Microsoft Really Wants You To Try Groove, $10 for 7 Months of Service
Microsoft’s Groove Music service is one of the lesser-known music platforms that is currently trying to get you to subscribe to their platform. Spotify, Pandora, and Apple have gathered a lot of the headlines but Groove is a good service as well.
If you have been tempted to try Groove, the latest sale may be your best chance to do so. Microsoft is offering up to seven months of service for $9.99; buy one month, get six free.
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Specifically, they are giving you two, three-month vouchers, that you can share with a friend or keep for yourself. Considering the price, this is likely one of, if not the best, current sales happening in this segment.
Copied below is the fine print which you should read before jumping on this offer as there are a few notable items such as the vouchers must be used by September 4, 2017.
Offer valid 6:00 PM PT July 10, 2017 until 12:00 AM PT July 12, 2017 or while supplies last for new Groove members only. Current paying subscribers are ineligible to redeem this offer. Valid in the US only. Sign up for a 30-day Groove Music Pass at $9.99 and we will send you two tokens codes within 30 days, each good for an additional 3 months of music at no charge (for a total of 6 months). Credit card required. Upon completion of the promotional period, membership will be automatically billed as specified at signup unless cancelled. Limit 2 token codes per person. Token codes expire September 4, 2017 and must be redeemed before that date. Token codes may be used by original recipient or transferred to another eligible user. Token codes may only be redeemed once. Cannot redeemed for cash or promo code(s). May not be combinable with other offers.
My gut tells me that Microsoft knows that if they can get you into their platform, the likelihood of you canceling Groove at the end of the seven months is minimal. But, for the bargain hunter out there, this is a deal worth checking out.
As expected, if you are already paying for Groove you are left out as this offer is for new subscribers only.
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Conversation 54 comments
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thea2_
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Gee, Here MS is joining the cable club of neglecting loyal customers</p>
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daveevad
Log in to Reply<p>If they actually wanted you to try Groove perhaps they could advertise a bit or create a family plan or have a bundle with XBL or O365. Groove is an awesome service. I just wish they'd try just a little.</p>
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CaymanDreamin
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#140850"><em>In reply to daveevad:</em></a> I agree about the family plan. I stocked up during the Pi day sale a couple years back and finally used my last year to extend my daughter's subscription. I let mine go, can't see spending $100 a year per family member. I loaded all my CDs on OneDrive and listen to them through the Groove app instead. Once her subscription ends, I'll look at the other services with a family plan.</blockquote><p><br></p>
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wizarrc
Log in to Reply<p>I think it should be easy enough for existing subscribers to create a new account, signup for $10 and cancel the renewal. Take the $60 voucher and apply it to your existing account, saving $50. That is unless 'another eligible user' is in fact another new subscriber or the new account you just created.</p>
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SvenJ
Log in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#140868"><em>In reply to wizarrc:</em></a> The problem with this is that Groove, like most MS services, is tied to your MS Account, so signing up with another means the purchases you've made or those things stored in OneDrive wouldn't be available. Guess it depends on how the tokens are implemented. If they are just 3mo codes, like you can buy, I bet this would work. </blockquote><blockquote>I've been a Groove subscriber since it was Zune, and find it a fine service. I can use it on any mobile platform (WP, iOS, Android) and I use it on laptops and desktops as well. I can use my OneDrive to store, and stream, music I own, or just have the files locally to save bandwidth, or for poor service areas. </blockquote><blockquote>The two things I wish it had, are the great playlist wizards and auto-playlists that Zune had, and a family plan. Those aren't deal breakers for me personally, but I see them as limitations of the service. </blockquote><blockquote>I'd love to be able to take advantage of this deal, but I don't get being offended that loyal subscribers aren't being courted. </blockquote><p><br></p>
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jimchamplin
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#141015"><em>In reply to SvenJ:</em></a></blockquote><p>It's said in the article that you can give the two 3-month passes to another user. Thus, you could transfer them to yourself.</p>
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SvenJ
Log in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#141744"><em>In reply to jimchamplin:</em></a> It does say "<em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">or transferred to another eligible user." </em><span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0); background-color: transparent;">As a subscriber, you aren't eligible. Becomes a matter of whether they check that.</span></blockquote><p><br></p>
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Win74ever
Log in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#141015"><em>In reply to SvenJ:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>But is there a Win32 Groove app so I can use it on Windows 7?</p>
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feek
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#142786"><em>In reply to Win74ever:</em></a> https://music.microsoft.com/</blockquote><p><br></p>
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CompUser
Log in to Reply<p><a href="#140868"><em>In reply to wizarrc</em></a><em>: The agreement says "Token codes may be used by </em>original<em> recipient or transferred to another eligible user." Since "original recipient" means the new subscriber, and "another eligible user" means a different new subscriber (as you suggested), I doubt it would be possible to use the vouchers with an existing account.</em></p>
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glenn8878
Log in to Reply<p>I hate the hassle of canceling a service so the deal isn't worth the trouble unless you're already in the market for the service. </p>
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James Wilson
Log in to Reply<p> this type of marketing was tried and abandoned in the UK a few years ago when companies realised that treating loyal customers in this way backfired as they felt neglected, got upset and left. </p>
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offTheRecord
Log in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#140891"><em>In reply to James_Wilson:</em></a></blockquote><p>This irks me to no end, too. Many Telcos/ISPs still do this shamelessly in other parts of the EU.</p><p>The other thing that irks me is when they make a beneficial change to service plans, but they don't tell existing customers. For example, we have monthly prepaid data plans on several of our phones. I just learned the other day that the monthly data allowance for our plan has been doubled for the same price. However, to get the new data allowance you have to make the change to the "new" plan manually, so they've continued to throttle us after we exceed the older data rate. I learned this when I was looking into something on their web site. They send me a text message every month with news and telling me to make sure my accounts are topped up, but did they ever mention anything about the new data allowance for my plan or that I'd need to manually change to get the new allowance? Of course, not.</p>
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Tony Barrett
Log in to Reply<p>Yep, another service MS are desperate, and I mean really desperate for people to use. For most though, these services are all about mobile – taking your music with you, being able to play/stream from anywhere. Without that mobile presence, MS are again really struggling to make an impact. There are plenty of other services out there, all with a much longer pedigree, and loyal customers who would be very unlikely to switch. Groove (still a stupid name!) will never likely amount to much, and these types of offers will only annoy paying customers.</p>
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Spineless
Log in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#140941"><em>In reply to ghostrider:</em></a></blockquote><p>How is the Groove service not mobile? It's supported very well on both iOS and Android.</p>
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david.thunderbird
Log in to Reply<p>"While supplies last". Ha ha ah ha<span style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);"> ha ha ha ha ha ha ha what a good laugh. Losers!</span></p>
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Win74ever
Log in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#140943"><em>In reply to david.thunderbird:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Hahaha what a fucking joke.</p>
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Chris_Kez
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I'd have been tempted except that I just took advantage of a Google Play Music promotion (4 months free).</p>
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Watney
Log in to Reply<p>I fell for the deal, but didn’t receive the vouchers. Good grief. It’s not worth the hassle calling MS support. </p>
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HeyItsTodd
Log in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#141019"><em>In reply to Watney:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Hold your fire, Watney. From the signup agreement:</p><p class="ql-indent-1"> Sign up for a 30-day Groove Music Pass at $9.99 and we will send you two tokens codes within 30 days</p><p><br></p><p>I suppose it would be a waste of time to call MS support, at least for them.</p>
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bpaul14
Log in to Reply<p>Groove is the classic Microsoft tease. It looks beautiful – my favorite UI of any music app/service. But goodness gracious, it disappoints in so many ways. No family plan. It's recommended playlists are just weird – it doesn't seem like there is any human curated playlists. It needs a thumbs up type button so you can easily tag songs you like for later collection/organizing. No automatic playlists. And it needs an iPad app. I subscribed for two years and have not regretted allowing the subscription expire.</p>
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ponsaelius
Log in to Reply<p>The ideal customer is an American, single, uses Windowsphone. If you live outside the USA, have a family and use something other than a WIndowsphone then Groove is non-starter. Apart from that its a good offer. </p>
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DaddyBrownJr
Log in to Reply<blockquote>Groove works great on Android, and I've heard the iOS version is very nice as well. I don't know where you get "non-starter" from.</blockquote><blockquote><br></blockquote><blockquote><a href="#141708"><em>In reply to ponsaelius:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p>
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bsd107
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#141866"><em>In reply to DaddyBrownJr:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>I loved Xbox Music / Groove on Windows Phone. But what iOS user in their right mind would use Groove over Apple Music?</p>
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DaddyBrownJr
Log in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#143198"><em>In reply to bsd107:</em></a></blockquote><p>All of them. </p>
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ponsaelius
Log in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#141866"><em>In reply to DaddyBrownJr:</em></a></blockquote><p>To be fair the Android version has grown up a lot more in the last 12 months. Which is good for WIndowsphone users who are now mostly on unsupported devices.</p>
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bbold
Log in to Reply<p>Dangit. I purchased a month of Groove (when I saw the headline of this article) only to find the free 6 months is a deal for new subscribers only. I wish I had actually read the article now. lol. Well, I am loving the Groove Music Pass, so I may just renew anyway. Is there a cheaper deal for the rest of us, rather than $99? I'm an educator, and with Apple Music, I get it for $5 per month, unlimited… Why can't Microsoft offer the same deal to educators, since they are trying to focus on eductors and creators? That seems logical to me. (I use my Groove app in the classroom, after all.) Also, they should allow non-subscribers to 'complete my album' like iTunes does if you purchased one song and want the rest, instead of having to re-purchase the same song if you buy the whole thing. Aggrivating.</p><p>Yep. And family plan. Groove still needs to catch up. And quickly.</p><p>PS Update.. I requested a refund and Xbox Support gave it to me. I requested they have student discount or other discounts for current/past subscribers, I got sent a link to the engineering team xbox.uservoice.com … Will they really listen?</p>
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JaviAl
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Microsoft, in the past, was a good software company, focusing all its resources on software.</p><p><br></p><p>Todays, resources are divided between services, mobiles, devices, the cloud and also software. But Microsoft was good in software. Never been good or expert in services, devices, mobiles, etc. And is doing bad. Very bad.</p><p><br></p><p>Today, Microsoft is no good at anything. It has become a mediocre or bad company of services, mobile, devices, cloud and also software; doing bad all this things with very bad quality, very bad support and doing things thinking only of Microsoft as a company, never more the user.</p><p><br></p><p>Every day, more and more users are losing trust in Microsoft.</p>
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eq07
Log in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#142020"><em>In reply to JaviAl:</em></a></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Agree 1000%. Microsoft has become very terrible. They don't know what they're doing, at all anymore.</p>
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UbelhorJ
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I've been subscribed for over a year now. Used it on Windows Phone and just kept it when I switched to Android. </p>
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gregsedwards
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Question: what's the best (or least worst) way of buying this for someone else? I already use Groove Music Pass, but I'd like to give one to my sister to let her try out Groove. Now, I suppose I could log into her MSA, add <em>my</em> CC as a payment method, buy a month of Groove on her behalf, wait for her to get the free vouchers, apply them, and then remove my CC from her payment methods. But that sounds fairly awful and kludge-y to me. </p><p><br></p><p>Instead could I buy a 1-month pass gift card, either electronically or at the local Microsoft Store, allow her to redeem it (or redeem it to her MSA for her), and then she'd get the promo codes? Thanks for any suggestions.</p>
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CompUser
Log in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#142753"><em>In reply to gregsedwards</em></a><em>: Have her sign up and pay for the new Groove Music Pass with her own credit/debit card, and give her $10.00.</em></blockquote><p><br></p>
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Win74ever
Log in to Reply<p>No, thanks. I'm fine with my local iTunes music library. I'm great actually. I don't use streaming, I like to own my albums.</p>
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MutualCore
Log in to Reply<p>Just kill Groove already. It's not worth the cost of running a service for 2500 subscribers.</p>
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feek
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>I get the feeling that if they don't see an uptick in subscribers that this service won't be around this time next year.</p>
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Vuppe
Log in to Reply<p>I really wanted to use Groove, but it has spotty streaming licensing for a few of my favourite artists right now so I'm using Google Play Music, since I have permanent beta pricing on that. </p>
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nordyj
Log in to Reply<p>I really liked Groove, and only switched to Google Play Music when they offered $15/month for 5 people, plus YouTube Red. I'd consider switching back to Groove if they added in a good family plan (though it's hard to imagine giving up commercial free YouTube…).</p>
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scumdogmillionaire
Log in to Reply<p>They're quickly losing me to Amazon. I still have 6 months of three family members on Groove, but if Echo support and a family plan don't come soon, they'll of lost me 🙁 Which is a bummer cause I really like Groove, but no one else seems to. It's the bastard child no music label talks about.</p>
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IanM
Log in to Reply<p><em style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Valid in the US only.</em></p><p><br></p><p>Good old Microsoft.</p>
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CompUser
Log in to Reply<p>Since electronics of any kind aren't allowed where I work, the only times I listen to music are when I'm at home or driving. My car radio has a built in hard drive, so when driving I listen to my favorite music from the hard drive, or I just listen to an FM radio station. When I'm at home, I listen to iHeart radio. I can customize my own stations with my favorite artists, or set favorite channels from among the other hundreds of available channels. It's free, and I can access it from any Internet connected device. I really don't get paying for streaming music services when free options are available.</p>
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Brian560
Log in to Reply<p>Groove was great on the Windows Phone. Once I had to give up that phone, I returned to iTunes. Since switching music services (and that includes purchased albums, along with streaming) is such a pain in the A$$, I will now stick to iTunes and whatever Apple offers. Groove was great for the Windows Phone, and the RT tablet, and the PC Desktop. Not so great anymore.</p>
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eq07
Log in to Reply<p>NO thanks. I regrettably switched to iTunes after Zune was cancelled. I HATE hate iTunes with a very serious passion, but it's still better than Groove, IMO. The Zune desktop app was *PERFECT* and it still blows the current iTunes out of the water in my opinion. Will stick to iTunes. </p><p><br></p><p>/BeginRant: Microsoft has been making some very terrible decisions with incredibly awesome products that they've developed throughout the years. The new Skype is 100 steps back, Groove is awful compared to Zune, the Microsoft Band, WindowsPhone and other products/services that have been killed. Microsoft will never get it right. /EndRant</p><p><br></p><p>I predict Groove will be gone within 6 months…</p>
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NazmusLabs
Log in to Reply<blockquote><a href="#145164"><em>In reply to eq07:</em></a></blockquote><p>I will come back in 6 month, hunt this comment down, and reply saing I told you so you are wrong.</p><p><br></p><p>Groove will stay in 6 months, I belive.</p><p><br></p><p>6 Months counting down. Prepare to be defeated</p><p><br></p><p>:P</p>
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Clarkb
Premium MemberLog in to Reply<p>Too funny, had let my subscription lapse and thought at this price I'd jump back in. followed the link, re-subscribed, got no notification of the 2 free 3 months passes. A day or two went by, figured they meant new subscribers, as in never have been a subscriber before. </p><p><br></p><p>Thought about cancelling, then received an email this morning with the links to my codes. A full week after re-signing up…</p><p><br></p><p><img src=""></p>
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gumbyjunior1
Log in to Reply<p>Groove has potential. It just needs to learn from its rivals on what it needs to add for next releases.</p><p>I say that because as a service, it does have a good look and feel, but has a ways to go.</p><p>I use it since I uploaded my WMA collection to my One Drive and it does work. The only complaint I have on this is that it takes forever to download the music files as "offfline". That is really my only gripe.</p><p><br></p>