Groove Music Will Use New Share Interface in Creators Update

Groove Music Will Use New Share Interface in Creators Update

This week, Microsoft updated Groove Music on Windows 10. But the biggest new feature—playlist sharing—won’t be enabled unless you’re using the Creators Update.

Which means, for now, that only those on the Windows 10 Insider Fast ring can actually access this functionality. But the other new features, noted below, are available to everyone.

Here’s what’s new in Groove build 10.17012.1030.0.

Playlist sharing. Groove now integrates with the new Share functionality that is coming in the Windows 10 Creators Update and lets you share playlists with other Groove users. (Several people actually contacted me about this new functionality last week, but I didn’t see it appear until yesterday.)

Groove Music Pass preview. Now, those who are not Groove Music Pass subscribers can preview “millions of songs” for free. I do have a Groove Music Pass, so it’s unclear what changed here. I’m guessing Microsoft doesn’t allow non-subscribers to actually listen to full songs, for example.

Get going on Android or iPhone more easily. If you’re using Groove on your Windows 10 PC and would like to Get the app more easily on your handset, you can now text yourself a link to do so, right from the Groove app.

And more… As always, Microsoft made various other (and undocumented) minor fixes and improvements.

Microsoft also notes that some features are limited to certain (also undocumented) markets, as always. This is in addition to the limitation on the playlist sharing feature.

 

Share post

Please check our Community Guidelines before commenting

Conversation 17 comments

  • ponsaelius

    24 February, 2017 - 11:31 am

    <p>I guess having a family plan so people might choose to subscribe is a "missing feature".</p>

  • PlistConverter

    24 February, 2017 - 11:31 am

    <p>Unfortunately I don't get the update (yet) while I'm on the insider&nbsp;fast-ring. I waited for this function for a while because Groove was about the only music service which didn't have a share option in the app (only the web player did). I have an app called Playlist Converter and I now want to implement the import of shared playlists. Can anyone post an example link from a Groove playlist (share a playlist by email and copy the link in the email), so I can see what a link will look like? That would help me for implementation in my app…</p>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      24 February, 2017 - 12:05 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#70563"><em>In reply to PlistConverter:</em></a></blockquote><p>You ask and you receive! https://mediaredirect.microsoft.com/music/Playlist/09B16448-F5F0-00FE-F823-46BA97D55CD4</p><p>Also, the Share menu in the app lets you copy the link directly to the clipboard. A big help over the old email link! Kudos to MS for giving us that.</p>

      • James Wilson

        24 February, 2017 - 1:41 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#70683"><em>In reply to jimchamplin:</em></a></blockquote><p> </p><p> This share feature&nbsp;works in the prod ring of groove on Windows 10 mobile. When you click share, you get the usual options to share link via email, Skype etc. When you click on link, Windows 10 mobile opens groove and gives you 30 secs of each track. I'm guessing that if you subscribe, you get the whole track.</p><p><br></p><p>To be clear, the playlist i shared was comprised of&nbsp;tracks I'd bought from Amazon and copied to OneDrive so doesn't have to be Groove sourced music.</p>

        • jimchamplin

          Premium Member
          24 February, 2017 - 1:43 pm

          <blockquote><em><a href="#72541">In reply to James Wilson:</a></em></blockquote><p>If someone shares a playlist with me, I'll let you know!</p>

      • PlistConverter

        24 February, 2017 - 3:17 pm

        <blockquote><a href="#70683"><em>In reply to jimchamplin:</em></a></blockquote><p>Thanks! </p>

    • FreeJAC

      24 February, 2017 - 12:06 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#70563">In reply to PlistConverter:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Here you go. Send to email via web player.</p><p><br></p><p>https://mediaredirect.microsoft.com/music/playlist/deadmouse1/6b244d65-8004-00fe-1cbe-b857c3eeecd0?action=play</p><p><br></p><p><br></p&gt;

  • FreeJAC

    24 February, 2017 - 12:04 pm

    <p>My Groove is up this March. I will be switching to Spotify so that I can share a music sub with my kids. I would love to "force" them to use Groove on their iPhones (instead of Spotify free) but as a single dad, I can't afford multiple subscriptions to Groove. I have been a Groove sub since Zune and I will be giving up the 100Gb free One Drive space that was grandfathered in. </p>

  • bpaul14

    24 February, 2017 - 12:38 pm

    <p>I let my Groove sub expire today. I hadn't used it in months. While it has an excellent interface, it is terrible for new music discovery and recommended music listening. The Microsoft -generated playlists are just terrible. My kids and wife have a family sub to Apple Music. It's fine, I tap into it once in a while, but iTunes on my PC is awful. I don't like Spotify because it doesn't integrate well with my existing music collection. So I went to Google Play Music and I love it. I can't get my kids or wife to switch over, so I don't have the family subscription there, but for me alone Google Music is worth the $10/month since the others don't do what I want to pay for.</p>

    • jimchamplin

      Premium Member
      24 February, 2017 - 4:54 pm

      <blockquote><a href="#70814"><em>In reply to bpaul14:</em></a></blockquote><p>I really like it too, but on my PC where I do most of my listening, it whines about Flash, which is pitiful that in 2017 Google would require Flash. They themselves are phasing it on on Chrome even.</p>

  • prettyconfusd

    24 February, 2017 - 1:46 pm

    <p>I'm interested to see what else we'll see from the Groove team between now and the Creator's Update. It seems like they've made a real push the past few months to fill out the feature list.</p><p><br></p><p>The My Groove section is getting smarter and curated playlists are getting better (if still not quite up there with Spotify yet) and these other little features like share are pretty cool.</p><p><br></p><p>A family plan and a free ad-supported plan are still missing but will hopefully turn up soon.</p><p><br></p><p>Loads of other features on my wish list&nbsp;still but it does what I want better than any of the other options I've tried on Windows 10 (desktop) so I'm sticking around! I've got seven years of subscription music in there that would be a pain to replace.</p>

  • Hal9000

    Premium Member
    24 February, 2017 - 2:24 pm

    <p>I have been using Zune Music Pass since the 2nd generation Zune, then it became Xbox Music, now Groove, with ups and downs in app quality, loss in features and so on. And now that I switched to Android, I find the app not so good anymore, and I just had enough of being screwed over by a company not taking its projects and products seriously.</p><p>Zune, Surface RT, Windows Phone, Band, Kinect… yeah, I bought them all, recommended them to friends and family, and feel like an idiot.</p><p>Spotify is nicely done, offers a family plan, plus it is supported in my Sony TV, in my Denon amplifier, and in my Audi car stereo. So there is not one single reason to stay with Groove.</p>

    • krabago

      Premium Member
      24 February, 2017 - 3:02 pm

      <blockquote><em>Wow, your story sounds like mine – bought all those Microsoft products, recently switched to Android and losing hope for Groove – I still can't browse its music library through my car since Groove still doesn't support AVRCP. <a href="#73250">In reply to Hal9000:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p>

    • mike2k

      24 February, 2017 - 3:06 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#73250">In reply to Hal9000:</a></em></blockquote><p>Let's not forget WMC and WHS. Other great MS products they decided to stop improving and poo poo'd them into oblivion. I've learned my lesson. Only MS products I use are outlook.com and Windows. </p>

  • carl007

    24 February, 2017 - 5:11 pm

    <p>Watching online videos,movies,musics and many more will become much more easier one when you will learn <a href="http://ytsubscribers.com/&quot; target="_blank">how to get more subscribers on youtube</a> which will allow you full access in youtube.After getting the free subscribers for your youtube channel you will be benefited very much as you will easily gain more traffic to your youtube channel.</p>

  • irfaanwahid

    25 February, 2017 - 12:45 am

    <p>Hey Paul, why can't MS release their stuff globally?? Their Groove Music Pass hasn't hit Kenyan side of the market. While I have enjoying Apple Music now for few months now.</p><p><br></p><p>What does Apple do so special that MS can't? I fail to understand totally. Apart from that, I still don't have WordFlow KB for iOS while I can download GBoard. </p><p><br></p><p>Blows my mind!!!</p>

  • jgoraya

    25 February, 2017 - 4:34 pm

    <p>Wish they would drop the 50GB (or something along those lines) limit on what can be played from your OneDrive account in Groove if you have a subscription.</p>

Newsletter

Stay up to date with the latest tech news from Thurrott.com!

"*" indicates required fields

This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Thurrott © 2023 BWW Media Group