With Spotify now on Xbox One consoles, Microsoft has officially begun to draw the curtain on their Groove Music Pass program.
Sales in the store, as well as streaming, is slated to end on December 31, where the service will be shut down for good. Refunds will be pro-rated from December 31st.
Microsoft, in anticipation of the Groove Music Store closing, has partnered with Spotify to let users import current Groove playlists to the service.
In a blog post from earlier on Monday, Jerry Johnson, general manager of Microsoft Groove, detailed the change:
With the continued advancement of music streaming today, all the world’s music has become easily accessible across a variety of devices, unlocking new ways to discover and experience music. As we continue to listen to what our customers want in their music experience we know that access to the best streaming service, the largest catalogue of music, and a variety of subscriptions is top of the list.
Which is why we’re excited to announce that we’re expanding our partnership with Spotify to bring the world’s largest music streaming service to our Groove Music Pass customers.Beginning this week*, Groove Music Pass customers can easily move all their curated playlists and collections directly into Spotify. Plus, you may be eligible for a 60-day free trial of Spotify Premium.
Microsoft, in their patch notes concerning the app change, reveals finer details of the change:
An update to the Groove Music app including the ability to move music to Spotify, will be available for Windows Insiders beginning this week. The Groove Music app update for Windows 10 and Xbox One devices will roll out broadly the week of October 9, 2017 and will enable Groove Music Pass customers to move existing music collections and playlists to Spotify. Groove Music Pass content will be available to move to Spotify until at least January 31, 2018.
There is also an FAQ available to provide more information on the incoming changes.
Don’t worry, Groove Music users can still use the app, but only with OneDrive and local drive support.