It is hard to say the news was met with much disappointment. Most people, even Windows 10 users, did not use Groove. However, there are certainly those who do use the Music Pass. Those customers are probably wondering what they will do with MS Rewards points bought for the service. Earlier this year, the company allowed members to redeem Groove Music Pass subscriptions at discounted rewards points rates. With the service closing, Microsoft has apologised to those users. The company also says it will refund customers and give them a 100 points bonus. The apology was sent to Microsoft Rewards users via email (see below). Microsoft has previously said current subscribers can transfer their Groove collections to Spotify. This is helpful for users who have engrained themselves into Groove over the years.
Of course, the company also said it will refund any customer who paid for a monthly or annual subscription to Groove Music. It is good to see the company do the right thing in the circumstance.
The Future of Groove
Users have been able to migrate to Spotify since last month. Microsoft made this process easy and it requires just a few simple steps. The path is available for all user-made playlists, but does not cover those you may follow. Transfers must be made through an Xbox or Windows 10 device. OneDrive storage was integrated into Groove Music. However, this will be removed from Groove moving forward, and will naturally not be making the jump to Spotify. As for Groove, it will live on solely as a local music player. How long this will continue remains to be seen, but we doubt Groove will be hugely popular as a music player.
