Microsoft shut down its Groove Music service at the end of last year, and that has resulted in some unforeseen repercussions. As it turns out, shutting down the music streaming service also removed Cortana’s ability to recognise and recommend music.
Users used to be able to get songs identified by tapping on the music icon in Cortana’s interface. Doing so would provide a link to the Microsoft store to buy it; or at least it would in the countries where the option was available.
These days, the feature only returns a “song not recognised” result; with Microsoft also declaring that the service is no longer offered.
It’s unlikely that most users will have ever used Cortana to identify music. The Shazam app has proven to be more popular, and it’s more likely-than-not that people weren’t even aware that Microsoft was offering something similar.
Hi @faltermayer, that is correct: due to the shutdown of the Groove music service, Cortana’s music recognition functionality has been retired.
— Jason Deakins (@JasonDeakins) January 3, 2018
However, it’s a small chunk of the Microsoft ecosystem now gone. Which puts the company on more of a back foot that ever against the competition. Both Apple and Google offer music services integrated with their AI assistants.
Microsoft’s Groove Music users have already been shifted to Spotify; which was the deal with the original shutting down announcement was made. It’s conceivable that Redmond is working on something in the background with the music streaming service. However, there’s no way of telling for now.
[Source: Windows Central]
