Microsoft has announced Zune Music service will go into retirement this November. The Redmond giant’s digital music service was launched in 2006 to rival Apple’s iPod and iTunes but has so far failed to gain much traction despite the worldwide popularity of the company.
Come November 15th, Microsoft will be shutting the services down and users won’t be able to neither stream music nor be able to download after the deadline. The Zune device will continue to work (only as a MP3 player) but MP3 musics will be available, however, content purchased with DRM my not play if the license cannot be renewed.
Existing Zune Music paid subscribers will be automatically converted to the company’s new Groove service. Users with Zune Music Pass subscriptions will get Groove Music Pass subscription in its place, which will in-turn be migrated between October 15th and November 15th.
Users with monthly or 3-month subscription plan will be coverted to Groove’s monthly Music Pass for $9.99 and those with yearly subscriptions will be converted to Groove’s annual Music Pass for $99.90. Groove is currently live on Android, iOS, Sonos, Xbox 360, Web, Windows 10 and XBox One, it is however not clear how older devices will fare with this scenario.
