Xbox Music for Windows Phone 8.1 update coming next week.


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We've previously looked at how bad Xbox Music is on Windows Phone 8.1 (in the Preview for Developers, anyway), but the experience has never been flawless on Windows Phone. Microsoft evidently knows this as the company is looking to roll out an update next week (April 22nd), which will kick off bi-weekly releases for the Windows Phone 8.1 Preview client.

 

This is superb news for Xbox Music Pass holders who wish to have a decent experience on the phone.

 

Joe Belfiore even tweeted that a new app will be released for those who are using the Windows Phone 8.1 Preview, but it's good to see an actual change log be present over on Microsoft Answers. If you're interested to know what's on the way, here's what Microsoft is looking to include in the April 22nd update:

 

Numerous stability fixes, including many of the reported black screens

Cortana integration is complete and now supports playing playlists by name

UI polish to improve animations and transitions between UI views

Improved messaging for encountered errors, such as unplayable content in collections

Background initial sync of local and cloud content

 

That's all well and dandy, but what about some of the things you're all desperately asking from the team? As noted above, there will be bi-weekly releases after the first update has rolled out, which are set to include the following:

 

Continued focus on Stability and Performance

Live Tile integration

Quickplay improvements, including ?recent? lists

Kids Corner Support

UX improvements (Search result grouping, creating new Radio Stations, improved Network status messages, Blue UI language alignment, now playing improvements and more)

 

http://www.wpcentral.com/xbox-music-windows-phone-81-receiving-first-update-next-week?utm_source=wpc&utm_medium=twitter

 

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I hope this keeps updating every 2 weeks as they promised.

My 3 year old does not like the new music app. :D She is used to playing songs from the recent list and yesterday when she tried (first time after upgrade) - she was visibly frustrated. :laugh:

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I hope this keeps updating every 2 weeks as they promised.

My 3 year old does not like the new music app. :D She is used to playing songs from the recent list and yesterday when she tried (first time after upgrade) - she was visibly frustrated. :laugh:

 

 

Do a quick search online, there's a way to bring up the old music+videos app, seems it's still in there but hidden.  Or you can try a different music app for now.  Still, 22nd isn't far away so that's good, short wait.  I hope all the apps get updated from MS frequently now that they're not tied to the OS.

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there seems to be no buzz around the fact that the latest update to the game hub is completely broken! It just plain does not work.

 

Yeah, not much fuss over that since for now you can still get to your games through the app list and so on.   I'm sure they know about it though, I don't get how they managed to break it either.

 

There's some news about the new "leaked" twitter app beta, just hit last night.

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We they already update it. The app runs very slow and like the older one better.

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MS pushed out a small update to Xbox Music today, as reported by WPCentral.  I can't download it though, I get an error that says the app isn't available for me, don't know if it's a bug in the store or what.  Anyone else outside of the US on WP8.1 able to grab the update?   It's minor, some bug fixes and performance updates it says.

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MS pushed out a small update to Xbox Music today, as reported by WPCentral.  I can't download it though, I get an error that says the app isn't available for me, don't know if it's a bug in the store or what.  Anyone else outside of the US on WP8.1 able to grab the update?   It's minor, some bug fixes and performance updates it says.

 

Yep, just downloaded and installed that.

 

I can't tell any difference. Maybe a little faster?

 

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Yep, just downloaded and installed that.
 

I can't tell any difference. Maybe a little faster?

 

 

  • Numerous stability fixes, including many of the reported black screens
  • Cortana integration is complete and now supports playing playlists by name
  • UI polish to improve animations and transitions between UI views
  • Improved messaging for encountered errors, such as unplayable content in collections
  • Background initial sync of local and cloud content
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Someone in the comments at WPCentral who claims to be from the XBox Music Team had this to say:

 

 

Some of what is targeted for the series of coming releases:

?Continued focus on Stability and Performance improvements

?Background initial sync of local and cloud content (Note: This had been targeted for the last store update, but we pushed it out one more release to do some additional testing)

?Fast Forward/Rewind by sliding progress bar in a song

?UX layouts on buttons and metadata in now playing to better utilize space and make for better interaction

?Support for large play queue(including playlist) greater than 100 songs

?Improved load times for long lists through better list virtualization

?Swipe Gesture to Advance on Now Playing

?Live Tile and Transparent Tile support

?Design & Layout improvements to get you to your content faster

?Kids Corner support

?UX improvements (Search result grouping, creating new Radio Stations, improved Network status messages, Blue UI language alignment, and more)

 

He also said that the next release will arrive in 2 weeks time.

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Someone in the comments at WPCentral who claims to be from the XBox Music Team had this to say:

He also said that the next release will arrive in 2 weeks time.

It'd be nice to be able to get the current update now as well but its not available for my market it seems, they haven't made it a global update it looks like.

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It'd be nice to be able to get the current update now as well but its not available for my market it seems, they haven't made it a global update it looks like.

 

What language are you using? 

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What language are you using? 

 

My language is English, UK iirc or US, I forget.  But my locale and account are both set to Greece, one market that doesn't get Xbox Music pass support etc, so maybe that's why it won't let me download it.  It seems like only those in markets that can get Xbox Music pass are able to download this first update.  I hope this changes, at least with the next update in two weeks, otherwise I'm now stuck with the original version that's shipped with 8.1 preview.

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