The new Xbox Live Dashboard update goes live today, and will roll out to subscribers worldwide over the next week. Among the new features — like a Sports channel on the U.S. Dashboard, Internet Explorer, and enhanced search capabilities — will be Xbox Music, Microsoft’s refreshed take on their music service.
It’s an expanded, ambitious approach, one that goes far broader than the current Zune model: Xbox Music essentially merges together the functionality of iTunes’s downloadable pay-per-song option, Pandora’s predictive playlists, and Spotify’s Netflix-like offering all in one place. In practice, this means you’ll be able to look up an single artist — say, The Supremes — and a list of all their songs will instantly be generated (à la Spotify) and begin playing. From there, you can jump to other tracks on that playlist, or invoke the Pandora-like Smart DJ function and sit back as other Motown-era musicians pop up in the mix. And if you look up perfomers who haven’t licensed their music for streaming, Microsoft plans to offer the option to buy their music. If you can’t think of an artist, song, or album to look up, no problem: editors’ suggestions as well as lists of what users are most listening to can help jolt you out of your music rut. As our demoer explained, the team’s philosophy is that music shouldn’t be difficult — meaning, you shouldn’t have to go to different services to get what you need.
As part of that mindset, Microsoft will be incorporating other features designed to woo you away from whatever service you’re currently using: namely, a scan-and-match function (whatever local files you already own will be linked to its streaming equivalent on the service [if available], so that your playlists won’t vary even if you’re using Xbox Music on a different gadget), and a cloud-locker option (which allows you to upload unique tracks, like a recording of someone’s piano recital or local files that don’t have a Xbox Music–streaming equivalent, and listen to them from anywhere). Spotify users who’ve been frustrated by not being able to take their complete music collection with them from device to device will likely find this especially enticing.
And if you’re using the 360’s Xbox Music app, you get access to music videos, too — meaning you’ll have access to a Smart VJ function (just like the Smart DJ feature, but for those music vids), as well as create playlists that mix both songs and music videos. You’ll also be able to use the coming Xbox SmartGlass app on a tablet or smartphone to fiddle with playlists, find information on artists or albums, and do other adjustments in the background without affecting what appears on your TV.
All of this doesn’t come free, of course. Free, ad-supported streaming (which includes access to all of the playlist and Smart DJ functionality) will be only available on Windows 8–based tablets and PCs, though you can play songs you own as local files on your 360. For cloud-locker access, use of your subscription on the 360, offline access to music on compatible devices, and no ads, you’ll have to pay $10 per month (or $100 for a whole year) for an Xbox Music Pass.
With 30 million tracks in its global catalog at launch (about 18 million U.S., with some overlap between regions — stay hopeful, K-pop fans!), Xbox Music is positioning itself to be an all-in-one solution for digital music. If the features as well as the integration between devices are as smooth as they were when we saw them, rival music services may have stiff competition on their hands. The tablet and PC client won’t be available until Windows 8 drops on October 26th, but interested 360 users can use a 30-day trial to preview the premium service as soon as they get the Dashboard update.
