UPDATE: Albert Penello has retracted his earlier tweet, and now says there won’t be ad-supported free streaming on the Xbox One.
I was wrong about Music on XboxOne: You get 15 free song plays then need Music Pass for ad-free streaming. No ad-supported streaming. Sorry!
— Albert Penello (@albertpenello) November 6, 2013
Our original story is as follows.
If you want to use the Xbox One as a media streaming center, you’ll be pleased to hear that an ad-supported version Xbox Music will be free to all Xbox Live Gold subscribers.
Albert Penello, a senior director for product management and planning at Microsoft, confirmed the feature while responding to a question on Twitter.
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The model will be similar to the Xbox Music app for Windows 8.1 and the Xbox Music website, which also offer free streaming alongside the occasional advert in-between tracks.
@Artemis_Rojo yes. You don’t have to subscribe, but you will get periodic Ads.
— Albert Penello (@albertpenello) November 4, 2013
The decision is notable because on the Xbox 360, you could only access Xbox Music if you were a subscriber. Given that Xbox One owners will already be paying for Xbox Live Gold, it makes sense for Microsoft to simply offer the on-demand music streaming service as some extra added-value.
Image Credit: ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images
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