Microsoft’s new cloud music service can’t compete against Apple’s Beats

May 12, 2014 Off By David

Grazed from ComputerWorld. Author: Preson Gralla.

Reports say Microsoft is building a streaming cloud-based music service like Google Music, but if true, it won’t help the company compete against Apple and Beats music. What else can Microsoft do if it wants to thrive in the streaming music business? The Chinese site LiveSino reports that it has examined the source code for Microsoft’s OneDrive storage service, and that has found a new Music folder that can be used to upload music to OneDrive — and then use OneDrive to stream music via Xbox Music to a variety of devices. The Verge reports that the site found this text: "Meet your OneDrive Music folder. Upload your music files to this folder, so that you can play them via Xbox Music from any of your devices. You can also add files to this folder using the OneDrive app for your computer."

That capability is much like what is found in Google Music and the Amazon Cloud Player. I use both services, and they’re both quite good. But they don’t compete against Beats music, which Apple is said to be negotiating to buy, or against Spotify, because they only let you access your own music, not many millions of other tracks. For that matter, they don’t compete against Microsoft’s Xbox streaming music service, either…

The combination of a streaming music service with a cloud-based streaming music locker is a very good idea, especially if they can be integrated well…

Read more from the source @ http://blogs.computerworld.com/cloud-computing/23895/microsofts-new-cloud-streaming-music-service-not-enough-compete-against-apples-beats

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