Xbox Music update (for WP 8.1) improves performance again - a lot

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After last week's update for the official Music application for Windows Phone 8.1, there's another one live in the Store, focussing on better performance by updating the music collection when charging and in the background, plus a mountain of bug fixes. The changelog is listed below - this is a core part of WP 8.1, so anyone with the Developer Preview installed should update right away, etc.

From the Xbox Music team we have the changelog for v2.6.123.0:

  • Improvements to how the app behaves under poor connectivity conditions.
  • Improved download error handling so that messages are less frequent and more clear.
  • When your phone is charging, the app will update your collection from the flash or SD card in the background.
  • Addressed 70 functional bugs. A few notable issues we fixed:
  • Unexpected playlist/playlist item duplications appearing.
  • Downloads not resuming after a network connection was lost and regained.
  • Purchased songs appearing twice in the collection.
  • Showing “looking for music” when nothing had changed.

There's not a huge amount to show, visually, but here's Music up and running on the editorial Lumia 1520:

ScreenshotScreenshot

Updating Music in the Windows Phone Store client; (right) no delay when heading into the application now, no '...' scanning dots, just my music, instantly!

Note that there's still no backfilling option for missing album art. Something that really should be in the mix, given the extent of Microsoft's own music libraries - such cover art grabbing should be trivial and standard.

The Xbox Music team promises a continued roll out of new features and fixes, so look out for another news story in a few weeks!

Source / Credit: User Voice