We’ve heard a lot of complaints from the community about the Xbox Music app since its release. And the lot of you have become even more vocal since upgrading to Windows Phone 8.1. In Windows Phone 8.1, the Music hub we’ve had since Windows Phone 7 has been dropped. You can still get it with a few tricks, but it’s really dead for all intents and purposes. Microsoft is pinning the future of audio entertainment with the Xbox Music app – now just called Music in the Windows Phone Store.
Today we’re getting our third update to Xbox Music for Windows Phone since the release of Windows Phone 8.1. Let’s jump in and find out what Microsoft fixed and added with this update.
First up, let’s go over what’s been happening with Xbox Music the past month.
When Windows Phone 8.1 came out, the Music hub was hidden and Xbox Music was made your music player. You can use apps like Music Hub tile to jump into the old music player, but it’s really time to move on. Hopefully Microsoft can update Xbox Music to live up to the expectations of the community.
The first update to Xbox Music, version 2.5.2842.0, came on Friday the 25th of April. That update finished off some Cortana integration with playlists, stability fixes and more. The second update, version 2.5.3884.0, came on May 9. This update introduced audio scrubbing, UI fixes, a background initial sync of local and clout content, and more.
Today we’re looking at version 2.5.3929.0 in the Windows Phone Store. Here’s what we get today:
- Swipe the album art on the Now Playing screen to change tracks.
- UI layout changes to make more room for content.
- Minor bug fixes.
Not a bad update! Swipe the album art either up or down to go to the next or previous track. Works well and you get sort of see it in action with the screenshots above.
According to Microsoft here’s what else we have to look forward in the future:
- Continued focus on stability and performance improvements.
- Initial sync of local and cloud content happens in the background.
- Support for greater than 100 songs in Now Playing queue.
- Faster loading of long lists.
- Transparent Tile support.
- Live Tile support.
- Kid’s Corner support.
- General UX improvements.
Grab the new Xbox Music for Windows Phone update and let us know what you think!
Bonus: Xbox Video also has an update. It's now at version 2.5.3929.0, thought Microsoft didn't include a changelog beyond 'minor fixes and improvements'. That means we'll need your help seeing what's new. Sound off in the comments if you notice anything new with Xbox Video.
Via: Xbox Music UserVoice
Thanks for the tip Robin!
