Xbox One Users To Get Free Xbox Music Streaming

The Xbox One will allow users to stream music from its content library free of charge when it debuts later this month.

At least, that’s according to a single tweet from Microsoft’s Albert Penelllo, who informed a user that the Xbox Music app on the Xbox One would allow users to stream music for free – provided that the user is comfortable listening to ads. Users can listen to Xbox Music through the Windows Store app and on Xbox Music’s website without having to subscribe to the service already.

The trick here is whether free streaming from Xbox Music on the Xbox One will require users to have an Xbox LIVE Gold account. Microsoft requires users to have an Xbox LIVE Gold subscription before they can use different entertainment services on the Xbox 360. For example, a user might have a Netflix account, but they wouldn’t actually be able to use that Netflix subscription with their Xbox 360 unless they also had an Xbox LIVE Gold account.

Penello’s tweets didn’t indicate if this would be the case with free music streaming on the Xbox One. That’s key as there are exceptions to this rule. Xbox Video doesn’t require that users have an Xbox LIVE Gold account before purchasing or renting video content.

An Xbox LIVE Gold account costs users $9.99 a month or $60 for the entire year. An Xbox Music Pass costs users the same as Xbox Live Gold per month or $99.90 for an entire year. Microsoft requires that users subscribe to Xbox Music Pass to stream music on Windows Phone, iOS and Android.

Read: Microsoft Bolsters Xbox Music Pass with iOS and Android Apps

Unfortunately, we don’t yet have an actual details about the version of Xbox Music that users will see when they turn on their Xbox One on November 22nd. Microsoft is expected to show off the software on the Xbox One sometime within the next two weeks. Xbox One pre-orders are sold out, however the company has confirmed to GottaBeMobile that retailers will have extra consoles on-hand for users who didn’t pre-order. The Xbox One costs $499.99.