?track=rss&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+latimes%2Ftechnology+%28L.A.+Times+-+Technology+News%29
If I'm mistaken, I'd love to see a link to a Windows 8 app. I've been using a couple of Pandora clones (PRadio and Graffiti Radio) and, while they work fine, I'd prefer the real thing.
DDRDiesel
March 25, 2013 at 10:51am
I was actually discussing this with a coworker today, and we came to a revelation: Why use a desktop application for Windows 8 when you can just go to the website? I would personally like to see a Windows 8 app as well, mainly for an easy-to-use interface without having to take up iexplore.exe processes (Not to mention background memory), but it would also seem redundant to me when I can just as easily pin a start screen shortcut to the site
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