In October, Microsoft announced its plans to throw in the towel against Spotify and gut Groove Music of its streaming and purchasing features. While the shutdown wasn't immediate, Microsoft did state the streaming portion of Groove Music, as well as music sales, would end on December 31. With the cutoff just a month out, Microsoft has now started sending out emails to Groove users, reminding them of the service's impending end.
If you purchased any music from Groove, you'll want to make sure you've downloaded your tracks by December 31. You can do so by navigating to your music collection in Groove and selecting the "Purchased" filter. Right-click on your purchased tracks and select download to save them.
If you're a Groove Music Pass subscriber, you'll also want to find an alternative ahead of December 31. Microsoft is guiding people toward Spotify, offering an easy mechanism to transfer music and playlists between the apps. You'll have until January 31, 2018, Microsoft says, to move music and playlists from Groove to Spotify using the link from within Groove.
Keep in mind that the Groove app for Windows 10 and Xbox will continue to function and see updates. However, you'll only be able to use the app to play locally-stored music or stream your own collection from OneDrive. The features being removed include Radio, Explore, Recommended, store purchases for music, and music video playback.
Have you made the jump to Spotify or any other streaming service yet?
