Don’t like the new Xbox Music on Windows Phone 8.1? Here’s how to bring back the old one

It’s an open secret that the old Xbox Music hub is still actually buried in the Windows Phone 8.1 OS, with the new version overriding it. Users have been bringing it back via an NFC trick, which works but it’s far from convenient. Now, a developer has taken the extra step and released a free app that lets you pin a direct link to the old version on your Start screen.

The app is named Music Hub Tile, and when initially launched it will let you pin either the green Music Tile or a transparent one to your Start screen. The transparent one though will cost you 99 cents via an in-app purchase, whereas the green is free.

Once the newly pinned Tile is opened, the app redirects you to the old and familiar Xbox Music hub of 8.0, where everything works as expected. However, touching the dropdown player controls will send you off to the new app, mostly because 8.1 is coded for redirecting you to the new, separated app.

The Xbox Music app was just updated on Friday with numerous bug fixes and improvements, and updates are expected every two weeks to improve things frequently based off of your suggestions. In that sense, we’re not sure how useful using the old version of Xbox Music will be, given three or four more updates to the new one. Regardless, the choice is yours and at least for now, the green version is free, so there’s no loss.

Pick up Music Hub Tile here in the Store. Let us know in comments if you’re going back to the old, or sticking with the new one (and whether Friday’s update changed your mind)!

Need more tips and tricks for Windows Phone 8.1? Check our our centralized resource right here for more!

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

452 Comments

Just one thing: YEESSSSS
Will get back to the old one but hope the new one gets hugely updated
Yup. Even after the update I still get a black screen when I click the tile.
Isn't it difficult to create playlist in the old music app? That's what I hate about it. So, I go for the new music app.
The old app wouldn't sync your playlists like the new Music app does. If you create playlists on the web, you won't see them in the old Music app unless the new app has synced them. That was one welcome feature of the new app.
Exactly!
Yes, will stick with the new version for the added functions and wait for it to be updated.
You need a music pass for that and if you dont have one then playlist syncing is irrelevant. Much prefer a working app than using a poor app with features I dont use.
All of my playlists are in the old app. (back on wp8 and now on my 8.1)
Yes, however it's a bit better than the old one.
Agree
The old one is HORIBLE for playlists. But the interface is AWESOME. The new one is AWESOME for playlists. But the interface is HORIBLE. All they had to do was fix the playlists issues in the old one, then I think everyone would be happy. But NOOOOooooo!!!!!! Some code monkey had to do their own thing and frak everything up.
Exactly
The new one also has serious performance issues.
thought I was the only one
My thoughts exactly!! Finally, no more lag when trying to scroll through my list of music. No more sitting at a resume screen for minutes if I switch back to the app to change a song. No more shitty Xbox Music experience!! I do hope that someday the new app gets to that level, but even with the most recent version it is nowhere close, and it was seriously making me hate WP8.1 given that music is a major part of my phone usage. This app is definitely amazing news for me.
I second those sentiments. I wish they gave us the ability to uninstall the new Xbox Music App. It's a POS!
Alright guys, so what are we gonna bitch about now?
data toggle button ....... whatsapp update ..512 mb support for games like temple run 2 ,subway surfers ..... should i go on ? there is still a lot to bitch about ...........
Data toggle that looks good and works well. http://www.windowsphone.com/en-us/store/app/cellular-data/cb9ca504-e5dc-4055-9f09-488399e3b950
You
One question which puzzles me tho: how the hell did they leave it in the OS? I mean, isn't it just pointless to leave a hidden app?
Agreed
I would assume that it was left in the same way that the maps app was left in Lumia phones when it was replaced by Nokia/Here Maps
I would assume it's just making the OS bigger in size than it needs to be. But maybe they keept it in because they know the new app is horrible and they have a backup plan to revert to the old app someday.
File Handlers. the old app still likely handles media launched from other software, but passes it onto the new app interface upon launch. Either that or it's for backwards compatibility with 8.0 apps. Those are my guesses.
Very good guess, makes sense.
Yeah, it was probably so embedded in the code that it was just easier to hide it for now than extract every reference to it and risk instability. It's probably some intern's project for the year.
The OS is probably dependent on the app's existence, and renaming it "Music Backstop" was probably a quick hack.
I second that sentiment sir.
Just wanted to note that this is not an exact copy of the old hub. It's very fast and good. But it is missing a lot of what the old music & video hub had.
Exactly, I don't get my recently added nor my history. Both often used as I rotate a lot of my music.
Too bad they cannot just merge the old and new to create a mega-awesome-music app.
It's missing a couple of things but still has that rock solid stability and swipe to change song, as well as next song preview. That's all I need!
The prodigal son has returned
Thanks reker!
I just want the recent option back.
+1
And "New". I'm always forgetting what I've just downloaded.
I second that! All the old tabs Is useful.. Why's is gone?
Recent and History was two of the best features in the old app.
Totally agree!
Downloaded this app and opened the old player, recent and new aren't showing up...
Sweeeeettt like a fresh babe.
And the best part is, the lock screen is showing the song artist's picture during music playback again!
can you elaborate this?
I found that turning off and back on the show artist when playing music in setting, lock screen, makes it work in the new version.
Thanks.
Artist background works in the now playing screen as well. I replaced all the images coming from xbox music with my own artist pics. The majority of the Artist I listent to don't have good images or don't exist on xbox music service. https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BmQKIeqCQAAJtgU.jpg:large
I've got some weird loop, shuffle and heart icons. Guess it's not optimized for L1520? http://take.ms/wLJF5
I've also got that on my 520. This 'old' music app is, in fact, slightly different to the hub we used to have, but its alot better than the WP 8.1 music app so I'm hardly complaining...
How did you replace/add artist pictures? I have the same problem as you did with music not being in the Xbox store.
I'm going to guess he used mpatool like the most of us have. It works great with the old hub but does not seem to work with the new music hub for 8.1
Lol. i opened xbox music for the first time on wp8.1 after reading this
LOL
Thank you WPcentral
I'm actually not that put off with the new Xbox music. I've never used it exclusively anyway, not with Nokia music and other awesome apps like 8track. I do love the Cortana integration.
OMG IS THIS ACTUALLY TRUE?! :O
Wish Deezer had a live tile :'(
Same and a transparent one as well!
Microsoft needs to scrap the new app strip down the old one and be done with it
i love the new one coz easier to create playlist..
Have you tried the old one?
I'm still getting loading each time I open the app even if I'm playing music. The new one is just crap.
Both the old app and the new app are complete garbage. I've been a subscriber for a long time now and I can honestly say, I hate Xbox Music because of this shitty app. I will still continue to use it because my love for music out weighs the cons. Hopefully one day we will have a good experience with it.
I don't understand how it is so difficult to make a good music app. Fuck, look at apps that people love, especially on ios or android, and put in everything that people need with a good UI.
You mean what they almost had with Zune and then they killed it? At the time, Zune was nearly on par with iTunes (and past it in a few ways) and they didn't do anything to catch up.
Shouldnt need a whole new app just to be able to create and edit playlists.
Agree with you but after the last update I cant create playlist, shouldn´t that update improved the app? not to messed up completely..now, I'm using Cool Music Player as a main music player in my Ativ S
Hmm. All this hoopla about Xbox Music just makes me want the Spotify update to come out.
Yesss it's here!!!
Now give me back the old Game Hub Tile.
I've gone back to mix radio
I never left it. What does XBM give you that MR doesn't? Apart from hassle.
Xbox music subscription allows specific songs and tracks to be added to collection and not just radio stations like Mix
Ah well I don't have one of those. I just download all my music. Never noticed a speed issue in NMR to be fair.
Speed, mostly. Mix radio can be pretty sluggish switching between songs. That said, I now use NMR simply to remove the playlist size limits.
a proper music library maybe?
I just put what I want on my phone. Don't need every single song available everywhere I am.
so what do you need mix radio for, heh? and putting "what you want" on your phone needs a DRM free version of a song in the first place
Because Mix Radio gives me stuff I've not got? Introduces me to new sounds? Not sure what your other point is though. I've never had trouble putting music on.
So how do you know what you want to listen to in half an hour? Personally I don't have my day planned to he tiniest detail, and would hate not being able to chose freely from my music collection...
Pinnable genres
I've gone to MixRadio [never used before] because Xbox Music just sucked so much in 8.1; don't think I am going back to Xbox Music any time soon, Microsoft doomed another one of their services.
Because one person says so?
I'm thinking about canceling my subscription until they fix this issue. I get my music from all over so playback is not the only crap they have to fix. We need a dedicated destop client that manages everthing. The current Xbox sync client just sucks, Xbox Music app on windows phones can't even compare to the first gen zune 2006 player. That's how bad it is. http://bandcamp.com/wetworker My zune 80 http://instagram.com/p/eQ9QjMilmK/
Microsoft aren't making a desktop client. They have a web client, and modern app for windows 8.
No, because the majority of the WP8.1 said so.
No, because I actually used wp8.1 on my 520 and experienced it for myself.
Do you have trouble playing local files with NMR with the 8.1 update? I even did a hard reset on my 1520 and I still get a black when I select my music and most times the app just crashes
Used to happen to me too, till nmr got updated. Now it works great. I would say faster than ever.
After the update it just crashes on me
I usually switched between both, but had been using NMR exclusively since 8.1 and the terrible music experience. Now I can go back to both!
Sssswwwweeeeeetttt ! Thanks Daniel .
This does not look like the old Music hub. The old one had a recent tab and thumbnails of albums upon launch.
That's the way it looks in 8.1. This developer certainly did not encode a music player himself in a < 1 MB app ;)
I agree but don't you agree that it's not the same as it is on WP 8.0?
Actually, it is 1.42 MB.
Pedantry should be a crime.
Oh, Ok then. That makes all the difference.
Yeah something wrong with it.. No recently added or played either ..i was missing them in xbox music..
I'm guessing they began to update it, then changed their minds
"Recent" seems to have been removed from all 8.1 core apps - example: People Tile/Hub.
Awesome, but when you tap the playing song at the volume controls it still brings me to the bad app...
Yes this is a hack at best so the OS will try to push you to the new app whenever it can. I imagine that the old app will go from hidden to gone before retail release
Yes and this is the problem I have with all 3rd party music players. Only Mix Radio opens from the media controls. All other music players open XBOX Music, which disqualifies them for me, no matter how nice they are otherwise.
I totaly agree with you! Why cant 3th party developpers make this work when mixradio can? Mixradio is good, for streaming, but ways to slow for Music playing
I assume it has something to do with the special access that Nokia has to the OS. Their camera app is also the only one that can be set as the default camera.
I am sooooo giving you 99¢
Why does this thing default to paying $50? For a transparent tile?
I think they should stick to the old app and update it with new things
"...and update it with new things"
THAT is the issue. It takes an OS level update to 'fix' or add things to the old version.
Okay chill bro
he runs this website, he doesn't have to chill for you
I didn't even think I was being boisterous, the 'THAT' was simply for emphasis. I guess he's sensitive, lol
Don't you mean "Case Sensitive"? :P I shall show myself out now.
it's just a comment, neither does Daniel need you to tell Aashish13 he doesn't have to chill for him
Is the last music update US only because i was not able to update it untill i changed the region to US :|
It wouldn't be an ISSUE, if MS did updates on WP as they do updates on Surface and Windows; I really hope they start doing that on Lumia hardware now that they control the Lumia line. Just push out OS and Firmware updates on a monthly bases in on Surface. Other WP OEMs can have their own schedule, since they need to make their own firmware.
"It wouldn't be an ISSUE, if MS did updates on WP as they do updates on Surface and Windows"
Microsoft would love to do more frequent updates, it's the carriers and OEMs that are the roadblock here, which is why you have 8.1 on your phone, the Preview was made to bypass those barriers. They can't and won't do what you say because carriers won't let their phones on their networks if they did.
Bro I told u to chill and further didn't mentioned. Now I mentioning that lets c what the other update will bring for us. Sorry for the incomplete statement.
Hasnt been a problem for the Nexus series from google, people buy the phones and use them on the network of theiri choice. This is what Microsoft needs to emulate, a nexus-like program for those who want it rather than letting the carriers hold us all hostage.
The Verizon Galaxy Nexus comes to mind ... It got better, because the recent ones are not Carrier-Branded phones ... They are just unlocked GSM phones.
^^exactly this. Carriers can't block phones from their network, something called anti-trust [competition (EU)] law forbids that, so Microsoft is perfectly free to make Lumia phones that do not need to pass carrier scrutiny; if the carriers refuse to sell them Microsoft can just sell them and cut out the middleman and make the phones cheaper.
Actually, that's not true everywhere. Here in Sweden the carriers don't give a rats ass about any updates for windowsphone, it's still too small. They don't even lock them to their own networks. All sold are unlocked to be used on any carrier.
"They can't and won't do what you say because carriers won't let their phones on their networks if they did." Actually carriers can't block phones, that would put them in legal trouble. They could possibly refuse to sell all WP devices, but that could potentially put them at odds with antitrust statutes as it could potentially be seen as an abuse of a dominant position, especially if one of the big carriers tried to do it.
Gotta wonder what Microsoft are playing at with this mess. If they screw up app development on their own platform, they should outsource it to someone that can build it properly.
Well, music player on iOS also needs an OS level update, and that app is not a pile of incomplete garbage. Microsoft just don't know how to make a good music experience.
8.1 is a big update. We can expect that, and we can expect a big update for the music player. iOS receives Music player updates about once or twice every year. It keeps its speed and functionality.
Daniel, is there any reason that you know of that a separate app should be so slow? I'm confused over whether the WP team have really managed to make something that performs so terribly, or whether they are working at a massive disadvantage from the outset by not being "part of the OS"
Wish there was a Zune one :'(
>2014 not having wireless sync
I have wireless sync, its called my Microsoft account and OneDrive, what else is there to sync? Everything syncs via the cloud
But you cant sync music which is what were talking about...
What music can't you sync? Every option available on WP8.1 is cloud based and syncs via its appropriate cloud. Xbox Music, MixRadio, Pandora, Spotify, etc.
The Music on my OneDrive
...which is wirelessly synced via the OneDrive cloud... So... I don't get it...
No its not, you can listen to individual songs but you cant listen to playlists, albums, songs by an artists, genres etc and you cant store them on your phone so you need a data connection... what your saying is not syncing, its just streaming single songs
Think it depends on the source. I have Xbox Music Pass and whatever i add on devices is synched across all. Which is sweet.
I'm not being forced into buying that by Microsoft when they could easily let us stream from OneDrive
Not on the old Xbox Music app, this is why I've been using the new app since it first came out because adding songs in it from the store actually shows up in my other devices.
Useless to me, I like having a local collection, not binding my music to an account, and not paying a subscription.
If only! We can vote for them to bring this functionality into XBM tho:
http://xboxmusic.uservoice.com/forums/209733-xbox-music-suggestion-box/s...
OH SWEET BABY JESUS FUCK YEAH!
I cannot get the background image of playing artist in Xbox music hub, any ideas how to get it?
Get MPATool. http://www.windowsphone.com/en-gb/store/app/mpatool/a6056e5e-34bd-4098-9...
Zzz. When can I finally go back to iOS with iPhone 6?
What's stopping you from going back now instead of complaining here? Even if you have to pay a fee, the choice is still yours. Or did you just want us to know how upset you were?
Probably October.
@andy21andy Stupid comment. Be done and be gone.
Now I wonder if the old Xbox Games Hub and People Hub still exists on WP8.1.
Old people hub would be awesome...
+ photos
Old people hub? Like a retirement home?
You guys are never satisfied. You bitch and bitch about wanting updates so Microsoft separates everything while giving them the OS level option if integrating so they can update more frequently & its a problem
Maybe its a request for better quality of the updates so they will be more functional? But as this is Prev for Devs there is time for updates before public release. Hope the comments here help to achieve better function.
It's only a problem when it's way worst than what we had.
It's quality vs. quantity. We want updates for apps that aren't even up-to-date. Having one big update is better than having a million small and useless updates (See: Facebook). Included in a system update like 8.1, it would have been no issue at all.
It's because some of their changes weren't good! We aren't sheep like ios fanboys and just praise everything they do. MS screwed up with some of their choices. Let us have a voice.
Awesome! Thanks so much! I love WP8.1, just not the music app.
Ditto, I have owned or do own every ATT Windows Phone (Samsung, HTC, Nokia) through the 1020 and love the 8.1 update.
It has some issues, and the new Xbox Music app is near useless for discovering and downloading music, but overall, MS seems to be going forward more than backwards.
Unlike Google who updates 4-6x a year and subsequently rewrites their code and more importantly breaks their own APIs, MS seems to be taking their time developing deep level API into the OS FIRST, so they and their developers can write an app once.
Sweet! I just wish the old player had the ability to add songs to your collection without downloading them. That's been 8.1 Music's saving grace for me.
You cant even PLAY the streaming collection In this old one
Just use the one that's meant to be used golly
Using your logic you should not have upgraded to 8.1 unless you're a developer.
I hope Microsoft doesn't find this app and remove it!!
Can somebody confirm if the artist background and album art still appear with the ones we attached using MPAtool?
yeah ..mpatool is bak in business . just updated my new songs ...... besides the llockscreen is showing artists properly now ....
I'm confirming!
Yes!!!
Yeah, that's working for me with this App, however the livetile doesn't work on the green tile at least.
Going back to the old one because I want my podcasts in the same hub
I never used it
The old 8.0 Music Hub was pretty bad when downloading XBM content, too. Frequently flaked out or crashed.
I never had this problem even once in 15 months with 8.0
Do you have an XBM Pass? Because that's when the bugs arose. Meanwhile my Zune HD worked flawlessly.
I have an XBM pass that used to be a Zune pass and never had this issue. I just stopped adding music because the old app never synced back to the cloud to show up on other devices.
No going back for me..
Wow!!
Thank god for this!
Downloaded and I'm sticking with this app!!! Thank you to whoever did this!
I believe Microsoft Just Backlisted the app, doesn't open and is a grayed out live tile
Nevermind, uninstalled and reinstalled it and it worked
Nope. I had that problem just a minute ago. Uninstall and reinstall fixed it for me. Lumia 1020.
Me too. I can't open it! EDIT: Uninstalled, reinstalled, and it didn't work again.
Microsoft never really needed to 'fix' and 'remove' the old music, photos and games hub. I didn't see anyone complain about those other than former wp7 users who loved the old music hub.
This... If it isn't broke....
But if you had used the Music hub back in the days of WP7, you would've hated the current implementation too. It was flawless.
My thoughts exactly.
They needed to IMPROVE things, like adding playlist editing but instead they decided to go back to square one and release a buggy, slow, immature app. Now its all loading screens and sluggish performance, its a poor copy of the Zune client on the desktop as well, the entire xbox music team should be fired.
You guys just don't get it, keeping the hubs required OS level updates in order to fix or add features meaning you would hardly get any updates if at all. Moving them to actual apps allows MS to update them as often as they want.
And also allowed them to be slow, useless, buggy prices of shit.
We freaking get it mate. We just don't agree with you. Id rather a working app they update every 2 years than this POS. Apple get by just FINE having their music player baked in the OS (because they don't suck at it) so that excuse I call BS on mate. Can polish a turd but its still a turd.
I understand decoupling these apps from the OS makes it possible for quicker updates. But I really miss the old hub concept. They could've created separate apps with the exact same layout. These separate apps don't have the animated live tiles that many people liked. It showed artists and Xbox avatar peeking through the sides.
How often do you need to update a music player? How often? Just get things done right, polish it, and release it in a system update like 8.1 and you probably wouldn't even have to touch it in a few years, if ever.
This. I don't need to be sold on how "good" it is that the app has been separated so it gets faster updates. Its a freaking music app for a phone. It doesn't need updates every week, just get it right the first time. Or fire your current xbox music devs and get some competent ones. :P
No I do get it, but a well thought, well designed app doesn't need to be updated that often, particularly with something as basic as music, photos, and video playback and management. And Microsoft has now increased the speed at which they update the various platforms. WP8 has only been out since November 2012, and we already got 2 GDR's prior to 8.1 and now 8.1 (which is a major update). I'm not happy with how the People Hub now works, but if decoupling that from the base code allows for quicker updates to support new providers or services from exisiting providers then I'm ok with it. But I don't like how the people hub needs another ap to do even the most basic function. Why have it when I have to have 4 other aps to do what the previous one ap could do? It was great. And like I already said, the Photo Hub now makes it difficult to find a picture I took. I don't need it grouped by date a picture was taken. Just give me a scrollable panel. The game hub is still there, showing all my games installed, but adding my games into my installed ap list is just stupid. If I have a hub, why do I need an over crowded ap list? But more importantly, and specific to this conversation is that the Music Hub still does not support DNLA on my local network. Why should I waste bandwidth streaming from the cloud when I have my music stored on a DLNA NAS attached to my network?
I don't have words to thank you Daniel..
Give us old Games also and 8.1 will be more than wonderful!
Can't they make the new app part of the OS like the old one was so it's faster and doesn't have to reload your music collection every time you open the app but make it so it can be updated whenever they want like a standard app? It's their OS, i'm sure there is a way they can do that. Because whatever they change to the new app in the next updates, it'll be pretty much impossible to make it as fast as the old app was if they keep it as a standard app... It's their freakin' system, they should just modify it to make their own apps part of the system but updatable, without needing a full OS update every time...
The reason it's slow is because it's an 8.0 app and it's poorly made. If they made it an 8.1 app then it would be better. All they need to do is take the Windows 8 tablet app and port it to phone which will allow them to use nearly all the same code!
The Windows 8 version is indeed better, but it's still not as fast as the Windows Phone version was... I'm using it on a Surface Pro and I still see the artists images loading one by one, on the old Windows Phone version I NEVER saw any loading. I opened the app and every album cover was already there! I could scroll as fast as I wanted, everything was already there, there wasn't any loading! Now, my phone as a lot less power than my Surface Pro does, so whatever they do, as long as they keep it as a standard app, there will be loading time everytime you open the app. A music app is one of the basic components of a smartphone, people have gotten used to not have to wait for the music app to load or display their music collection, I don't think now is the time to go back to it being as slow as any other app.
Agree
No thanks to an Android looking app. I want to see more WP-unique UI, not another hamburger-sidebar Holo app with Segoe WP.
I like being able to swipe to change tracks. Or did I miss something in XBM?
Um, why would anyone want to go back to the old one
Because if you have a lot of music in your collection the new app can take over 5 minutes to load your music collection to get to a certain artist. And it does that every time you open the app! I like the way the new app works with the ability to see only the music on your phone or the music and your phone and on the cloud, but right now it's just to slow! When I get in my car and I want to start a certain album before getting on the road, I can't waste five minutes or more every time!
Plus swithcing from a song to album track list is broken. And the app shuts down randomly.
Taking too long to download...
I put my 920 up on Kijiji this morning because I listen to music more than anything & the new app was just not cutting it at all. This saved me
This. I don't think MS realises how important the music player is in a phone. Did they forget mp3 players died due to smartphones? They need to put in overtime and make this right or they could lose customers for sure.
Yup. I'm going back to iPhone until I see a nice change in the Music Player. They should really just copy/paste whatever they did to create Zune player on WP7
Well it kind of works it's missing a few bits doesn't show the art on the tile
I prefer the new one only because it has playlists
me too!!!
I prefer the new one, but if you have a big music collection right now it's just too slow it's almost impossible to use...
PROBLEM SOLVED....I can create playlists with the new app and play them (and pin them) with the old one
I don't think the old one was a whole lot better, so I don't see what the fuss is about. At least it's finally somewhat intuitive to create a playlist with the new one and you can actually delete from your playlist now.
I prefer the new one, but if you have a big music collection it's almost impossible to use the new one because it takes ages to load your artists or albums list. And you have to wait for it to load every time you launch the app. People are used to accessing their music without any loading, so having to go back to waiting five minutes just to get to the album you want to listen to is a pain. Now I know it's just a preview and it'll get better, but it'll always be slower than an app that's integrated in the OS like the old one was.
This. It WILL always be slower than a baked in app. They never should have separated it.
It wants to charge $49.99, not $.99 for the transparent tile. WTF??
If you hit cancel the price changes I got $199.99 then hit cancel and got .99¢
How embarrassing for Ms! Ok so we needed an app so why didn't Microsoft just make the app same as the last one?Ms is obviously not getting these ideas from users!
Don't forget that you are still using the "preview for developers" version... It's normal for a preview not to be perfect, especially when they tell you the app isn't completed yet and so they are going to update it every two weeks so you can have access to the latest preview release.
Yeah people don't understand the meaning of "Preview" "Alpha" "Beta" "Delta Qudrant" to Paulxxwall, MS is working on improving the Music app and other things before the real release of 8.1
Preview is not an unfinished product. It is merely an earlier release of a finished product. Those who keep telling themselves this is not a finished product have nothing to back that up with other than their own wishful thinking.
What about the fact that the people at Microsoft said that they would release a new update every two weeks until the app is complete? Isn't that enough to back the fact that the app isn't complete?...
Don't give me this" to mr paulxxwall there working on it bs! So the last music hub was not that great but ok and now .....its worst! How do you start out ok then come back worst!.....worst come back in history! At least come back some what better giving us some hope but we got this for the " new version in wp8.1" preview or not now there an app to go back to old version .....and app! like we needed an app to bring us back ward because it was better! But that developer new he would make money and WP customers happy unlike Ms! So well wait for mad updates to bring us BACK to what it was ! Then they'll try to make it better?......i guess
The new music app isn't finished... It's like if you're buying a new car and then while they are building the new car you decide to take it for a ride and complain that there is no stereo. It doesn't mean there won't be a stereo when it's completed, it just means they haven't had time yet to add the stereo. It's not as if they would have started with the old app and just said they would add stuff, they reprogrammed it, so you can't expect everything to be there and working perfectly right from the start!
Exactly, that is why the called it a "Preview" so that you and anyone else who wants to test drive it can and give inputs so they can tweak things before the general public gets it." and I never said "Preview" wasn't a final product but even with a final product there's still glitchs and bugs. I would prefer doing this preview rather than oh let's say having Apple launching their iOS yearly updates but with tons of bugs and Millions upon Millions upon Millions of users complaining then having them take months to fix it. You pretty much signed up to be their genuine pig. So to Mr.paulxxwall, they're working on it and I just gave it to you again. #Dealwithit
Nope #Idonthavetodealwithshit. Microsoft just approved and verified an app that will alow its customer to go back to having a better music hub experience than one were having now because #Microsoftknowstherenewmusichubiscrap.
Oh but you are dealing with it so #dealwithit
First, they didn't approve it because they new the alternative was crap, they approved it because it didn't pause any threats to the user, that's how they approve apps and it won't change for an app like that. Second, yes they know it currently is crap, that's why they say it's incomplete and they are working on it.
Fanboys talking... Can u tell me when the new phones like 930 and 630 will be released? I think they said it will be in May (for 630). So even if it will be the last day of this month there is no time to fix so bugged app and this lags. Even the first update that brings really nothing was delayed... So no, it`s not normal that one month before realse date of new devices with new (no beta, no developer preview) WP 8.1 so basic app like Music is so f... bad.
Is it the ideal situation? No... Is it totally abnormal, never been seen before? No... Just remember the last big iOS update, there was even police in I don't remember which city in the US that sent a warning to everyone using iPhones because the new maps app was sending people into the desert by mistake and a couple of people got stuck there and out of gaz in the middle of nowhere. Every big update comes with a few delays and bugs.
Maybe but i don`t think that if Apple can do shit we should let MS do the same without complain. And music is really so basic function on smartphones that u cant compare that. Apple users can use Google Maps like they did before becouse Apple Maps was a new thing. Maybe next time MS will realese an update with new Call Hub. And we will be unable to dial anyone without waiting 5 minutes to load...
From what I remember user had to wait for weeks before there was a Google Maps app available. They couldn't access the one from the previous versions. And honnestly, maps is as a basic function in a smartphone as a maps app, and like you said, people on iOS have alternatives. If you want an alternative on Windows Phone you can built it yourself, Microsoft has given access to the codes for Xbox Music to any developer who wants to built an alternative app. And personally, I'd rather have the full update right away with a few bugs here and there than have to wait two more months for the full update simply because there is one app that's not totally completed... And if you really can't live with one app being incomplete, well guess what, as this blog post is saying, you can easily go back to the previous version of the app while you're waiting for the new one.
At least they are being honest about it and telling us that they are working on it unlike Apple who tells people "well it's because you're not holding your phone correctly" when a new phone's antenna isn't working properly.
well it's because you're not holding your phone correctly
Haha yes that was really great. MS should remove lags in the first place and deal with other bugs later. People buy WP couse its fast on all devices. They will come to store to try new Lumia, open Music App and they will never try it again couse even basic apps sucks in WP. It`s just sad. :( Sorry for my english
It makes complete sense if MS is "starting over" with a common app core - and now using their tools to optimize for platforms, memory requirements, etc.
Also, as was mentioned previously, this app version is likely coded for 8.0 compatibility and not 8.1 - yet.
I will "complain" if the Music app still sucks in July - until then, I like being able to go go back and forth between old and new - well worth the buck.
Why July? 630 release date is May.
Except it was "preview" for about 8 months. After 8 months this last measly update is all we got? You keep harking on about "preview" when history speaks volumes as to what we can expect. I don't have much confidence that it can be fixed. And its only called "preview" for us. This is the build they are shipping to carriers so stop saying its a "preview". Its not beta mate. But they sure as hell need to start making changes now before phones start coming out.
Who cares if this is the version they are sending to carriers? They made it an app and not part of the OS so they could update it anytime. It's the same as when I bought my Surface. First time I started it there were already updates for the calendar app, music app and I don't know what other apps. I'm not saying it will be perfect in two months, I'm saying we don't know. Let's just wait and see. We're wasting our time complaining about problems that might not even exist. If you want to make sure the app is good when the final version is released, stop complaining here about possible future problems, go on WPCentral, there is a blog post about a website where Microsoft is asking people to give them feedback and suggestions about the new music app so they can make it better before the final version comes out.
Going back to the old one,and I don't think the new updates are gonna be available in India cause I wasn't able to get the previous update.Also when I search for Xbox music from my store in India.It shows that its currently unavailable in your region. So why waste time ?
They both suck, but the new one only lists 1 out of the 15 or so artists I have on my phone. Why do certain features on WP keep getting worse and worse? I mean I love a lot of the new features, but they shouldn't be regressing in basic things like a music player.
Dude, remember what it told you when you updated to 8.1: "preview for developers". Microsoft never said the music app was final, actually they said it wasn't completed yet and so they are going to let us try the new updates every two weeks until it's final. You can't expect an incomplete software to be perfect!
Dude?! Do you ever shut up, yes we know that we installed a preview, but this 'upgrade' has destroyed our perfectly good music player. The fact remains that no app will ever be as smooth as a native experience because of the way WP handles apps. And before you tell us to wait for updates you have to realize that's the theme of windows phone users lives. Wait for this, wait for that.
And the fact that we DIDN'T have to deal with apps for every single thing we wanted to do was a big selling point for some of us. I didn't mind basic functionality built into the OS, and apps for more advanced stuff. Instead, MS decides to go all in for the apps, and becoming just like the competition. I can't figure out why.
Right, so you install a preview knowing its a preview and still complain about your experience being destroyed. Lesson learned, don't install previews of you're not willing to deal with the issues that come with them.
This 'preview' is actually the final release, minus the OEM firmware, I can assure you that this issue we are complaining about won't get fixed by Nokia's firmware, and a few more updates won't make it as smooth as the native player either because it's not native.
The Windows Phone 8.1 preview is pretty final yes, but it currently comes with a Music app that is still beta. And yes, thanks for reminding us what we all already know, the app won't be as fast as if it was included into the OS instead of being an app, but let me remind you something else, it won't be as slow as it is right now because the current version isn't final.
So you're agreeing that it's slower than a native experience and it will always be, and yet you are defending it like its supposedly better for us, the customers. Umm no, it's worse, isn't that clear, how are you happy with this downgrade??
If you read all my comments on this page you'll see that I'm also complaining that it will never be faster than a native app. I'm not defending it as if it was better, I'm just defending it againts stupid people who don't want to admit that it's still beta and that it will get faster and better and that bugs will be removed. It will never be as fast as it was, but it won't be a crap as it currently is, and I'm sorry but I have no respect for people who can't see that. A software is a terribly complicated thing to write, and it can't be done in a night, and a lot of people here don't seem to understand that. So when someone says Microsoft is the devil because there is a bug in their beta app, well... Get over it, it's a beta app, that's all I'm saying. Now if you want to complain about the fact that it will be slower now that it's not native, complain somewhere else. If you scroll up a little you'll find a long comment that I posted earlier today where I'm complaining about that. If you want to express your feelings you can always reply to that comment with something like "OMG you're so right it will be slower!!!", but leave the comment threads of people who are complaining about a small display bug alone, it's not related. (If you need help finding my other comment thread about it being slower do a word search for "Can't they make the new app part of the OS like the old one".)
Those 'stupid people' are correct, they are complaining over an inferior experience, something which you don't even deny and something you acknowledge will never change. And this thread happens to be the perfect place to complain about the app that this article discusses. Why don't you see my comment below where I suggest keeping the native experience until the app is good enough and THEN replacing it, but not now, when it's in beta.
In your initial message your complaint was that the app wasn't displaying your music collection properly, which is because it's a buggy and incomplete preview version. If you want to complain about the fact that it will never be as fast as it was before since now it's an app I'm totally on your side about that, but your initial message didn't mention any of that, all it said is that you were complaining about the app having a temporary preview bug. Next time you want to threat someone like sh*t for a reply to one of your comments take the time to read back your previous comment and see if the reply wasn't maybe justified by what you said.
Umm, read my username, I'm a completely different person to the original commenter. Oh, and there was no threat in the comment either, you should probably look up the definition of that.
Oh... seems like I'm also still in Beta, I was sure you were the one who sent the original message, and I verified to make sure, but, seems I made a mistake... Oh well, sorry about that. Oh, and my english is also still in Beta, "threat" was actually supposed to be "treat"... Although actually, no I'm not sorry, I don't care who posted the original message, if I'm replying to a certain message, why treat me like sh*t by coming out with arguments that have no link the original discussion. It's as if someone would have said "I like blue", and I would have replied "I think red is better", and you would have replied "Won't you ever shut up!, airplanes can fly!". It's pretty much what happened, someone said "there is a bug with displaying the artists names", I said "it's only a preview, don't worry about that bug", and you said "won't you ever shut up, it will be slower now that it's an app!!!". Totally unrelated to the original comment, totally unjustified.
I was fed up with scrolling through the comments to see you reminding everyone that this is a preview, defending Microsoft like crazy. 'no, it's Ok guys, it's a preview, so we can expect to lose features and get a worse experience'. The preview IS the final release, if they cared so much about their customers, why couldn't they have left the native player, and continued to add features to the app, so that when we had to use it, it wouldn't be horrible.
I am with you...XBOX Music has been in Beta (perhaps Alpha) ever since Windows Phone 8...it is way past time for this thing to work.
Keep telling yourself that.
Might i add,.. The way i see it. , WP had a huge advantage over all others cause of the integration of features into the OS , the biggest being FB chat in SMS thread , (something which android is copying now) , The Me tile . Everything was native in the OS .., i am sure all the fans out there expected MS to continue with what they have and make it better..,"No" they did the opposite . They are not understanding that with what they have left behind was the one thing powering them, and making then stand out from the crowd. Nokia worked tirelessly to give us quality in both software and hardware ... We all feel in love with Glance ..No other OS could have such things.... And now it will ask be gone with some bull shit so called "Upgrade" ... Honestly i am a huge fan , mostly because of what Nokia did. A fan boy if you may,
Now i am seriously considering buying another Lumia and keep it forever on WP8 ,, and be happy with what i had
This is perfect, will continue to use the old 8.0 one till the new ones updated
Wow, people must be really peeved off with the new music app to require something like this. I find it annoying, yes, but it's not SO bad that I'd need this workaround... in the next few weeks we'll get enough updates to bring the new app up to speed. I'm OK waiting!
Personally I'll keep using the new one, but installed the shortcut to the old one just in case. I have a huge music collection and so it takes ages to load my albums list every time I open the new app, and sometimes the artists list simply won't load, so I'm keeping the old app as a backup for the times it won't cooperate, until they finalize it.
If and when the new one is working like it should I'll give it another try but for now the older is way faster and has slide to change music. Besides, I've heard the "updates coming soon" line so many times...
So much better. Now no longer have to wait for the app to load, update or any other Xbox music subscription based action to occur, just access to my tunes.
No more buggy slow music app! thanks Daniel!! The only thing I quite dislike is that you need to buy this app in order to get the transparent tile. Green don't bother me at all, especially when its a small tile.
Already using it. Thank god. Wish the music playing went back to it. Loved the swipe to change track.
If only it was as easy to bring back Zune. The old Music Hub sucked, the new Music app sucks, and for some reason MS just doesn't think its odd or unacceptable that they amputated their media capabilities and in its place provide 2 years of alpha frustration crapola. It's a phone but for many like me it replaces their mp3 player and is a consumption device and for me at this point to still wish I used my Zune player, or even a ITouch is simply ridiculous. I have tried very hard to like these changes but the Windows 8 Xbox music sucks and the Music app, hub just plain sucks. I pretty much would rather listen to Pandora, Iheart Radio, Rock.com, or Nokia Mix, than deal with the static break in my own songs, or the frustration of playlists, and that's not even going there about duplicate songs, screwing my song info up, and the constant issue of song rights. MS kills all the things that are innovative and differentiates them such as 'Media Center', 'Home Server', 'Zune', and its a wonder that they actually have stuck through with Xbox or Windows phone or that I still use any of them. I must be a masochistic to still be here but what do you do, Apple is greedy, Google is evil, while MS is just stupid :-S....
I have to admit I never used Zune. MS does have a habit of messing with what people are used to. The mislabeling of artist and album info is atrocious in Xbox Music.
Dude chill we know it sucks but the update isn't official for that. Rememeber dev preview anything is at our own risk.
Enough apologizing for developer previews and betas. The music situation on WP has sucked since 8.0. Meanwhile I've been paying $100 a year for XBM Pass (and Zune Pass before that) and privileged to use shoddy software after wireless downloads on my Zune HD were disabled by Microsoft. The music app is crap. Period.
Truth is, is that Zune brought Windows Phone to the party with Metro, and it was killer software so the question is why are we here with this crap?
It's not just this developer preview app, its going on years of this crap, and this app is just a worst version of the hub so I don't see why anyone thinks it will be anything more than what they have been shooting for which is a chintzy little cloud player. I want a modern Zune or Monkey media organizer that lets me enjoy and control my media, and yes, it even fails at just being able to play a song without having to hear a blast of static between songs, or pull up the right artist, album cover. If the original ITouch from 10 years ago gives a better experience than this' modern' app after years of changes then something is seriously wrong in Seattle...
Dude chill we know it sucks but WP8 was just released. 2012 called.
Lol. Well said. And WMC is still a great experience that MS stopped supporting and developing a decade ago. It's the first product with most of the Modern UI language down, and it holds up today. Wish there was a way to get an official app from MS that could work as a WMC extender in WP.
One thing y xbox music isnt available in india......frustrated :-(
It amazes me how many people expect perfection from a pre release version. We were all warned many times that this is a owork in progress. I'm not thrilled with some aspects of 8.1 including Xbox Music app, but I'm sure it will get better. We weren't tricked people. Hang in there.
Isn't the official release only a couple weeks away? I'm sure in those two weeks, it'll still be half baked, missing features, crashy and buggy.
I don't expect perfection but going from an excellent media experience in WP7, to something that just gets progressively worse on both desktop and phone over a period of years is frustrating as hell.
except, it's not really pre-release. This is the gold version released to OEM's and carriers. What you see is what you get, there probably won't be any changes from Microsoft until the first GDR for 8.1
I work at Microsoft and cannot believe how unbelievably shitty our music app has become. I have no idea how they took a stable, fast, and fluid code base and turned it into a steaming pile of crap. My only guess is that the Xbox music team has no idea how to develop software in a multiplatform development world. This team is quite frankly an embarrassment to our company, believe me we have echoed same concerns to these guys to no avail. Personally I've cancelled my Xbox music subscription and switched over to Spotify.
Actually. I believe you. That's probably why Nokia made mix radio lol. Any chances of things changing?
Please somehow beg them to bring this native experience back! It's the only way I won't cancel my Xbox music pass :'(
Great to have a Microsoft employee on these boards who feels our pain. Can you somehow convey this to the XBox team, which I shared over on winsupersite: Nothing, and I mean nothing, can replace the wonderful experience of Zune and WP7 -- one desktop app to handle everything - media management of music, videos, and podcasts, both online and offline synching of media and auto-playlists, purchases, wireless synch, and playback - oh the playback - nothing beats the beautiful parallax displays of artist/album art. iTunes doesn't come close. Why would Microsoft think having 3 separate desktop apps and 5 or so phone apps for handling media is better than the glory days of Zune desktop and WP7. Apple have got the right idea - on the desktop, one app to rule them all - iTunes. Zune used to do it all - now with WP8, what we have is a sad, sad retrograde -- I'm using Media Player 11 (2009 vintage) to synch my WP8 music to my PC, and Zune to manage and playback content. Even then MP doesn't synch album art downloaded from Zune on the PC to Xbox Music on WP8. Such a pain. Why can't MS just give us back the wonderful Zune client for the desktop and make it compatible with WP8? Rebrand it if you have to, but please bring back a very well designed app that looks so much better than iTunes or anything Android has to offer. It was like a Formula 1 car just got dismantled for no good reason, and in its place is a ramshackle effort of a job that goes no where near what we used to have with Zune on the desktop and WP7.
It's amazing to me that a company the size of Microsoft, and all its resources, can't manage to get right something as simple as a decent music player. Third party independent apps like Doubletwist can figure this out, why can't Multi Billion Dollar Microsoft?
If wanna try new one try extreme music its really good though needs little fixes. But a good app
Yay!
Thanksss!!!
Nha... I'll stick with Xbox Music as it is in WP8.1, just wait for the next update, it's coming. Beside, everyone is being angry at Microsoft for including a "half baked" Music App in Windows Phone 8.1 PREVIEW FOR DEVELOPERS!
Lets c how the update will be after 2 weeks which they will be releasing
Never heard that before: "Just wait, it's coming." It's the Windows Phone slogan.
Lol. Yeah it's always the next version that's going to fix everything.
I am loving this old music hub..this thing flies...I want all my hubs back..
@FFugue who the hell are you? Some kind of PR to those reckless programmers?
This will do for a while
This app is amazing
Mine asked me to spend $49.99 for the purchase of the app....o.O
WPcentral is still crashing too
Xbox music gave me nothing but
headaches. I've never seen such a convoluted and confusing way to create a playlist. Beats Music (still buggy) is definitely playlist friendly and user friendly.
Would rather have the one 7 with live tile art that doesn't dissappear when you're not playing anything, Also shame we can't have the old photos hub back Posted via the WPC App for Android!
No.. No this one.. Still dont like.. Only different color. Sorry
Also seems to bring back the duplicate songs but only in the app
I also had to go through the extremely annoying song entries during 8.0. But the new XBox Music app on 8.1 seemed to have fixed it. Do you mean the duplicates/triplicates are back on 8.1 with the old Music hub? Is it only within the old Music Hub or does it affect the new XBox Music app on 8.1 as well? Thanks!
Just within this new music hub app
Damn I can't uninstall the POS Xbox Music app. Back to my old friend.
I haven't seen an update to music app (from India).... Will it remain the same here.
The old version is better than new Xbox Music app. Just me slow the new Xbox Music app?
New music hub update doesn't install for, been trying and hoping this has bug fixes. Thanks for this app, now artist lists load instantly rather than in 5 minutes or more. Bring back Zune!!! Please
Hallelujah! At last I won't have to see "Loading…" anymore whenever I multitask and go back to the Music app. I will have to remind myself not to open the app thought the music controls. I had been using Cortana in order to avoid opening the Xbox Music app as much as possible but Cortana won't understand to "play a random song" or "play in shuffle mode" or "start playing some music in random mode". Last week I noticed a change in the back-end and now at least she won't just start my music starting with "A" but still she won't arrange for music to play unorderly.
I don't see the issue, when I go to the app I can still navigate and play music even while it says loading music at the top of the app.
The loading screen, not the status bar message.
I don't get a loading screen, when I launch the app it pops up and I'm at my collection, I click the random play button at the bottom and music starts playing. Alternately I'll go to an artist and play an album. I really don't see a performance issue compared to the old app, the only issues I see are the live tile that is not live and the lock screen not updating with artist.
This app made my day! Thanks :D
I can't tell the difference between any of them. Both ugly, both play music when I press a button. Aesthetically speaking they're identical. what's the issue?
Umm.. It's way faster than the new one
Old one is faster. You have a dedicated playing screen. That means you can swipe between tracks without using the small buttons, You also go directly to that artist other albums in you collection when you click said artist name. The old one has better usability. The person who develop the old app knows how people with large collection of music consumes music. The new app looks like it was developed for people who depend on playlist. The majority of the new music today have maybe 3 good track on a given album,so people are jumping all over. I use playlist sometime but for the most part I play full albums.
Even if the new app was playlist-centered, it doesn't shuffle music properly. it can never shuffle beyond 20 songs or so, and the 20 shuffled tracks keep on repeating from the playlist of just 120 songs. XBOX Music is more of a waste here in India also because its not actually even XBOX Music. Its just Music with even lesser features than the US Variant, for example a Music Store. Therefore, I'm sticking to Nokia Music / MixRadio
Thanks.. Will use this for actual playing and browsing.. Will use the new one if I need to make playlists
Useless as the old one was Xbox Music➕Video for outside U.S, not Music.
Even the latest Music app refuse to update since preview.
OMG this is amazing!!! Please leave it Microsoft, we love it
If only the people hub wasn't rewritten and we could bring that back too
Yes, and the photos hub with pictures in the background.
Thank god! I haven't been able to play my music at all! Other than via Cortana...
Was the last Xbox music update US only because I had to change my region to get the update!!
Omg its so, so... Beautiful *_*
Thank you, who ever brought back this music hub. Unbelievable how it scrolls down my music list so fluid without any lag or those annoying jumps. THX THX THX THX THX!!!!!
and Xbox Music in Unpinned from start screen and might never be opened again by me :)
Brilliant! So not only do I have the worst music app of any make or model of Smartphone that has been on the market since at least 2010. I can now have access to the second crappest music app in existence.
Microsoft should give the XBox music app to the designated Windows Facebook dev team. After all the team behind the third worst app in Smartphonedom surely can't do any worse
Right, what is there to be excited about?
Agreed, but how hard is it to make a music app based on Zune but called Xbox music? We supported Zune and MS killed that off and now were supporting WP and they are incrementally killing it off...so fucking stupid.
I keep saying this, but Zune is arguably the best family of things Microsoft has ever released outside of Windows.
I don't have a Xbox but I did use Xbox music radio - can someone tell me how to find that on the phone
This is all just a mess. Sad that Windows phone has to carry on this way. As Yoda says "that is why you fail".
I want normal music player without xbox :)?
+1
Yup! Just my own music and playlist... I don't really go online for music...
Thanks for this app at least i have a tole showing me new music now, but again, MS and thier lack of a full featured music app after 2 yrs is completely inexcusable. Can anyone tell me why MS didnt just change the drm in Zune, keep all the features and rename it xbox music? This is my last year dealing with this garbage, MS is forcing me to go android because of thier inability to LISTEN TO THIER CUSTOMERS!!
I think it all coms down to ego. They got rid of the zune team and this new team is hell bent on making changes just for change sake. The zune team had four years to develop a beutiful app and sync client that worked great together..
The music app isn't good but it isn't that bad...
Managing music on WP is an awful experience
I have mine synced with iTunes now i have my same playlist like on my iPod. That is very convenience for me...
Oh Zune (software) how I miss you so, with your wireless sync & ability to edit song info
I still use it to edit song tags but to bad is that I can't wireless sync with wp8.
Trying it out. Hope it allows me to start Music without a black screen 2 out of 3 times. Of course, looking forward to using the new and improved versions of Xbox Music eventually.
I think we have to use the new one to help Microsoft to build a butter app with a butter experiences.
If they want to build a better app they just need to go to user voice a "listen". Besides, 8.1 is installed in over a million and a half devices. I'm sure I won't be missed.
I still have issues with having the correct album art. It's so annoying. It's ridiculous to think that my Lumia 900 has a better Xbox Music experience than the Xbox music hub for WP8 and this horrendous XBM app.
Going back to the old Music app. I don't have much faith left for the Xbox Music team and don't expect the new app to be on par with the old app for several cycles.
I have an Xbox Music Pass and have had it for 3 years - it is nearly useless with the new app - dumb.
I will go with the new one... Coz it alwayz gets better with new updates.. But some changes to Xbox games is needed though...
I actually haven't had an issues with the new one and quite enjoy it... Apparently I am the only one..
You're not, I prefer it also... Is not the best but I think is less worst than the previous ... Still Zune was the best
Microsoft has to delete Xbox music completely and improve the old app (playlists, search, layout etc) and do something about the long loading times. Then it would be the perfect music app.
My music don't show up here also. Sigh...
It's much better than the new one, the new app is ugly, slow, bugged, UGLY again, uncomfortable... Etc I personally hate it!!
F
In my humble opinion the Xbox music is better than the old one, yeah resumes a little but you can play songs and search while the app is doing that and you can actually search music .. And doesn't lagg like the previous version when you tap a next song in a big playlist... But yeah, I'm disappointed cause I was expecting something far from better than what we have
Thank god!
What I don't get is why is this still part of the OS. It looks like a mess. I wonder how many more "dead bodies" they left in there..
At last! Some common sense. Everybody is just happy to have the poor thing back, ignoring the ugly truth.
When you open a music or video file in IE or any other app, it still opens in the old music hub.
OK, that makes sense. It will take some time after the official release so all apps can update to the new music app.
I'll use the old one until the new one gains reliable performance. Thanks for sharing, but hopefully the new one catches up soon. Can the same be done to access the old Games Hub?
For me this tile nicht werken :(
Same here
its magicaly started to working after deinstalation and instaling again.
Omg wow ms won't be happy.
For me the update on Friday did absolutely ziltch.... Nothing.... Not a dickie bird... as we say over in the UK.... I'm only sticking with the new Xbox music app because its ruining through 8.1 on the developers preview, once 8.1 goes global and the problems persist or the dev team really end up making a shocking app, me and Xbox music will part company when my subscription ends.
Oh, still can't use emoji,s when making comments.
I'm happy that someone figured out a way for this to be done but I would be nice if it was just fixed. One thing I would like is for Xbox music to not need to search everytime I open it for the music on my SD card
Just need the same option for the old games hub now and I'll be satisfied with 8.1
This should do the trick until they fix 8.1 Xbox music.
does MPAtool work with the new xbox music app?
No, it doesn't.
Works partially! you can add artist picture and it will display on lockscreen, i have tested it.
So if you all use XBOX Music, then perhaps you could answer this for me... which do you think is better, Spotify or XBOX Music? I currently use Spotify, but have been thinking about dropping it and going to XBOX Music, but did doesn't seem like XBOX Music has as much as Spotify as far as song and artists. For example, I can get any Metallica album on Spotify, but I haven't seen any Metallica music on XBOX Music.... am I just overlooking or not doing something right?
Shame all Microsoft built-in apps aren't on a 2 week cycle. Podcasting needs some updates to make it more useable. Skype could do with new features, still waiting for voicemail support on windows 8 and phone.
The old music hub is definite better than the transvestite music app we have now. But what surprises me is that Microsoft left the old hub buried within the OS, taking up unnecessary space and probably resources. Isn't that poor lazy coding or what?
Music and video files from IE and other apps still open in the old Music hub, so I guess that's why they left it.
You can also open the (much faster) xbox music store on here as well :D. Also refreshing to see my music app not choke on just 3 gigs of music. If the new one still chokes with the new update, i can't imagine how bad it must be for those with 30 gigs.
Also got the Artist Backgrounds LockScreen working again ! Yaaay.
I have to say, the last update kinda fixed the always loading & duplicated playlists issue ... Almost dusted off my old iPod touch. I can live with it ... Especially with HeyDJ! I don't even have to open the app anymore ... However I miss the old Xbox Music live tile.
Thank god....i love this app..bless u mate
I miss the live tile, I would like the always on option rather than only live while music is currently playing. When the live tile does make a comeback soon I guarantee it doesn't though. Personally I don't look at the home screen when I'm playing music so it would be better for me if it showed last played Artwork all the time so I don't have to look at the Xbox logo for the rest of my life.
Too late... I've moved back to WP8.0 :/
Without previous beautifull live tile there is actually no big diffrents, in both apps background artist picture actually working (after reset in setings + MPAtool). On this restored app there is no music app hub, no history... actually almost no benefits from using it.
Lord. What a mess between Xbox music and Xbox video. How the hell hasn't the project leader been fired yet? Anyone know who it is? I'd like to contact him and tell him to do the honorable thing and get out of the way by quitting. You've had years and all you did was give us a stripped down version of Zune, renamed it Xbox music and then select that down and started out from the OS. Kudos Jack ass.
Like on the WIP Suggestions page MICROSOFT BRING BACK ZUNE!!! LISTEN TO YOUR CUSTOMERS
Yeah. Its painfully obvious that this is what the massive majority want. So they aren't doing it just to prove they don't care what we want? Great business model. The only people that hated Zune was Apple sheep. So you killed the Zune to appease the same people that wouldn't buy your product if their life depended on it? Great idea.
Great, no harm to have another option right... I missed the old one, the faster loading one. Nokia MixRadio is not bad but took some times to load... Hoping for better one thru updates in the near future...
wow, this shortcut made me realize how fast and fluid the old app is....so sad...don't know when the new one will be as fast and that's a big if...
Cant play cloud collection with this old one. So no thanks
I'll use this until something better comes along
Zune was so good
Xbox music says my music won't play my music. Can't find Pandora.
Xbox music should've worked like Zune and they could have added upgrades to that, instead, they downgraded the whole WP experience.
Great! What about the good old Store app/hub?
Working for me so far. Hopefully, we will have the new version updated to a decent level soon. I am not installing the new player, just not using it for the present.
No argument from me regarding Zune. I still use my HD 64 GB player for listening to albums. Unfortunately my commuter train does not have WI FI so I need to use my cell for streaming. Zune FM HD radio puts the WP radio to shame, at least when I am on range of the New York City FM stations. Wish Microsoft would bring the Zune radio into the WP 8 system.
Hopefully the Wpcentral team share all this negative feedback to the people on the Xbox Music team. Sometimes if you make enough noises things change for the better.
Is there a way to bring back the games hub back?
After the update it works pretty good
Is there a way to get the old podcast functionality back???
The new podcast app sucks just as much as the new music app.
I am thankful that we have this app till Xbox music updates there app.
Meh. What's the point?
Thank you so much....
Swipe gesture, enough said
I think Xbox music should have cloud storage for predownloaded music, like torrented music or music from my discs. This way the music I already had on my phone can be played on my Xbox.
This isn't the old Music Hub from 8.0, its some revamped version for 8.1, but seems like it wasn't quite completed, probably so they could spend time working on a shitty app not built into the system. It is very similar, but actually quite a bit different from the 8.0 version.
The old music app is the best, simple and practical. Hope the new one will be looks like the old one with updates.
What I liked most about WP is the ability to uninstall non-system apps you have no use of. But I realised they're only removed from the app list but entirely remain on the phone. This is evidenced by the apps reappearing after hard reset. This is no different from the Touchwiz bloatware mentality of Samsung
actually the apps you delete are removed. when a hard reset is performed, the os installs all the apps that were there from the beginning. the installations of the apps remain,but the apps are deleted. this is easy to see on a wp7 device with a custom rom.
Unfortunately the Tile is pins is not a live tile (doesn't show currently playing artist). However, the app does show the current artist on the lock screen, which the Xbox music app doesn't.
I just want the background and cover :)
everybody hate new xbox music in asia or india region that is very slow and take loading like internet data streaming when we open. I love this old music hub but its not completly previous it has changed now i installed it but problem is not change lockscreen background with artist photo when i listen music with help of mpa tool app.I think windows phone 8 music hub is nice.When i fw next song lockscreen is changed automatic with artist photo thats nice feature in old music.
Besides the lack of quality in functionality and aesthetics, I still don't like that it was branded under the Xbox platform. Microsoft should have never done away with the Zune branding. It was actually good, it was just unfortunate that it competed with iPod at a time when Apple products were a fad.
Oh? That means my good old Xbox Games hub must be hidden under WP8.1 all this time? Anyone have any idea how to bring it back?
Live tile should show artist pic...i just want that only!!
Why is that all icons by miscrosoft are not transparent?, games, office, music e.t.c
just use Nokia mix radio..their player is good and pics of artists also com
Seems faster
Going back to the old one. It is infuriating Microsoft hid this while replacing it with an alpha quality app.
I used to put album art in old music hub using mpatool. So how do I put an album art in this new crappy music hub of wp8.1?
I used to put album art in old music hub using mpatool. So how do I put an album art in this new crappy music hub of wp8.1?
Is it just me or there's a small stutter in the gap between songs when playing? I have this since 8.1, and it occurs on Xbox Music, MixRadio and even in this Music Music Backstop. I even tried doing a hard reset but it didn't help :(
Cant we do the same with the Games HUB????? Would be awesome! I hate the lag when i open the Games app
Tried to run this today on my Lumia 521. Plugged in my headphones and started the app. My screen went black and I was unable to start my phone. Finally had to remove and reinsert the battery. I read able to start the phone, but it went through a process of scanning my SD card before I could use the phone. Tried again, and this time I was able to listen to an album on my SD card. Shortly after, my screen went black again and I had to repeat the process. Will uninstall and wait for the 8.1 app to be updated. Too bad I spent the$.99 for the paid version.
I still have a ton of problems with the app telling me I don't have right to play music that is DRM-free. Also, I have a mac and whenever I try to sync my phone using the Windows Phone for Mac app, it ends up not syncing all of my music. It seems completely random which songs are able to be played on my phone and which aren't. I downloaded this and there is one song in particular that on the old player, I can play it without a problem, but on the new one, it says I don't have the rights. Anyone else with something similar? I really want to leave my iPhone behind for Windows Phone, but music is a massive part of how I use my phone and this app just is not cutting it.
I use Nokia music..
I like the new one..you can do what you want, but the last friday update messed up and now I can create a playlist but few minutes later the playlists I've done just go away or just keep few songs from all the ones I added :/...thanks to the LAST UPDATE I have to pick up this old one because now Xbox Music is unuseful for me.....and btw, the black screen is still there........
I have downloaded this but I think it important to use and critique the new one. There are several more updates on the way and judging the progress is important.
PRAISE THE LORD AND HIS MIRACLES!
The old one sucked, I hated it. I'll stick with new Hub because I depend on playlists, at least it will be updated
After installing the old music hub, my pop playlist with 62 songs has vanished and is showing 0 songs in the new music hub, and not at all there in the old music hub., please help
Does anyone know of a easier way to pull up ur music instead of hitting the volume key? I feel as if they should make it part of the notification center when music is playing. How can we make this happen? Its more simple than having to either go to the app or having to hit your volume key to bring it up.
I still hate the fact that Zune was rebranded as Xbox Music. Xbox is a videogame brand. Not everyone that owns a WP owns an Xbox or is interested in having a game console (or whatever they want to call it these days). Besides the fact that Zune was a quality music/video service on par with iTunes (and better in some cases; syncing I think was more user friendly), I believe that was just a bad marketing decision.
I wasn't so worried about the music hub, but there are other changes that do ruffle my feathers a bit. I hate how my games show up in my ap's list. I liked it much better when they were in the game hub. I hate, and hate is not a strong enough word for how I feel, the new people and picture hubs. The best selling point of WP8 was its tight integration with facebook and such. Now it's just crap. If I want to read someone's status update or view a picture they added, it launches the Facebook ap. It really breaks it for me. The people hub was just that, a place that brought in all sorts of updates and gave me a native solution with no additional ap to load. And the photo hub? So now I'm supposed to remember when I took a picture? I'd much rather have them all show up on a scrollable screen. It's like they took one step forward and three steps back on this iteration of the OS. Yet, somehow, I'm not surprised considering what they did to Windows 8.1.
XBOX Music is nothing compared to old music hub in terms of performance. I tried other 3rd party music apps also, and tried to develop my own also because of xbox music's terrible performance. But music hub is way faster than everything else. Maybe it's because of its deep integration with OS, or maybe it's a part of OS itself. Or maybe it's developed in c++.
I really miss the recently added and the history. I usually played music from there.
Doesn't have the Radio option. Kinda like the new one better.
Microsoft should bring back the hub, I like to have fast access to other music apps right there (like musiXmatch for lyrics), I also preferred the old interface. That new plan for having updates without needing to update the OS sounds nice, but in practice they gave us a lame app that needs a lot of updates to bring it on par with the old version (and not being integrated I doubt it'll ever be as fast). Also the hub didn't have many things to complain about so just a small update along with WP8.1 would've been enough.
I like the new one, you can do whatever you want on it but the last friday update messed up all the app, now I cant create playlist...they just disappeared or shown less, zero songs after they've are created... I want Xbox Music without friday's update now!!!!!!!! :(
It doesn't matter if it is the old app, the new app, or which ever Windows 8 version of the desktop software is available. All the current apps and the desktop software are just the absolute worst. Microsoft has horribly fumbled this. I recently purchased a new Windows Phone 8 to replace an older Windows Phone 7.5. The music software is unuseable, and the Zune software purposefully does not work with Windows Phone 8. I'm certainly glad I didn't buy new phones for the rest of the family. Music is the one thing I use on my phone all the time. I have no intention for spending the price of an old Zune player on a monthly basis in data charges so I can play music from the cloud. Microsoft has very strongly told me what they think of my future business by this despicable action.
sub.
How can I get the "Top Stongs" list downloaded to my phone so I can listen to music when I'm away from my WiFi? It seems silly to have to go to the "Top Stongs" list on my phone and have to click "Download" next to each of the songs. Before I upgraded to my Windows 8 phone, I'd create a playlist in the Zune Desktop Software and sync that with my phone. (I have the music pass)
My Nokia 920 with 8.1 no longer displays background art, related music or bios in the Music app. I see nothing but the album art on a black background during playback. The old Music app used to display full screen art, similar bands and artist information (bios). Has anyone else experinced this issue since updating to the latest version of Xbox Music?
That's one of the things I hated about Android and why I switched OS: not satisfied with a stock app? Replace it! Even if it's an old stock app, if this continues they will pile up. I hope this is just an exception and won't become standard.
edit: sorry, wanted to add a single comment, not reply to an existing post.
This apps not open in my nokia 520 I try many time. Sit help me
Devlopers pls help me I am facing problem after windows 8.1 update. Basically I've Lumia 520 ( Indian Region ) . (01) After WP 8.1 update my SONGS List are not getting updated completly. for example If I have 100 songs , it shows only 80 to 90 songs .. (02) Problem number 02 After WP 8.1 update - After completion of a each Song and jumping into another song ., A SCRATH Like Noise Comes Remedies I've tried: 01 ; Formatted my 08 GB Memory card , for many times 02 : Hard Resetted My Lumia 520 , for many times 03 : Bought New 32 GB CLASS - 10 Memory card.. But still I haven't got solution.. Pls help me.. Email ID : premsdarshan@outlook.com
I'm the same with Deezer,
It seems far happier on android than the windows smartphone....
since the 1.0.7.0 update today it requires payment even for the green tile :(
Got new update for 8.1 music app today, 18/7/14. Still does not fix missing album art issue so will continue to use Music Hub Tile workaround. No wonder MS are laying off 18,000 staff from the WP division. Note here Apple are hiring additional 100,000 staff to manufacture Iphone 6!
I'm sticking to the new one and hoping for microsoft to make some radical changes to the music app. The music hub tile doesn't feature the awesome live tile which I've come to think of as the best thing about the old app. Neither does it have the "new" or "history" pages like the old one. So apart from the faster startup, it isn't really that useful. And I have to pay for the transparent tile. With the new one, atleast I have seek option for every track and transparent tile for 8.1.
Well three week on and still no fix for the XBM missing album art. Just compared old 8.0 and new 8.1 Music apps and it was clear the old Hub version although lacking in many other areas was much faster, shows all album and artist artwork and looks better. The MHT may not perfect but is still way better for me than the XBM.
Guys half my music is not updated in the new music app. Its irritating me a lot. What should i do about this?. I am finding in the other music player i downloaded but its not visible in the new xbox music app
could you plz help me xbox music store is not working in my region
and the artist background that was in my wp8 is not showing in my current wp8.1
could any one help me

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