Microsoft's premium music subscription service, Groove Music Pass (yes, it's had different names in the past...), is being discontinued at the end of 2017, with Microsoft putting together a three month migration plan for your Groove Music Pass playlists over to industry leader Spotify. Microsoft's music streaming system is/was just one overhead it probably doesn't need, especially as it is a minnow in this market. Note that this doesn't affect your own streaming of your own music from local disks or from OneDrive - this is only about the premium commercial streaming system.

From the Microsoft blog post:

With the continued advancement of music streaming today, all the world’s music has become easily accessible across a variety of devices, unlocking new ways to discover and experience music. As we continue to listen to what our customers want in their music experience we know that access to the best streaming service, the largest catalog of music, and a variety of subscriptions is top of the list.

Which is why we’re excited to announce that we’re expanding our partnership with Spotify to bring the world’s largest music streaming service to our Groove Music Pass customers. Beginning this week*, Groove Music Pass customers can easily move all their curated playlists and collections directly into Spotify. Plus, you may be eligible for a 60-day free trial of Spotify Premium.**

We will continue to invest in and update the Groove Music app on all Windows devices to support playback and management of owned music, but after December 31, 2017, the Groove Music app will no longer offer the option to stream, purchase, and download music.

Beginning this week for Windows Insiders and rolling out broadly next week**, Groove Music Pass subscribers will be able to easily transition existing music collections and playlists to Spotify with a few clicks:

1. Launch the latest Groove app: Log into the latest Groove app version from the Windows Store or Xbox One. Once you’re signed into your account, you’ll see a pop-up window from Spotify with instructions on how to login or create a Spotify account.

2. Log in to Spotify:

• If you have an existing Spotify account, you’ll be prompted to input your username and password.
• If you’re new to Spotify, and on your PC, you’ll be asked a few basic questions to help you create an account, starting with a username.

3. Move your music: After signing into your Spotify account, we’ll move your music collection and playlists from Groove Music to Spotify.

4. Play music in Spotify: The process of moving your music to your Spotify account will take a few minutes. After completing step three, you’ll be able to listen to your music library in the Spotify app!

*An update to the Groove Music app including the ability to move music to Spotify, will be available for Windows Insiders beginning this week. The Groove Music app update for Windows 10 and Xbox One devices will roll out broadly the week of October 9, 2017 and will enable Groove Music Pass customers to move existing music collections and playlists to Spotify. Groove Music Pass content will be available to move to Spotify until at least January 31, 2018.

 **To find out whether you may be eligible for a 60-day free trial of Spotify Premium, check out our FAQ.

I've never seen the need for signing up to Groove Music Pass, I have to be honest. There's so much free music around, legally, via YouTube, Spotify itself (on its free tier), Amazon Prime (not technically free, but it is if you already subscribe to Prime), and so on, plus in my case I already have 30GB of my favourite tracks on microSD *and* on OneDrive *and* on Google Play Music. I think that's enough for one man....(!)

Having said that, there obviously are some genuine customers who will be affected by this and for whom Microsoft seems to be doing job of easing the migration pain over to Spotify - with the deal above, customers might even save money overall.