Microsoft to Spotify: Playlist Can Transfer as Groove Music Ends

Microsoft announced Monday that it will discontinue its Groove Music Pass at the end of 2017, allowing users to transfer playlists to Spotify to continue to listen to them.

Users of the Groove Music app will still be able to manage and use purchased content but will not be able to buy new music through the app, according to the Microsoft Windows Experience Blog.

Some Groove Music subscribers will be offered a free 60-day premium membership to Spotify, which will enable them to download music and listen ad-free with unlimited skips, according to the Spotify website.

Groove Music Pass never caught on as well as Microsoft hoped, and lagged far beyond Spotify’s 60 million and Apple Music’s 30 million users.

Groove Music Pass cost $9.99 a month in most locations, about the same as other streaming services. Groove Music Pass used to be Xbox Music Pass, and Microsoft had also previously offered an unlimited downloads package for its Zune music players, which have now been discontinued.

Spotify and Pandora both have free streaming services available, with fewer options for customizing and ads as part of the package.

Groove users on Twitter weren't thrilled with the news.

I'm not sure killing Groove moves people from "using Windows" to "loving Windows"

— Michael Gillett (@MichaelGillett) October 2, 2017

Microsoft are hell bent on destroying what they have left customers base aren't they? Tis all about businesses and the cloud now.

— Dan (@xamldan) October 2, 2017

Others understood that Microsoft's Groove couldn’t compete with bigger platforms.

Groove was a losing moneypit, makes perfect sense to drop it & partner with spotify

— FATAL ENIGMA (@FATALENIGMA) October 2, 2017

So MS should keep an unprofitable service around just to keep customers happy while the company looses money?

— Richard Hay (@WinObs) October 3, 2017

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