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.
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.
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— 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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