I don’t know how we missed this, but last Wednesday Microsoft held a local press conference detailing a number of new services available to Australian consumers. While Kinect Voice Control was announced at the event, I’m personally much more excited by the announcement of Zune Music purchases and Zune Music Pass for Australia. Samsung and Sony also have music subscription services in the works and available but Zune Pass, in my opinion, is much more interesting given the amount of devices it’s already available on in the US and right here such as Windows Phone, Xbox and Windows. It’s also very timely given the announcement of Nokia Windows Phone’s.
For $12 a month you will be able to access 11 million songs at any time when you have an internet connection which converts to $120 a year. It’s a little pricey, but interesting given the previous drought of music streaming services available to Aussies. While the US Zune Pass previously also gave you 10 songs to keep every month, Microsoft recently changed that to 0 free songs that last forever. This new rule will also apply to Australia’s Zune Music Pass, which is a little disappointing. You will, however, be able to get songs seperately but the pricing has not been revealed.
Windows Phone now has yet another way to compete with iOS and this new service might be enough to push some people, such as me, over the edge. I’ll be watching you closely Microsoft. Don’t stuff it up!