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Microsoft rebrands Xbox Music to Groove

Microsoft rebrands Xbox Music to Groove

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Microsoft killed off the Xbox Music branding in its music and video apps for Windows 10, but today the company is rebranding the entire service to Groove. In a blog post detailing the changes, Microsoft's reasoning for the new name appears to be because "Groove describes what people feel and do with music." Groove will be largely the same as Xbox Music, but Microsoft is planning to update it regularly in the coming months. At launch, alongside Windows 10 later this month, the Groove app will work in both light and dark themes with features that are currently in the Windows 10 preview.

"Groove describes what people feel and do with music."

While there's no free streaming version of Groove, following the end of Microsoft's free music streaming last year, the company is pitching this updated service to those with big collections of MP3s. Groove will support the ability to upload music to Microsoft's OneDrive cloud storage service and access the songs for free from Windows devices, Xbox consoles, and Android or iPhone handsets. Like Xbox Music before it, there's also a subscription service for $9.99 a month or $99 year that provides access to stream and download music from the Windows Store.

Xbox Video branding is also going away

Alongside the Groove rebrand, Xbox Video is also getting a new name. In Windows 10 the app will simply be called Movies & TV, with access to download TV and movies or import personal collections. You can rent or buy movies and TV shows, and they'll be available on all Windows 10 devices and Xbox consoles, but there doesn't appear to be plans to extend this to Android and iOS devices just yet.

Microsoft says "Windows Insiders who are a part of the Fast ring and upgrade to the next PC build will see these updates," which suggests that a new build will be made available to testers ahead of the Windows 10 release on July 29th. Microsoft is planning to finalize Windows 10 this week, and the company is currently putting the finishing touches to the OS before it starts regularly updating it over the coming months.

Update, 3:50PM July 6th: Microsoft mistakenly referred to Groove as Groove Music in its announcement. The company says it's simply Groove and is working to correct its mistake. This article has been updated to reflect the correct name.