Buyers of tablets that run Microsoft's newestoperating system, Windows 8, are in for a pleasant musical surprise: They'll beable to handpick from a selection of millions of songs and stream them for freeas long as they put up with an audio ad every 15 minutes.
The new service, called Xbox Music, is not on offer anywhereelse at the moment.
Sweden's Spotify, for instance, allows track selection andplayback on personal computers for free — with the occasional audio ad — butdoesn't allow you to pick exactly the song you want on tablets unless you pay$10 a month for its premium subscription. Pandora's popular free online radioservice also doesn't let you pick specific tracks.
Although this is a step forward for the music industry, itsappeal is limited by the expense of most mobile data plans. Most cost more themore data you use, which can make streaming music on cellular networks fairlyexpensive.
The free version of Xbox Music won't let you download songsand save them for offline playback. That will require paying $10 a month.
The paid subscription is also required if you want to use XboxMusic on the Xbox 360 game console or on smartphones that use Windows Phone. Onthe game console, an Xbox Live Gold membership, which costs $60 a year, is alsorequired.
On PCs running Windows 8, Xbox Music will match Spotify'soffer of free track selection and playback.
In a demonstration on Friday, Xbox Music General ManagerJerry Johnson showed how one's playlists are saved online and can be accessedwhen switching between the service on the Xbox 360 game console, a WindowsPhone and a Windows 8 tablet.
Each iteration looked similar and had a clean interface withsharply detailed cover art. Xbox Music will be the default music player on allnew Windows 8 devices, which will be available upon the launch of the newoperating system on Oct. 26.
Current users of the Xbox — about 66 million worldwide —will gradually be introduced to the service with a 30-day free trial startingTuesday.