Ok, that headline makes no sense, in so many ways, starting with what the hell is Groove Music, and why does that picture say Xbox Music? But let me explain, or more correctly try to justify, that statement.
While many (most?) people these days just use their phone as their portable music device, I like having an inexpensive, dedicated device to use when I’m skiing, boating or any other time where I don’t want to risk loosing my phone or running it’s battery down. In fact, I’ve liked that ability to carry my music on a small, low cost player for over 15 years.
And, most importantly, that has included the ability to download any of the millions of tracks covered under my music subscription, which I’ve been doing for over a decade, long before competing services finally added this feature.
And yes, up until recently, for me has meant I’ve been using… wait for it… a Zune ;-). And even though Microsoft’s music service offering evolved from Zune Music to Xbox Music and now to Groove Music, I could still download my subscription music to my Zune.
It was great, I had access to millions of songs, it cost me nothing extra to download them, and I don’t have to worry about backing songs up, managing music files, etc.
But Microsoft stopped support of downloading subscription music to Zune devices this past November, and so I found myself without a low-cost “dedicated” music device as the 2015/2016 ski season began.
Or so I thought, until I realized that lower end Windows Phones, like the Lumia 635, make great dedicated music devices. You can buy them without cell service, and depending on sale prices, could be had for as little as $39. Granted, that phone only comes with 8gb of storage, but for $16 you can purchase a 64 GB Micro SD card to stick in the phone giving you plenty of room for music, apps, games, etc.
For comparison, a 64GB iPod will set you back $299, not something you want to risk loosing or dropping overboard. And while there is certainly the cheaper iPod Nano at $149, that is triple the cost of the Lumia, at 16GB only 25% of the Lumia w/SD card storage capacity and, most importantly, you can’t download any of your Apple Music subscription songs to the Nano, or the smaller Shuffle.
So that’s what I did; I spent ~ $55 on a Lumia 635 which gives me 72GB of music storage, allows me to download songs that I own as well any of the millions of tracks available to me as part of my monthly Groove Music subscription and, if it gets lost, stolen or broken, I’ll be inconvenienced until I get a new one, but won’t be bumming about a $300 loss.
More music, lower price, works for me.
Oh, and the Xbox Music vs Groove Music thing? That’s simply the fact that the Lumia 635 runs Windows Phone 8.1 which uses the Xbox Music app instead of the Windows 10 Groove Music app, but I still get access to and can download all of the same music.
For those interested in more background here is…
A Brief History of Microsoft’s Music Efforts:
Way back in 2001 Microsoft introduced a unique music service, based on it’s acquisition of MongoMusic, that was an early pioneer in both the subscription model as well as “sounds like” smart DJ capabilities, and I was hooked. I had access to millions of songs, I didn’t have to rip and manage gigabytes of music files, plus, with the evolution to the MSN Music service, I could take that music with me on a wide variety of MP3 players. I was in heaven, but I was a geek, and Apple, masters of understanding broad consumers, soon launched the iPod and forever changed the music space.
But not for me. I began a 15+ year commitment to Microsoft’s music services and Zune devices beginning with the original Zune (in stylish brown and green, of course), and two Zune HD devices, with the HD device becoming my music player of choice for skiing, boating, etc.
The original MSN Music service was replaced with the Zune Music service, which was re-branded in 2012 as Xbox Music, and is being replaced on Windows 10 devices with Groove Music. None of which by the way has made the slightest dent in Apple’s iTunes juggernaut.
I love the Groove Music service. I was an early adopter of subscription music services and continue to feel that it is well worth the ~ $10/month to play music through my home stereo and across all of my devices, including laptop, tablet and phone.
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clarkb... 