Xbox Music now available on Android and iOS plus free web streaming

If you're a fan of music who likes the Xbox Music service, Microsoft has really good news for you today. Microsoft has officially released Xbox Music apps for Android and iOS users. In addition to releasing those new applications, Microsoft is also adding free streaming to its Web player.

With those renew options Microsoft now allows Xbox Music and its library of 30 million tracks to be available on millions more devices. Anyone with a web browser can now take advantage of the streaming audio at no cost. Xbox Music is coming up on its first birthday and Microsoft says the addition of new streaming devices is part of its effort to allow the service to span across all sorts of devices and help unite artists with fans using a common platform.

Microsoft is actively targeting music consumers that listen to Pandora, have a Spotify account, and eventually purchase a song for their own collection using iTunes or Amazon. The problem with this according to Microsoft is that it makes enjoying your favorite music dislocated and disconnected. Xbox Music is an all-in-one service allowing users to stream for free, subscribe to listen to all the music they want, or download and own individual tracks.

It's also integrated across all platforms with the release of the new applications allowing you to listen on your smartphone, your computer, PC, or TV. One downside to the Android and iOS applications now is that off-line mode is not supported. However, Microsoft says that off-line mode will be added to the smartphone apps in the coming months. The free streaming service via any web browser is available from music.xbox.com right now. When Windows 8.1 launches the service will get a new web playlist that's built into the operating system. That suggests you will have to upgrade to Windows 8.1 if you want to enjoy the web playlist.

SOURCE: Xbox