Here's why Microsoft chose 'Groove' as the new name for Xbox Music

Earlier today, Microsoft made the surprise announcement that it would rename its Xbox Music service and app to "Groove" for the launch of Windows 10 later in July. But why was the Groove name itself chosen? We now have that information thanks to a Microsoft spokesperson

Windows Central contacted Microsoft asking specifically why the name was picked and received this response:

"We chose the new name, Groove, to best describes what people feel and do with music, and make it more intuitive for our Windows 10 customers on what they'll find with the app. The name Groove was chosen based on customer feedback from Windows fans, and it best represents Microsoft's music strategy: to be fun, engaging and intuitive."

In addition, Microsoft's Joe Belfiore confirmed on his Twitter account today that the ditching of "Xbox Music" was the result of confusion over the Xbox name being used for such a service, when it's already well known as a gaming-based brand.

"We didn't drop the apps, we just changed the name. Lots of people were saying "I don't have an Xbox, why would I use Xbox Msic (sic)?"

It remains to be seen if the general public will gravitate to the new "Groove" branding.

John Callaham
293 Comments
  • Seems groovier.
  • Groove folder sync on office 2007 ._.
  • ^This
  • Doesn't matter what they call it if they don't market it....
    ^This
  • trudat  
  • "Trudat" would have been an awesome name for the app.
  • True dogg, true
  • Lol you can't (^ this) your own comment
  • But, apparently you can :-D ^this
  • LOL! ^this
  • Doesnt matter what you say if nobody cares...
  • Yeah that Groove became Sharepoint Workspace quite some time ago, and most consumers wouldn't have a clue anyway since they never used that product.
  • So sharepoinnt provide music now #trolling
  • Groove(shark).com  -> shut down.
    http://grooveshark.com/
  • That's what I was thinking. DId anyone here give feedback to Microsoft about renaming the product?
  • Apparently we did. :/
  • Then called Sharepoint, now called OneDrive for Buisness.
  • Anyone who has Microsoft OneDrive for Business installed can look at their task manager and see groove.exe running.
  • Groovy baby.  Microsoft has its mojo back.
  • Check W10 Icon on phone and it will make sense. Believe me it's all right lalala :) It's a vinyl player that is also shaped as a "G"
  • Same as on PC's. I've been wondering why the logo looked like a "G"
  • So it was a swipe of the B in Blu-ray Disc logo!
    Now G disc for Groove Music.
  • They need to stop doing everything based on customer feedback. Customer feedback will never be innovative because thats the idea of innovation ...no one has thought of it. Microsoft marketing people are paid six figures im sure, so they should just think of their own name.
  • It's called giving people what they want. No one says they can't create new things but not all new things work well or are understood by regular people. A company that doesn't listen to it's customers will get in trouble.
  • That's true but I'm betting they change the name.....soon!
  • Steve Jobs, who was arguable one of the worlds greatest sales people, had a very different philosophy. He believed customers shouldn't be expected to know what they want. He's absolutely correct. If you wait to be told by your customers what to do, then you're always going to be playing catchup.
  • @Tony, they did do it by themselves that's how they came up with XBox Music. They needed help in a bad way...
  • I like the name Groove. Less of a mouthful.
  • definitely agree on that.
  • How about Microsoft Music?
  • That's more of a mouth full and it sounds lame.
  • How about 10tunes?
  • You mean, like the ingenious named "Apple Music"?  I bet Tim Cook didn't spend millions on paying market research people and holding numerous focus group sessions to come up with that name! Probably the meeting conversation went like this: Apple Diminutive:  Tim, what we should call our Apple Music? TCook:   That's it Apple Diminutive:  What? TCook: That's it!   Not much creative 'thinking outside the box' going on at that fruit stand.......
  • You a Phil Collins fan I take it.
  • "Groove" has a retro, hipster quality about it that just might work. Also, "Groove" is instantly associated with music, which is a good thing when you're creating a music service (as opposed to "Zune" which didn't mean anything).
  • Exactly. I think that's what immediately to mind when I read the new name.
  • What if you don't like retro hipster quality?
     
  • Then you wouldn't mind
  • If you don't listen on vinyl than youre a loser
  • Music, or dirty hippies...
     
  • Not cool, man! Don't call us hippies dirty! We take a bath every January! ;)
  • The icon should be a picture of Austin Powers.
  • Definitely agree with the retro part, except to me it seems like a word that used to be cool but isn't now... which makes me think it's a bad name for a new music service...
  • In a similar vein, they should rename Xbox Video to 'Limelight'.
  • Limewire? Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • Using their horrible logic for renaming Lync, they should have called this Music for Recreation.
  • lol
  • Shall use Muzic for music...
  • Lets just stick to Groove.
  • son: open the muzic app to listen to music
    grandma: search "music"... you bullfrog! there's no music app in this frogging phone!
    son: it's muzic grandma, muzic
    grandma: what??
    son: MUZZZIC!!!
    grandma: don't throw you voice in me your mama didnt raise you like that. i hear you... search "music"...
  • I'm not a big fan of the new name, but changing it from Xbox Music makes senses for the reason given. The new name feels a bit dated to me for some reason, "Apple Music" although boring will ride on the back of the already established brand...Not sure if they didn't feel that "Microsoft Music" would be strong enough to pull people in or if they just wanted to be different.
  • I guess they hope more people will use the service on Ios and Android in the future. It was the same with Nokia Drive when they didn't kept it exclusive anymore... they had to come with a new name so the Samsung/Android user wont be confused... They just couldn't use Microsoft Music, it would have been worse like that...
  • What about Microsoft Office? Microsoft OneDrive? All MS apps have Microsoft in the name as thats what makes it a copyright.
  • Tbh, while MS may officially be in those products names, I more often hear them referring to them as Office, OneDrive without the MSFT prefix...
  • Yeah, about putting "Microsoft" in front of it. It makes it look like a business only app. People hear Microsoft, they think Office, not Music. Microsoft needed to get their groove on for this one. Groove is for after hours, not at the Office. ;)
  • Not too original. GrooveShark, you know that name?
  • RIP grooveshark... Now I have to rip mp3s from youtube concerts....
  • Nope maybe more like SharePoint groove
  • Exactly, they might as well of named it uTunes or urTunes.
  • It worked for Grooveshark, why not MS...
  • They why did they shutdown?
  • They shut down because all of the record companies came after them for all of the music that users uploaded. It was easier to shut down instead of paying royalities.
  • I don't really get the whole "I don't have an Xbox, why would I use Xbox Music" mentality. I don't think either name is great, but the service is what's important. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • Because the name implies that the service is tied to the Xbox in some way. If you're looking at it from the outside, you might think an Xbox is required.
  • Even if someone really thought that, the minute you look at the App description or spend 2 minutes on Google, you'd know you could use the App, as is. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • You can still look at the app description or spend 2 minutes on Bing .. ;)
  • Search engines are for proving your point and finding porn.   Not for actually learning anything.
  • Honestly, some people don't seem to comprehend articles here, so it probably isn't a good idea to assume someone will read App description and understand it. Also, if someone needs to Google an app to understand it, then it probably isn't going to happen. I understood X-Box music and how MS was trying at one time to make X-Box as much about entertainment as it was gaming, but I think people outside of the tech circle probably didn't really 'get it'.
  • But if you were looking for a new music service, and you came across Xbox Music, and the first thing you thought was "do I need an Xbox for this?" don't you think atleast glossing over the App description would be common sense? Lol. I guess I have a mentality that I always like to research things and try things, myself. Seems like common sense, so I don't understand when people don't do this. It just seems lazy. Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • That's asking too much from a marketing perspective. You want instant recognition that its a stand alone service, not after research. Having Xbox in the name of anything not gaming related was lame to start with. Now if they had a Lumia Xbox edition that was high horsepower for rendering games better then I could see it. But Xbox music and video?
  • At least if they thought xbox was required, they would accidently buy one.  Now they might think a Groove is required and won't know what to do or where to get one?
  • But Xbox is supposed to be a decentralized service that is part of Windows/phone games, iPhone games, and Microsoft entertainment services across multiple platforms. Why are there Xbox games on iPhone with achievements? Why is there an Xbox app for PC that is meant to be used with Steam games? Their whole Xbox strategy is now a convoluted mess. On the one hand they're trying to keep it from being associated with just a gaming console, but on the otherhand now they're trying to reduce Xbox to being nothing but games, except for the fact that Windows 10 is supposed to bring non-gaming apps to Xbox. What a mess of a marketing strategy. This is what happens when you completely change directions every 2.5 years. Groove will not be long for this world.
  • The majority of MS customers clearly aren't seeing it that way. It seems for the public, XBox is a device, not a service. So yeah, XBox Music sounds like the Music feature for the XBox device.
  • It happen to almost all my friends who have switched to WP from Android (and doesn't have Windows 8.1). I don't think either names are great either, but groove is slightly better.
  • I work in Operations for a Software-as-a-Service company. I state this because it provides context. My senior admin counterparts (network, Windows, Linux, etc) all thought Music and Video was part of an XBOX offering requiring one to use. Obviously not the case, but that is a few tech people. Imagine lay people? Groove is too close to GrooveShark, which may have been on purpose or an accident, but assuming they keep it, it's not a bad name. That is what I do when I listen. Yes, I Groove.
  • Do they think they need a Macintosh to use AppleTV? Or what about an iPhone :p
  • Never heard one person say that. Sounds like a B.S. Excuse after they have everyone telling them how much time they waste on non issues like this.
  • @Blacklac, basically your saying everyone in the world has an ounce of common sense. Unfortunately and sadly that is not true, some have no common sense at all.
  • Lol. Maybe one day common sense will be... common. :D Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • I prefer Zune again
  • Indeed!
  • zune is definitely the coolest name for a music related service/device.
    wish they'd never changed it in the first place.
    even the zune themes and art was so cool.
  • It's been all downhill ever since.
  • Obviously it wasn't since Zune is no longer around....
  • Well Zune should be back anytime, since Microsoft says they are listening to us in order ro give us what we want. Since the request thread for them to bring Zune back is at about 100,000 pages, it should be brought back sometime next week. More B.S.
  • Yes Zune! It's masterpiece & unique!
  • Yeeee.
  • Yes Zune!!!
  • You and three other people. Time to move on from that failed project.
  • Exactly. The Zune ship sailed long ago. Definitely not an option for Microsoft anymore. Groove sounds great!
  • Single syllabic!
  • That's what I like about it the most. "Microsoft Music" is too long, and Apple's "OS X El Capitan" makes me cringe.
  • It'll probably be replaced by SharePoint Music, then OneDrive Music for Business :D! 
  • Wow somebody got that it was part of SharePoint office
  • Surface Pro 4 Hub for HoloDrive.
  • MSN Music lol
  • Where are the haters?... Must be busy in the previous article.. :D
  • That name! I mean yours
  • Think more people will cringe having to say this name than anything else they could have chosen.
  • Agreed
  • Do you Spotify? Nah, I Groove.
  • Spotify is a silly name, imo, but Groove is even less attractive and will be changed.......soon!
  • None of this addresses the fact that the service doesn't even match-up to what Zune software had 10 years ago. For the past several years they have done next to nothing to compete or innovate. There is no real reason to take Microsoft's music service seriously and just changing the brand name without any real improvements is cynical. It shows that they don't care, but that was obvious when they sold off the better MixRadio service to LINE.   P.S. "Groove" old fashioned lame terminology. Is this really a good idea considering Microsoft's bad public image perception as not being cool and being old nerds?
  • I agree cool8man, Zune was years ahead of its time in my opinion, I was a subscriber, I carried that over to Xbox music but gave up after 2 months and went to Spotify, I'll give Groove a go, although the name is a bit hippy.
  • You'll get over it.
  • Yeah, easy to get over......when it's renamed lol
  • Changing names seems like it always makes sense to Microsoft...
  • LMAO, so true!
  • Rebranding. We better get used to it.
  • I know! Imagine Apple rebranding iTunes......it just doesn't happen.
  • Rebranding comes with every software overhaul. I've got a good feeling about Groove.
  • So I think we can expect an Android/IOS app, right?
  • "We didn't drop the Apps, we just changed the name" Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • My bad
  • No harm done, man. :) Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • I'm not holding my breath for anything good. Seriously, people always complain that developers allow their apps on Windows phones to languish without updates but MS does the same freaking thing. Xbox Music hasn't been updated on iOS for close to one year. Gave up on it on my Android devices so only god knows how long it's been abandoned there. The app is buggy, slow, visualy stagnant, and trying to get support from MS (as a paid subscriber) is like bashing your head against a steel wall. I don't care about the name change. They can call it whatever the hell they want as long as they actually fix it and give it the support it needs to functionally compete with other services.
  • I like it.
  • I wonder what will happen with SharePoint since the primary executable is "GROOVE.exe." I know it'll stay named SharePoint but what about the executable I wonder.
  • Groove/Xbox Music is still Zune in W10. So nothing I guess
  • Well cricket wireless has dezzer compared to that groove sounds pretty good Posted via the WPC App for Android!
  • More name confusions... nobody remembers MS Office Groove???  
  • 1 week later on windowscentral:
    "Groove is really growing on me!"
  • I don't agree with this comment.. But still made me laugh :D nice one
  • New rebranding later... "Groove is the best name ever"
  • 2 weeks later...MS changing the name to "Microsoft Boogie"
  • Hahaha! ^^^^
  • Sounds fair enough.
  • "We chose the new name, Groove, to best describes what people feel and do with music" So, "Movies & TV" was choosen to best describes what people feel and do with video??
  • For your kind info it's "Movies & TV"
  • THIS^ LOL
  • It best describes how much effort they put into the new app. It seriously looks like they had some low level interns throw that garbage video app together in half a day. Who is falling for this lazy lack of real effort and real investment by Microsoft?
  • I would agree with WP8.1 Music App. I disagree with new WP10 App and it's OneDrive integration. My library is everywhere and I don't have to sync anything (unless I want to). The UI is much improved. It seems they are listening to feedback. It's certainly not the garbage it once was.
  • I'm talking about the movies & TV app, not the music app. The music app on PC is basically the same with very little changes and no improvements. The phone app just looks like the typical generic MS hamburger garbage that MS devs poop out to make lazy ports to and from Android as easy as possible.
  • Yeah, doesn't even support playlists.
  • Well you dont have to name a native video app a special name. Its just supposed to be a generic tv and video app. While music services need a name
  • Except I'm spending several hundred dollars buying videos on this generic thing that they don't care enough about to even give a name.
  • All it has to do is play the stupid videos. Microsoft isn't in the movies and tv business.
  • I'm guess they don't have an actual name for the video service and it's just what the app is going to be called on Microsoft/Windows devices and giving it an actual name when they expand it to other devices. Microsoft Binge comes to mind.
  • Intuitive for who? This is the problem with Microsoft, they forget that not everybody it's american. There's no cool reference for Groove outside english bubble. This name is almost shameful to speak. Microsoft Music may be a generic name but at least is more universal.
  • Why wouldn't Groove work elsewhere?
  • Trust me, it's not cool or intuitive in English either. It's what old/nerdy people would say/associate with music. Not normal people.
  • There is no normal
  • Alright, come on now. You are really pushing the argument there. "Groove" is just an English word, in company with others like "apple," and "music."
  • Apple is like Microsoft or Google... The name itself means nothing but the brand is recognized... So you know that apple music is a music service by apple. But Groove has no meaning and no recognition. At best people will confuse it with grooveshark!! Why would choose some unknown service called Groove when you can choose a service from well known brand?
  • So what did Spotify mean to you when it first launched? Did it scream "Oh yeah, that's definitely a music app based off of it's name"? It seems like you guys just like complaining for complaining sakes. You really have no argument so you just choose to make a silly one. Don't use the name choice as a way to justify you not using it. The functionality and features are what are suppose to be what dictates an apps success, so how about you wait and see the new app and base your dislike off something worth talking about.
  • Spotify launched in the nordic countries (I think Norway) - it was first radio based, you couldn't select the songs. It evolved in something better over the years and then expanded. Spotify made a name for it-self, it didn't need recognition like Groove needs. You are missing the point with Spotify.
  • Groove Music is fine. Its not a term used often but its not a stale name like Xbox or Microsoft Music
  • Its just Groove actually.
  • IT DEFINITELY SOUNDS LIKE BLOATWARE. I can even imagine my mom asking 'What is that? "Groove Music"??'. - Sounds like "Milk" from Samsung. Microsoft should not confuse their users merging the player of the system with the music service. At least they could think on a way to make it work ...
  • ur right they should have called it Windows Modern Media Player 10
  • Sure, and maybe that's too short yet. Something like "Microsoft Windows Modern Media Player Professional Edition 2015" should be more appropriate
  • This is the toughest part. They need a agnosticly branded app that can anchor the service on iOS and Android but they can't confuse their core users on Windows. Groove helps them brand the service to compete on the big 2 mobile platorms but it could confuse a lot of new Windows 10 users. I think it'd be wiser to leave the app on Windows 10 generic like Music (as they did with Movies & TV) and have Groove Music as the name of the streaming service that includes radio, OneDrive streaming and music pass inside the app. Looks like it's too late for that though, MS better market the heck out of this.  
  • Does Windows 10 still include Windows Media Player? reason I ask is because I don't want to loose access to WMP, its much more powerful than Xbox Music and pretty sure better than Groove.
  • What about 60% of the world where people have no idea what "Groove" means? How will they feel?
    And how does "Groove" relate to Microsoft? I thought they wanted to put the "Microsoft" brand front and center.
  • Uneducated? :D
  • I speak spanish and it sounds... ugly
  • English is an ugly sounding language anyway, as far as I've been told, as it is the only language I speak I wouldn't know first hand......
  • They know what it means in the literal sense, but not in the groovy sense. 
  • Dumb name. Microsoft can't market or brand to save its life. Groove suggests a particular family of music, in the neighborhood of funk, soul, etc. And while these are great styles, naming your entire music service in this way is very limiting. They could have called it Rockabilly or Oratorio and it would have made as much sense. Still, it is not as epic a fail as Xbox Music. That is one for the ages.  
  • I got lost after Rockabilly ... Awesome name man ... Keep it up.. :D seriously???? Oratorio ..Rockabilly... :D :D :D
  • Should have went with Swagger.
  • Why would you change the name. Xbox Music, or Music are perfectly fine... Sigh... Doesnt make any sense... Fix the damn app, make it faste instead of worry about the naming of the service, seriously...
  • If you haven't tried the win 10 preview on your phone then you have not seen the change. I tried it and was torn about losing some of the things i use to keep using the new music app from win 10
  • It's like you didn't even read the article at all.....
  • Have you even used the new windows 10 app!?!? It's miles ahead of the current WP8.1 version!!!
  • They should have bought the name WinAmp! That would have been nice and also an honor to the genius software devs :) Posted via the Windows Central App for Android
  • Better yet...Microsoft Monkey!
  • No, you can't use that name..that is their marketing dept name. /s
  • Does this mean that Microsoft will be switching over support as well?  Xbox Support is the worst, treat customers like they are children
  • Did Xbox support actually handle Xbox Music?
  • No, it's only a name change as evident from the quote: "We didn't drop the apps, we just changed the name. Lots of people were saying "I don't have an Xbox, why would I use Xbox Msic (sic)?"
  • Dropping Xbox makes sense. A lot of sense. I could see the confusion a general user could/would/evidently did have. Groove music though? C'mon MS. What feedback could you have possibly gotten on that. Not a good naming choice at all. MS consistently has the worst naming schemes. It's amazing actually.
  • That's why they keep changing names all the time lol.
  • Makes sense........good work with the feedback for this new name
  • Gentle Groove by Mother Love Bone NEEDS to play in any ads for this.
  • I like Groove
  • Groove sounds better. Now, let's hope Groove App is as better as it sounds.
  • Better then saying, "We chose groove because we felt it'd appeal to the youth and hipster crowds!"
  • But what about with TV and Movies? lol
  • Does Groove music support gapless playback?
  • Nope. No new features, just branding.
  • Have you tried the new Windows 10 app!?!?!?!?!? It's way different then the 8.1 app!
  • Who are these weird people that Microsoft keeps polling for the name changes? Edge vs. Spartan? Groove music vs. Xbox music or Microsoft music or OneMusic? Get some new people to vote on your product names.
  • Microsoft employees who are hipsters and use iPhones!!!!
  • Spartan was a terrible name, so is Cortana. 
  • Cortana is a well recognised AI from the Halo Franchise. Unfortunately they had no ad campaign to tell people that. Besides, have you got a better name? - care to share?
  • So you're the guy who voted for Edge.
  • Whoever at MS gave you that mealy mouthed, BS non-answer needws to be fired. They are absolutely part of the problem in MS's marketing department. These people are idiots.
  • As long as it's called Groove or Microsoft Groove, I'm cool with it.  It'll be quite horrid if it's called Groove Music.  Joe repetitively calls it Groove in his blog, only mentioning it with music when talking about the Groove Music Pass.
  • They should really stop renaming things every two years...
  • That starts by naming it right the first time. That's quite an ask for MS.
  • Seriously, Dudes and Dudettes, chill-out it's only a name. It may or may not be to our liking, but let's hope it's a kick-ass service that wins people over to Windows Mobile. Besides, retro is in style.
  • (still screaming) ZUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUNE!!!
  • I actually agree, naming it after the gaming console never made sense to me.  Not sure I love Groove, but a change was needed.
  • Will only approve of it if it puts Microsoft before it. Microsoft Groove. Now that's more like it.
  • Microsoft: Renaming everything in sight, as soon as possible. Again. And again. And again.
  • So is it Groove Msic Now?
  • Much better. I found the xbox branding very confusing!
  • A funky Groove to fuck to! Long live The D!
  • Anyone else think this is the first step in selling off the service? Divorce from a brand you care about, sell off the assets you don't.
  • Microsoft Music would've been way better
  • Up until you publish the app in the Apple App Store and Google Play Store...
  • wow yeh i totally agree and i didnt even think of that one, but that would have been awsome.  And when people know it well you could call it  MM.
  • And the crying goes on and on. The name Groove is just fine. Such babies. SMDH
  • people have opinions and personally i dont mind that, after all we are all different, all individual, i dont know how i feel about the name personally, i just know xbox name sucked.
  • PSA! Xbox One to be renamed as Groove Station!! This is a public services announcement! Thank you!
  • "The name Groove was chosen based on customer feedback from Windows fans" You mean stupid focus groups.
  • White males over 50 who are on XP or 7. If they think "groove" is still a thing then there's no way that they upgrade.
  • hahah.  When insiders put a flash light ahead of a linked email acount  system in 1 inbox you gota think whats going on.
  • Too bad OneNote was already taken as a name, that would have been a much better name for a music service and would fit in better with the whole "one" theme.
  • As long as Cortana knows that "music" = "groove", otherwise people upgrading from 8/8.1 might not know the name change.
  • It hurts just saying it. Groove...Music...MS trying a little too hard to sound "cool"? It almost sounds like they just got tired of coming up with a name and slapped the first one that sounded hip. Groovy...I think that's from the 70's right?
  • Msn music, Microsoft music I would say is better
  • @barryr1285:
    Yes! MSN for the Win.
  • Why the fuck can't we have Zune back? Groove is so......newfag.
  • Why the fuss over the name? It is very "Microsoft." From Zune to Xbox Music to Music to Groove. It will be interesting to see how this plays online. Music.xbox.com will of course be routed to the new domain. But I am interested in what will be needed to find the service. As for opening other markets. It has been done before with iTunes. Now they are moving to a semi-streaming service they may actually open the door.
  • Groovy
  • Makes sense.
  • Keeping Zune alive was so hard! Not buying this groove shy.
  • Zune was not hard to keep alive, Microsoft made the mistake in making it a close device exclusive to their service. Had they marketed it like Sony and Samsung as an open market device the Zune may still be around to this day. I have not seen or remember a bad review of the device.
  • Should have been OneSound  
  • @D Gehman:
    I'm afraid this one's too sophisticated... ^.^
  • Please add SRS Wow effects, Dolby digital configuration, graphic equalizer, play speed, etc to Groove, otherwise don't remove Windows Media Player from Windows 10. I confess WMP 10 is my default player for playing my music library when I'm not with an Internet connection.
  • Microsoft needs to change name to "Idiot"!
  • I like the word and also like it in connection to a music service but imo it's easier for users to simply have their music service on device saying "music". Rookies won't search for groove or stuff, they search for MUSIC. They'll see "Groove" and be like wtf is that? Don't know, so I ignore it... Wind up searching forever for their music service resulting in a bad opinion about MS again for not making things like this easy for users. Don't call me pessimistic but I can already see it coming... :-/
  • Groove music, old hat antiquated rubbish. Why can't they simply stick with Microsoft and strengthen brand loyalty and stop trying to re-create time and time again.
  • Makes sense....
  • Why couldn't they just call it Microsoft Music or Zune?  I've always said that using the Xbox branding was a bad idea, but Groove Music just sounds like some dumb crapware you'd accidently get when installing some other freeware.  This is even worse than when they decided Edge sounded better than Spartan...
  • Well on the plus side, if we don't like the name, it and many other products are bound to be rebranded down the line with a new name we can hate on.    
  • We want retrica and soundcloud! Before windows 10
  • I think it would have provided more value to educate consumers instead of confusing them with yet another name change. Windows Media, Zune, XBox Music, and now Groove. Stick with a name and eventually people will understand. What makes matters worse is the recycling of names. Microsoft Surface as a table got renamed to make way for the Microsoft Surface tablet? Now Groove for business is no more but now there is Groove for music? Stick with one name guys and market the crap out of it.
  • agreed
  • Would have been much easier if it was simply called Microsoft Music. Everyone would understand.
  • I definitely understand why they dropped the Xbox name. I think Groove is a bit of a lame name for the service bur I'm sure I'll get used to it.
  • If Microsoft spent as much time sorting their OS as they do name changing, win10 would be finished and perfect.
  • People can be very stupid sometimes. Just cuz the name was Xbox music it does not mean you need an Xbox console to use the service. It's like saying you need Beats headphones to use Apple Beats app to play music or that you need a Pandora box or accessory to use Pandora!
  • How many music app do we all need. Can't we just live with one. Bought so many music and videos already from iTunes and NokiaMusic. Can't afford anymore on others. Wish iTunes support Windows 10 for mobile.
  • "[...] and it best represents Microsoft's music strategy [...]"
    Wait! Say that again?! So you wanna imply Microsoft actually had a strategy to music?!?!
    That's a pretty bold assumption!
  • Everyone side stepping the fact that Xbox was supposed to become an entertainment brand much bigger than games. It was supposed to be Xbox TV, Xbox Music, Xbox Sports. Xbox failed to grow the brand beyond the game console. Groove is the white flag of failure for team Xbox. Microsoft is just spinning in circles. The Xbox brand was supposed to give their music service a higher profile and give Microsoft a unified entertainement brand for movies, tv, music, and games. The whole company has failed with it's mission. This Groove thing has very little chance of success.
  • They better call it 'Microsoft Groove' then...
  • I'm pretty sure Joe Belfiore was a drummer or a bassist when he was in college. 
  • I don't really like Groove, it sound bitter and there has to be a word that is fun and relates music with Microsoft!!!!!!
  • I think it's pretty cool. I really like the effort I'm seeming from Microsoft. I'm just hoping those flagship phones shake the competition!!
  • Why not Zune?
  • I wonder how the stupid names came? Especially, "movies & tv" duh! What about a unified music/video player?? With support for all file extensions?? I mean, see how vlc/mx player manage to do that!!
  • I just want a music service like Zune used to be. Zune was great for music discovery and bringing music I like to me as well as playing what I want.
  • Groove is in the heart, dig it!
  • Grovie baby...
  • If I wave my Surface around, will that be the same a "shaking my groove thing"?
  • Xbox says, "kid stuff" to me.
  • Finally! Microsoft is getting some sense with branding. Xbox Music was a terrible name. What does a music service have to do with their gaming console? Groove is a much, much better name.
  • Honestly it could catch on of course Microsoft should really lush their weight behind music. It is a booming industry and with their push across everything this service could immediately beat apple music, google music, and the rest
  • I wonder if the idiots that picked "Groove" with that lame excuse realise that "Groove" means ZERO to anyone who doesn't speak English and won't be using Windows 10 in English. Yeah, thought so. Yet again, Microsoft forgot the World doesn't revolve around the USA.
  • Why is the video app named "movies&tv"?? LOL!! Even "groove" isn't going to work.. Why cant we have a unified aap for both music and video, that supports all music and video extensions?? Why?? Why?? Why??
  • it best represents Microsoft's music strategy
    Yes, stuck in a rut and going round in circles.      
  • Now give us lossless files or vinyl rips :P and we are done
  • I like the name very much.
  • It worked for grooveshark
  • Different route for Apple calling their music service "Apple Music"
  • Then nu disco better be Microsoft's new music theme in commercials and such.
  • Why change it from Zune in the first place!!
  • I get the xbox branding confusion, but "Groove?"  Come on Microsoft, you can come up with cool names like Xbox and Zune.  This is so amateurish of you.
  • Perfect
  • MS, I hope this name will stick around, there are too many name changes, very confusing. I understand Xbox Music was supposed to be big name with association with Xbox but apparently it was confusing. So stick to Groove and market it!
  • Hahahaha
  • The original music recording sounds from a needle in a groove go back to the start of us enjoying music recordings. Everything gets old but the start of music enjoyment from recordings in a v shape groove will be cool for ever.
  • Agreed!!!
  • Jg
  • Now let's hope Grooveshark doesn't send it's shark lawyers to MS HQ...
  • Should've never left Zune behind...
  • Groove is fine. Will get more people to subscribe to the service because people won't associate it with the stigma of MSFT...
  • WHAT "focus group"?  I refuse to believe there was ANY serious group of people with an ounce of intelligence that found "Groove" a good name to go with.  I think Satya is simply walking into the office and telling the teams to do weird things because he dreamt it overnight.  Microsoft has lost it.
  • In "focus groups" you can easily get the results you want... Which of the below do you prefer for a music service name; Cheese Music
    Groove Music
    Fish Music Hey, most people chose Groove Music so that's the name.
  • I always wanted to know why Microsoft keep changing the name of its product! Isn't it better to have a consistent name, especially when you have users that are used to that name for some time?
  • That's bollocks
  • We dont care what its called, stop breaking the app and stop changing the name already
  • Ok, what about regional restrictions? Is there any progress? iTunes is available almost everywhere! And Groove?
  • Obviously many people here care more about the name than the functionality of the app! Also obvious...most people in the comments here have not tried the Windows 10 Mobile music app...
    Not sure why I even bothered reading the comments here because most were just annoying and full of whining and complaining.
    Obviously you all know what's best and what Microsoft should do and what changes they need to make.....NOT!!!!!
    Do you have problems with change??? Insecurities about the fate of the platforms music app??? ....get over it.... Me...I could care less what they name the app as long as it works for playing music on my phone, finding and listening to new music, and purchasing new music. (gapless playback would be nice too)
  • I would guess most commenters here are Microsoft fans so their opinion counts, you know, being users of Microsoft's products and services. But, you would know best whose comments are worthy or not, sounds like you run Microsoft, not!
  • So what happened to the idea of "One Store", for apps (on any MS platform), music, video and games? Doesn't giving the music part of the Store service a name undermine that?
  • Yup seems not convincing.!
  • They just want to reuse the trademark so it won't go to waste
  • I trully believe Microsoft was leveraging the Xbox to be sold perhaps to the highest bidder and they still might do so. I never got why Microsoft backed or is backing off of Media Center which from all or most reviews it was really liked.
  • I think it's DEEE-LITE-ful We're going to dance
    We're going to dance
    We're going to dance and have some fun
    I couldn't ask for another!
    Groove is in the heart! Watch out!
  • Well.. I dont give a dmn about the name.. Just make it available worldwide not selected countries
  • i have to say im not a big fan of the hamburger menu but in the music app its works really well.  I did think xbox was a terrible name for the app and glad they changed the name, but im not sure how i feel about groove lol maybe itll grow on me, but it feels prety old fashioned like it belongs to the 70,s.  Is it just me thinking that'?
  • That is one crappy name for a product.
  • Please bring back Zune.. Groove sounds silly to me
  • Microsoft settled on "Groove Music" after a focus group of dads preferred the name over "Hip Tunes" and "Neat-o Records."
  • They owned that name already, so they probably also did it because it was easier. And less risky considering what they've been through int eh pass. They should have gone back and Zune, and it's logo.
  • So there is already a windows app called Grove. I already use it instead of xbox music. hopefully they will compensate those great developers for stealing their name!
  • I don't care as long as it works and works well.
  • Stupid name, Should be called Microsoft Music and I dont' want to see Hip Hop "artists" featured on the home page of it. Show me indie/pop artists. What demographic is Microsoft catering to?