Xbox One won’t offer free music streaming, only a trial for 15 songs

Xbox Music app close up

Microsoft wants to make sure that Xbox One is a hit this holiday season by including as much perks and features as possible, and today the company has confirmed that Xbox One will let users stream free music via the Xbox Music service. The one catch, though, it’s ad-supported, but come on, it’s free right? The news was confirmed by Albert Penello, head of product at Microsoft, on a reply Tweet to a Twitter users who asked the question, to what Penello replied: “yes. You don’t have to subscribe, but you will get periodic Ads.”

This a great news for music lovers with an Xbox Live Gold membership and it is another reason that might help Microsoft sell more Xbox One consoles, despite the recent news about Call of Duty: Ghosts and Battlefield 4 games only running at 720p in the console. And of course, it’s the right thing to do, as Windows 8.1 users already enjoy Xbox Music free streaming with ads.

Now the question is if Microsoft is ever going do the same on all devices where Xbox Music is available. The music service is also on the Windows Phone and Android platform, and even on Xbox 360, but you have to have a subscription to listen to your favorites tunes.

Update: Another poor sign of communication. Xbox One owners won’t have free ad-supported music streaming after all, Microsoft just confirmed that Xbox One will only come with a trial of Xbox Music pass to play up to 15 songs for free. Despite an earlier Tweet from Albert Penello, hard of product at Microsoft, saying that next-gen console will have ad-supported music streaming. In a new Twitter message Penello apologizes saying the following:

Source OXM

About the author

Mauro Huculak is a Windows How-To Expert who started Pureinfotech in 2010 as an independent online publication. He has also been a Windows Central contributor for nearly a decade. Mauro has over 14 years of experience writing comprehensive guides and creating professional videos about Windows and software, including Android and Linux. Before becoming a technology writer, he was an IT administrator for seven years. In total, Mauro has over 20 years of combined experience in technology. Throughout his career, he achieved different professional certifications from Microsoft (MSCA), Cisco (CCNP), VMware (VCP), and CompTIA (A+ and Network+), and he has been recognized as a Microsoft MVP for many years. You can follow him on X (Twitter), YouTube, LinkedIn and About.me.