Microsoft has recently given its music services a much needed overhaul and the new service is called Xbox Music. It’s already available on the new Xbox dashboard update as well as on Windows 8.
Windows 8 has built in Xbox Music too and comes with some excellent local as well as cloud based features.
Xbox Music has been designed to work across multiple devices and allow for a more seamless music playing experience. You’ll be able to buy music from the phone using the store and later either stream or download that purchase to another device like your Surface tablet or Windows 8 laptop.
Windows Phone 8 will allow you to see download or stream previous purchase from your ‘cloud collection’
Playlists created on any Xbox Music devices are now synced, meaning you can create rich playlists on your laptop or Xbox and have that show up on your Windows Phone 8 device.
The new Buzz Panel will show you a selection of information from Twitter feeds, images and the news when you’re browsing an artist in the Xbox Music Store.
Windows Phone 8 also has Xbox Music pass, allowing you to stream or download as much music you like to your phone. Taking full advantage of the cloud, you’ll be able to send music you started playing on your Windows Phone to your Xbox 360. The Xbox Music pass combined with the Xbox, Windows Phone 8 and your Windows 8 machines will provide a compelling way to enjoy your music.
Podcasts are also still supported on Windows Phone 8 but unfortunately this feature is still for the US only. We have written in length on this with regards to Windows Phone 7 and were hoping this would change with their latest version. Podcasts can only be downloaded while connected to Wi-Fi to ensure your data plan isn’t used too much.
Windows Phone 8 now has SD Storage where you’ll be able to store your own content and from the phone you can move content from the device to the card.
What do you think of the new Xbox Music features of Windows Phone 8? Let us know in the comments below...
