Microsoft announced their new Xbox Music service over the weekend – a streaming service intended to compete with iTunes, Spotify, RDIO, and other music services, reports GigaOM. The service has already launched on the Xbox 360, and will launch on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8 devices on October 26.
Besides Microsoft’s own devices, Xbox Music will also launch on both Android and iOS, although launch time frames have not yet been announced. This marks a significant change from Microsoft’s ZUNE strategy, which revolved almost entirely around their own (unsuccessful) media player.
The service will offer free ad-supported streaming, although the number of hours you can stream will be significantly limited after six months. There will also be a $10 subscription service to remove the ads, and a music store to add tracks that otherwise aren’t included in the streaming service.
Microsoft certainly has the resources to give Spotify, iTunes, and other services a serious run for their money – but given their historically poor success rate on such attempts, it will be interesting to see how this all turns out!