Minor Update to Xbox Music for Windows Phone 8.1 Explains OneDrive Integration

Microsoft issued a minor update to its Xbox Music app for Windows Phone 8.1 that explains the recent OneDrive integration functionality and allows users to download playlists that include music from OneDrive.

This isn’t quite “nothing to see here” territory, as I do appreciate it every time that Microsoft effectively communicates what it’s doing. But the changes are minor. And there are just two.

When you first run the updated app, you’ll see a notification about the changes.

If you tap Learn More, you will be brought to that Liberate Your Music web site that explains the Xbox Music and OneDrive integration.

According to Microsoft, the second change is that “when you set a playlist to ‘Keep playlist offline’ it will automatically download all streaming tracks, whether from Music Pass or OneDrive.” Which is hilarious since the “Keep playlist offline” option is really buried: You navigate to Collection and then Playlists, open a playlist, select the More (“…”) app bar button and then choose Settings. In the Settings screen, you will see that option.

But if you want to make a playlist available offline, you can do it more quickly: navigate to Collection and then Playlists. Then, tap and hold on the playlist and choose “Download All” from the pop-up menu that appears.

If you want to make just part of a playlist available offline, open the playlist, tap the More (“…”) app bar button, and then tap Select. Then, using the selection boxes that appear, select each song you wish to download. When you’re done selecting, tap the Download app bar button.

And if you’re an Xbox Music user, please do download my free e-book, Xbox Music Field Guide. I’ll be updating it soon to address these recent OneDrive integration changes. The latest version as of today is Xbox Music Field Guide 2.0.