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Microsoft’s New Groove Update Makes Background Music Available for All Xbox One Users

After launching background music for Groove on the Xbox One in preview form through the Summer Update, Microsoft has now made the feature available for all users.

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has been working towards bringing powered background music to the this year. The company has now fully enabled the feature for all Xbox One users. Groove's Ellen Kilbourne made the announcement on her Twitter feed.

For most of 2016 Microsoft has been discussing background music for the Xbox One. Division head Phil Spencer said in January that the feature would not come until the summer. He was true to his word, as was reconfirmed by Microsoft at Build 2016 in April.

With the launch of the Anniversary Update (Summer Update) earlier this month, Microsoft introduced background music. However, the release was limited to users of the Xbox Preview Program. In other words, the feature was not a wide, end user, release. We discussed that earlier preview update when the Summer Update dropped.

https://twitter.com/ellenment/status/766401915345174529

Now with Kilbourne's confirmation, the Groove app has been updated to build number 3.6.2395. This release makes background music a standard feature for all Xbox One users.

Recent Groove Improvements

Microsoft has been working to bolster Groove across platforms and form factors in recent months. The service still lags behind market leaders like Spotify and Apple Music. Nevertheless, recent updates have made Groove a much better service.

A July update to the music streaming service arrived in July for iOS and Android users. An Explore View feature was added to discover new as well as popular songs and improved download speed. Microsoft also made the app look better on big screen devices.

Microsoft acquired Groove from Canadian startup Zikera in February. The company has been beefing up its features and integrating it into platforms since.

Luke Jones
Luke Jones
Luke has been writing about all things tech for more than five years. He is following Microsoft closely to bring you the latest news about Windows, Office, Azure, Skype, HoloLens and all the rest of their products.

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