Playing background music on Xbox One is now a reality. After years of waiting (at least for me) Xbox One adds the ability to listen to your favorite music on the background while playing your favorite games with the Anniversary Update.
Currently there is no many apps supporting with background music, you can only use Cast or Microsoft’s Groove Music to play music in the background. Pandora is another app available on Xbox One with support for background music — you can download the app now from the Windows Store.
However, Groove Music should be more than enough, as one of the main benefits is the ability to play music from files you have stored on your OneDrive account.
How to play background music on Xbox One
Playing music on the background is pretty straightforward.
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Launch one of the supported music apps, such as Groove Music or Pandora.
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Start playing music from your library.
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Tap the Xbox button on your controller to go back to the home screen, and you’ll notice that music will continue to play in the background.
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You can now open the left flyout menu to control playback and background volume. In the flyout out, you also get the option to snap the music app with another app to have the controls visible at all times.
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Launch a game and you’ll notice that music will continue playing louder than the sound from game you’re playing.
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While playing a game, tap the Xbox button on your controller twice to bring up the left flyout to control your music.
Background music from USB flash drive is also supported (soft of)
And even more interesting, background music also supports playback of files stored on a USB flash drive, but you’ll need to download an app called “Simple Background Music Player”.
Just be aware that you must to store your music on a folder called “Xbox Music Library” for the console to recognize it.
It’s that simple.
What do you think about background music on Xbox One? Do you use Groove or Pandora for background music? Let us know in the comments below.
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 15 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 21 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. Email him at [email protected].