What Microsoft Groove's subscription service shutting down means for us

Tips, Tricks and Tutorials Tips & Tricks
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#1

December 31st. Remember the date. That is when Microsoft is giving up entirely on making money with Groove (formerly Xbox Music) and limiting it to a stock media player for Microsoft's Modern UI. But what does it truly mean for us, as Linux users?

I'm looking at this from the perspective of giving people who are tired of Microsoft's shenanigans the gift of Linux. If you know somebody who is a music lover but doesn't really do anything much that's exclusive to Windows, try to goad such people into installing and using Spotify; The option to move their Groove subscription music to Spotify will be there before shutdown, and the option to export in Groove will probably be available to everyone next month.

This isn't me advocating for Spotify. I wouldn't care if you cling onto Pandora (especially because they're most popular at the moment). But there is a first-party Debian package for the Spotify desktop client. That's a thing to consider heavily if you or anyone else used Groove to manage music on Windows. Come holiday, we can make some big moves to introduce a few more users into our userland. Just don't be so overbearing about it and you'll probably convince a few people it has potential if they just work with it for a week.

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#2

Interesting, I did not know about Groove calling it quits. I actually quit all the online music services awhile ago, except general youtube use. I prefer to just buy the album and rip it or download it (usually buy from Amazon). I also converted my whole collection to .ogg. It’s limiting, but you can get used CD’s for under $5 or by just songs for 99cents. I have pretty huge collection in no time. And it’s all mine and legal, I don’t ever have to worry about losing it.

I do think Spotify is my favorite of the services though.

Cheers
Tim

#3

@mdooley Why is this considered TT&T material when op-ed when was this piece’s intention? Nothing against the extra visibility and all, I only wish to know the motivation behind the change.

Originally I was going to place it in T&F, I was unsure of where to put it so I figured putting it in U would be best.

#4

Put it where you want it to be Brandon. It looked like a good candidate for a tip to me. Your call…

1 Like
#5

Oooh, tip in that sense. My brain isn’t quite on at the moment.

#6

Can we please stop treating linux like a religion? People will use it if they want to, not because they’re told to, “conversion” is the worst possible route for anyone to engage in a new path. Let them explore, if it works for them, great, if not, it’s again not a huge deal. Use what works for you, whatever the platform. Life is far, far too short to spend time turning this into a crusade.

#7

I meant that half-heartedly. Of course I know being zealous and telling people Linux or die is the worst way to do things. We’re a relatively supportive community with varying skill levels and attitudes toward decisions regarding the operating system and components therein.

However if there isn’t some zeal to be shown, then it’s pretty hard for someone else who doesn’t know any better to get hyped about what you’re showing them so they can get past turning it on and into actually using it. It sucks, but that’s how humankind is; we’re not always logical machines after all.

I’ll modify the OP to make it sound a little less forward.

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#8

Thanks for the reasoned response, - I raised it because from experience, watching someone try to convert me was a horrible “my way or the highway” experience. But later I met someone who simply had a passion for the platform, and it showed because their main intention was to share their excitement and joy at doing the things they were able to do freely, no other motives. That perhaps small difference, made all the difference. :slight_smile:

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#9

Hello, As a fairly recent convert to both MATE (17.10) and Linux (18 months), I found that I was just finally done with Windows when my student ISO wouldn’t allow a major update, because I couldn’t get the newest ISO because I was no longer in school. SO, I could run an un-update Windows system which, running windows is scary enough, an un-update Windows makes me shiver or install an Open source OS. Pretty easy guess on my part.
So, Linux mint, then I distro hopped until I fell for Ubuntu MATE 17.10. I must throw out a major hands up to the MATE team for what they are doing. Really enjoying it.
So, I guess my point is we all come to the light when we are ready and hopefully before we die :smile:
Andamo