Microsoft announced through its Xbox Support page that it is discontinuing the free streaming feature of Xbox Music starting Dec. 1.
The service, which is currently available on Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and over the Internet, will be closed down over all the countries where the service is being offered.
Microsoft said that the free music streaming service is being closed down because the company is working on Xbox Music to "deliver the ultimate music purchase and subscription service experience" to its customers through the Xbox Music Pass.
The Xbox Music Pass will grant users access to millions of music tracks on the PC, tablet computer, Xbox, smartphone and online. Users will be allowed to download music that can be listened to while offline, and make playlists that will automatically be synced across all the user's connected devices.
Users can choose to sign up for a free trial for 30 days using the Xbox Music Pass, which will require a credit card. The pass will continue into a paid per-month subscription unless it is cancelled prior to the expiry of the trial. The pass is also limited to only one person per pass, with previous trial users of Zune Pass ineligible to sign up for the trial.
The monthly subscription price to Xbox Music is $9.99.
The closing down of the free streaming feature, however, will not affect any music that have already been previously purchased and downloaded with Xbox Music. The music tracks will still be available on the user's PC, tablet computer or smartphone. The music files that have been added to a user's Xbox Music library will also be unaffected by the change.
However, for playlists that were created using the free streaming feature, users will only be able to view the playlists and collections. Users that want to listen to all the music included within the playlists and collections would have to buy the music tracks or sign up for an Xbox Music Pass.
Xbox Music was launched along with the Windows 8 operating system in October of 2012. The service came pre-installed in all the devices that featured the criticized operating system.
The service gave its users three options to listen to music. The first option was to pay the monthly Xbox Music Pass subscription fee. The second option was to download songs one by one with set prices. The third option, the one being closed down, was to play the songs for free over the PC, but with advertisement support.
