Groove Music
| Groove Music | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Logo of Groove Music (after 2020) | |||
Groove Music on Windows 10 | |||
| Developer | Microsoft | ||
| Stable release |
| ||
| Preview release | Windows 11: 11.2110.34.0
| ||
| Operating system | Windows 8, Windows 8.1, Windows 10, Xbox One, Xbox 360, Windows 11 | ||
| Platform | x86, x64, ARM, ARM64 | ||
| Predecessor | Windows Media Player | ||
| Successor | Media Player (2022) | ||
| Available in | 113 languages | ||
| Type | audio player | ||
| License | Freeware | ||
| Website | music | ||
Groove Music is a discontinued audio player software application and associated music streaming service from Microsoft. Originally known as Xbox Music before rebranding to Groove Music in 2015, the app was included with Windows 8, Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 (as well as very early builds of Windows 11).
The music streaming service, which was called Groove Music Pass, was supported across Windows, Xbox video game consoles, Windows Phone, as well as Android and iOS. As of 2014, the Groove catalogue had over 50 million tracks. Its subscription service Groove Music Pass was officially discontinued on December 31, 2017, and the Android and iOS versions of the Groove Music app were discontinued in December 2018, restricting the player to its native Microsoft Store base.
The Groove Music software was superseded by Media Player in Windows 10 and Windows 11. The update was rolled out to Windows 10 users between January and June 2023.
| Timeline of Microsoft's online digital music and video offerings | |
|---|---|
| 12 Oct 2004 | MSN Music Store launches |
| 18 Oct 2006 | Release of version 11 of Windows Media Player playback software |
| 22 Nov 2006 | Zune Marketplace and Xbox Live Video Marketplace launches offering music and video downloads respectively |
| 19 Nov 2008 | Zune Pass music subscription service launches |
| 22 Jul 2009 | Release of version 12 of Windows Media Player playback software |
| Fall 2009 | Zune Marketplace gains movies and TV content; Xbox Live Video Marketplace integrates into new Zune Video Marketplace |
| 26 Oct 2012 | Zune brand retired; Xbox Music and Xbox Video streaming services and download stores launches; Xbox Music and Xbox Video apps also replace Windows Media Player as the default media playback software (in Windows 8) |
| 29 Jul 2015 | Xbox Music and Xbox Video apps and streaming services re-branded as Groove Music and Movies & TV/Films & TV respectively; Music and Video download stores merged into the Windows Store (later known as Microsoft Store) |
| 1 Jan 2018 | Discontinuation and shutting down of Groove Music streaming service (Pass) and music downloading from the Microsoft Store |
| 16 Nov 2021 | Release of new Media Player software replacing Groove Music and (for playback purposes) Movies & TV/Films & TV |
| 18 Jul 2025 | Microsoft Movies & TV/Films & TV store shuts down, ending Microsoft's presence in digital music/video distribution |