14 DAY TRIAL // The fourth major update for Xbox Music application for Windows Phone 8.1 devices should have been released on June 6. However, the Xbox Team issued a short statement letting users know that they wouldn’t be delivering the update on schedule, as expected.
Here is what they had to say about the reasons behind the delay: “Our fourth update to the Windows Phone 8.1 Xbox Music app is almost ready. We have a few tweaks we want to get in this one, so expect it early next week. This next release will continue to deliver on feature requests you are providing through the User Voice forum. So please, keep the feedback coming.”
True to its promise, today, Microsoft released the highly anticipated update for Xbox Music app that should fix all the issues in the Windows Phone 8.1 version, or at least a big part of them.
Unfortunately, the changelog for this update has yet to be published, but there are some important changes that are noticeable without having to consult it. For example, the newly added support for Transparent Live Tile is something that one would notice at first glance.
Given the fact that Microsoft usually tells Windows Phone 8.1 users what to look for in these updates, we already have a changelog for this update that was released a long time ago. However, except for the part with the Transparent Live Tile, nothing has been confirmed for the moment.
Well, it looks like the latest version of Xbox Music for Windows Phone 8.1 should pack the following new feature and improvements: continued focus on stability and performance improvements, initial sync of local and cloud content in the background, and support for more than 100 songs in Now Playing queue.
We have already mentioned the Transparent Tile support, but Microsoft should also add faster loading of long lists. Last but not least, Xbox Music should now be compatible with Kid’s Corner feature.
If you notice that some of these changes are already available in your version of Xbox Music for Windows Phone 8.1, please let us know in the comments.
One last thing that’s worth mentioning is that immediately after the update was released, Xbox Music users who updated to the latest version were hit with streaming issues.
The good news is that Microsoft has already patched this problem and Xbox Music users should now be able to stream content once again.
You can now download Xbox Music for Windows Phone 8.1 2.5.3965.0 for free via Windows Phone Store. Keep in mind that the application is only compatible with Windows Phone 8.1 and up.
Update 1: The Xbox Team has just released the official changelog for this update and some of the changes that should have been included did not make it. Here it is:
- Songs list scrolls faster. - You can now add more than 100 songs to your playback queue! This means that "shuffle all" will add more variety to your listening experience. - App and pinned tiles support custom backgrounds and theme colors. - Artist art backgrounds now load more smoothly. - Songs already in your collection can now be purchased.
Microsoft has also announced that the following improvements should be implemented in future updates: continued focus on stability and performance improvements, Live Tile support, Kid's Corner support, general UX improvements.