Microsoft is readying to officially launch the Windows 8 platform on October 26th, which will be accompanied by the launch of new Windows 8 PCs and tablets from a range of manufacturers.  Ahead of the Windows 8 launch, Microsoft will be launching tomorrow the free music streaming service, Xbox Music, which will initially be available on the Xbox 360 and come pre-installed on Windows 8, Windows 8 devices and Windows Phone 8 devices on October 26.  Microsoft stated that it will also be available for iOS and Android devices in the future.

“The launch of Xbox Music is a milestone in simplifying digital music on every type of device and on a global scale,” said Don Mattrick, president of the Interactive Entertainment Business at Microsoft. “We’re breaking down the walls that fracture your music experiences today to ensure that music is better and integrated across the screens that you care about most — your tablet, PC, phone and TV.”

Xbox Music General Manager Jerry Johnson describes the service as the fusion of Apple’s iTunes, Spotify and Pandora.  Music lovers have three ways to enjoy the service: free, but you have to deal with the occasional ads, $9.99 a month for unlimited and ad-free streaming dubbed as Xbox Music Pass, or pay-per-song which allows subscribers to purchase and download 256kbps DRM-free MP3s.

“There are a lot of individual services that do a good job, but today there isn’t a service which can pull together the benefits of download-to-own, music subscription, or free streaming services,” says Yusuf Mehdi, corporate vice president of Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business Marketing and Strategy.. “With Xbox Music, what we wanted to do is bring all of that value in one simple, easy-to-use service, then build some additional value on top — make it really beautiful, and have it work across all of your devices. We’ve been able to simplify the music experience in a really powerful way.”

Microsoft’s Music Attempts Still Offbeat

This isn’t Microsoft’s first attempt in penetrating the music scene.  If you can still remember, they had the Zune players, which were discontinued due to its unpopularity, and the music service that goes by the same name which, in my opinion, is not really a very used service.  When the Xbox Music launches tomorrow, current Zune subscribers can automatically jump right into the service via the Xbox Music Pass while everyone can enjoy the service for a 30-day free trial.

Xbox Music will be available in 22 markets and boasts of 30 million tracks worldwide.  Aside from this, Xbox 360 users can enjoy watching almost 70,000 music videos via the service.

Microsoft will be launching more feature in 2013 such as more social integration, scan-and-match functionality, and a cloud-based locker that will separate from SkyDrive.

Windows 7 and Windows Phone 7 users will not be able to use the service but can continue enjoying Zune.

“Windows 7 will still have the old Zune client. That client will have access based on the subscriptions and the content that anyone purchased and that content can flow forward to Windows 8 but we’re not touching that client just now,” Johnson stated.

Though the service looks promising, Microsoft may have to face the bitter truth that the service may not be well received.  For one, it will depend on how well the market will adopt Windows 8, Windows 8 devices and Windows Phone 8 devices.  Music streaming services are a hit on mobile devices but the problem is, Windows-based phones aren’t really that popular.  So they need to have a killer device, perhaps in addition to the Xbox, Microsoft’s hold on the home entertainment sector.  We’ve also seen ready software releases from Microsoft on rival platforms, so we could see their new music service as an iOS and Android app as well.

For more on Xbox’s Music launch, see Mark “Rizzn” Hopkins’ perspective from this morning’s Breaking Analysis segment from the News Desk program below: