14 DAY TRIAL // Windows Phone users rejoice, as Microsoft has finally updated their Music application with the long-awaited and forever requested Live Tile feature.
This would be the ninth update for the Windows Phone 8.1 Music application, which means it took Microsoft quite a long time until its engineers were able to introduce Live Tile support, so that everyone can enjoy it on their Windows Phones.
As the Xbox Music Team points out in a short blog post, this is a major update that not only brings new features but also fixes some bugs known to affect the application for quite a while.
“This is a big one, and we’re happy to announce one of your most hotly anticipated features – Live Tile! Please enjoy, and as always – let us know what you think.”
Thanks to the new Live Tile support, Music users will be able to see “incredible artist art and visualization” while playing their favorite music.
Unfortunately, this new feature will not be available to all Windows Phone users. According to Microsoft, only those running Windows Phone 8.1 Update 1 will be able to get the latest version of Music and enjoy Live Tile support.
Basically, if your Windows Phone handsets runs OS version 8.10.14141 or higher, it qualifies for the latest update that includes Live Tile support, otherwise only the other changes included will be applied to the Music app installed on the phone.
Live Tile support is not the only new feature that Microsoft decided to bring to Music app for Windows Phone. Developers claim the album art should show up much more reliably in all areas of the application.
In addition, Microsoft fixed several major bugs, so the application should now be much more reliable and smoother. The main focus when fixing these issues was on performance and how fast the page loads, but also on preventing any unexpected app exits.
The Xbox Music Team also managed to reduce the memory footprint, which results in less app suspensions and terminations during multi-tasking. Some playlist duplication issues have been addressed as well and the Recent Plays interactions have been cleaned up.
Keep in mind that for files with embedded album art via ID3 tags v2.3 and below, Windows Phone users should check out the quick guide on how to add album art.
You can now download Xbox Music for Windows Phone 2.6.224 for free via Windows Phone Store. The application is only compatible with devices powered by Windows Phone 8.1 and up.