Some features review update GDR1 to be installed on the phones

Aug 9, 2014 03:58 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft has just announced a new update for its Music application for Windows Phone handsets is now available for download. This would be the eighth update delivered within the last couple of months.

For some, this may look like an impressive achievement, but the fact that the application still lacks functionality and is plagued by lots of bugs.

A lot has been fixed thanks to these updates, but there's still work to be done. There's a huge number of Windows Phone users who are still frustrated that they can't use Music app at its full potential yet. Hopefully, this will change sooner rather than later.

Anyway, as we mentioned earlier, the Music application for Windows Phone 8.1 has just received another update that promised to address some of the bugs reported by users, but also introduces a couple of new features.

According to developers, their main focus for this version of Music for Windows Phone 8.1 was “primarily on enabling easy playback and reliability.”

The most important new features included in this update is called “Recent Plays.” This a much asked feature that Microsoft has just added through the eighth update. It brings on the screen the history of what users have been playing recently on their smartphones.

The new Recent Play feature will make it easier for Windows Phone users to start playback some of their favorite songs via Music app.

Then there's Kid's corner support, but this new feature is only available to those who already upgraded to Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1.

The Xbox Music team also state that the Windows Phone 8.1 application should now be noticeable faster to launch and navigate, particularly songs, artists and album pages.

Last but not least, several bug fixes have been included in the update as well. Most of these have been focused on three areas of the application: Album art & metadata reliability, Unexpected app exits & some black screens, Playlists now shuffle from everywhere (not just first 100).

Music app users have been given some things to look forward to in future releases as well, such as better performance, Live Tile support and other general UX improvements.

You can now download Music for Windows Phone 8.1 2.6.186 for free via Windows Phone Store. The application is only compatible with devices powered by Windows Phone 8.1 and up. Keep in mind that in order for some features to work you will need to install Update 1 on your smartphone.