Windows 10’s new Music app looks an awful lot like Spotify
Sneak glimpse of Microsoft's new Music app for Windows 10 shows a Spotify-inspired design
If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Spotify should be spectacularly flattered with the latest redesign of Windows 10’s Music app. Shown ahead of its official release on the Microsoft Support Site, the preview of the Music app for Windows 10 desktops makes for a challenging spot-the-difference competition.
The revamped Windows 10 app uses the same dark theme, the same circular images of artists in the central panel, and a similar sidebar layout to the Windows desktop version of Spotify. Playlists are located on the left-hand side of the screen, as they are in Spotify, and the player controls are also running along the foot of the window. Admittedly, it’s only one screen shot, but it certainly seems Microsoft’s UI designers have been taking inspiration from the world’s most popular streaming service.
The new Music app design doesn’t appear in the latest build of the Windows 10 Preview, which was released last week. It seems the support site has been updated ahead of the release of the new app, which is pre-loaded on all Windows 10 devices.
Microsoft has struggled to get any momentum behind its Music offering. The company originally gave Windows 8 users 20 hours of free streaming music per month as an incentive to upgrade to the operating system. However, the free streaming was eventually withdrawn, with customers forced to pay for an £8.99 per month Xbox Music Pass to continue receiving the streams. That’s £1 cheaper than Spotify Premium, although Spotify users can still benefit from ad-supported free streams.
Judging by the information on the support page, it doesn’t look like the Windows 10 app will have any major new features. It will continue to synchronise your music library across different devices using OneDrive, as well as offering streams from its own Xbox Music catalogue. Microsoft even warns that the Music Preview app lacks some key features, such as “radio” streaming (where the service plays a themed selection of songs), but says the old Music app will continue to be available until these features are reintroduced into the Preview.