A Lack of Options
For a long time, I was a Sony guy — Playstation, Playstation 2. That was when consoles were simple. There wasn’t much, if anything, outside of the game you were playing. Back then, I would base my console-buying decision on controller feel and the way the console itself looked.
When the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 were released, however, things began to change. The introduction of the console interface made picking Microsoft or Sony a little more involved. For me, at that point, Xbox had a better selection of games, so I rolled with Microsoft, regardless of the interface.
Then, in what I think was mostly a bout of loyalty, I stuck with Microsoft and bought an Xbox One. I like the Xbox, and perhaps it’s simply a matter of perspective, but Microsoft seems to have a lag in providing the simple solutions at times (on the Xbox specifically, that is).
A key example: streaming options.
The idea first hit me five or six months ago. One day I found myself looking for things to listen to directly on the Xbox while I was playing games. After trying a few crappy podcast apps, I saw that the options were limited. It looked like I would be sticking to my phone-to-surround auxiliary wire set up.
My thought: How is Spotify not on Xbox?
I’m sure this was a million others’ thought at the time as well (and ever since), but regardless, it didn’t make much sense to me.
It’s Finally True
Over two years ago, Sony made the Spotify app available on both the Playstation 3 and 4. As a Microsoft user, it’s even more troublesome hearing that, but as of a few days ago, it’s finally been confirmed — Microsoft is testing the Spotify app, soon to be released on Xbox.
A few days prior to confirmation, speculation arose when Redditors spotted Microsoft’s Larry Hryb running “Spotify Music – for Xbox” on his Xbox. Whoops…
It looks like it will come with the standard benefits of Spotify and appears to have the ability to run in the background while playing games. Finally, a true, reliable way to stream music and comedy while playing games on your Xbox.
Personally, I am very excited to use the app and very excited to have streaming options on all of my devices. It’s wonderful news. Hello streaming and goodbye auxiliary.
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