Microsoft has continued the development of its iOS and Android Xbox Music apps with yet another new version being pushed out to both the App Store and Google Play Store for respective device owners. The app and underlying service, which will shortly undergo a full rebrand to become Groove, is following in the footsteps of the Windows desktop version that benefitted from the addition of the same new features back in March.

Broadly speaking, the Cloud is still a work in progress, but Microsoft, like Google, Apple and a number of other key companies offering their cloud-based services, has been working hard to improve its OneDrive offering. Today signals a big step in the evolution of the software giant’s cloud efforts, with Xbox Music integration permitting users to store and playback a variety of different music formats on multiple devices free of charge.

It’s no secret that Microsoft is rather struggling in the mobile industry, with the uptake and general market share of Windows Phone devices having not improved a great deal since its inception as Windows Phone 7. But Microsoft is trying its utmost to get folks on board, and right now, is offering a free Nokia Lumia 520 as leverage to anybody willing to purchase an Xbox Music pass. Although the device is mid-range in every sense of the phrase, it’s still a free handset, and since it nicely ties in with the Xbox / Windows family, surely any prospective Xbox Music subscriber would find some use for it.

With the news that digital music sales have fallen for the first time ever recently, music streaming services like Spotify and Rdio are becoming increasingly popular. Microsoft’s Xbox Music is a similar proposition to what those aforementioned services offer, with Google also throwing its hat into the music screaming arena via Google Play Music.

With the Xbox One now just a few weeks from retail, many of the key details pertaining Microsoft’s next-gen games console have already been revealed. But naturally, the Redmond has been saving some info for the build up to the release, and as we swiftly approach this all-important time frame, it has been revealed that every purchaser of the Xbox One will also get free access to Xbox Music, the streaming audio service to which many Xbox fans will already be accustomed. Unfortunately, it is ad-supported, so you will have to listen to numerous plugs for products and services you probably do not want, but nevertheless, this is definitely a win for music heads.

Microsoft has finally launched iPhone and Android apps for Xbox Music, a service that lets users stream unlimited music for a monthly subscription.

Microsoft has been plotting a Web-based version of Xbox Music for a long time, and as expected, the company has finally delivered with a service that allows subscribers to dive straight in. It was set to be unveiled this week, but the site already appears good to go, and Xbox Music Pass subscribers can begin using it by heading over to music.xbox.com.

It has been public knowledge for quite a while now that Microsoft is switching its Windows release cycle from a major overhaul every five or so years to annual, modest upgrades. With Windows 8 having only been made available toward the tail end of last year, the Redmond outfit has already showcased Windows 8.1, with quite a few key changes aimed at making the OS more user friendly overall. An update to those running the leaked early builds of Windows 8.1 shows a whole host of alterations, including Xbox Music and Movie Moments. Details after the break.

The big release of Windows 8 and its many, many affiliated products and services is drawing strikingly close, and with tidbits of info arriving straight from the Redmond-based horse’s mouth on an almost daily basis, Microsoft has today updated the world on the ins and outs of Xbox Music.

You are all familiar with Microsoft’s Zune Music Pass, right? No? Well actually, you aren’t the only one who may not be that au fait with the Redmond offering, but that shouldn’t really cause you much concern as the subscription service that allows unlimited music streaming/downloading is being cast into the wilderness – at least in some regions. The time of Zune has been and gone and with the Xbox Music service on the horizon, it seems a little strange that the Zune Music Pass is arriving in some new territories as we speak.

Information concerning Xbox Music has been leaking continually over the past couple of weeks, and it has been unofficially confirmed that the Redmond company’s streaming music service will be arriving on October 26th – the very same day when Windows 8 is made available to public.

Microsoft’s Xbox 360 console has established itself as a gaming console, but in line with the changing face of technology, the Redmond company has been pushing it towards the all-round entertainment market. As well as the Kinect, which sold at the kind of speeds only Apple’s iPhone can relate to, various Dashboard updates have seen the gamers’ paradise morph into something of a set-top box.