Xbox music revealed, Pandora’s shares decline

Pandora shares took another hit from yet another online music streaming competitor as Microsoft launched their new music platform, Xbox Music. Pandora’s dip in stocks was shown from their 3.24 percent decrease reported last Monday on boston.com.

With its partial release on Oct. 16, the service will be available to the masses on Oct. 26, coinciding with the release of Windows 8. The supposed “all-in-one music service” allows users access to free streaming up to 10 hours a month after 6 months and unlimited streaming with a paid subscription of $9.99 monthly.

The overall music selection of the new Xbox Music boast 30 million songs as compared to Pandora’s roughly 800,000, according to techcrunch.com.

In a recent review of Xbox Music from the popular gadget site Gizmodo, writer Kyle Wagner called it, “the perfect music service – if you use nothing but Microsoft.”

The all-inclusive design is meant to house all of your music needs in one place, but for those looking for a cross-platform service, this may be a potential disadvantage.

For now, Pandora is still the nation’s largest free online streaming service, serving 80 million users last year, according to ABC News. Apple remains the largest in digital music sales with 64 percent of the market in 2012, as conducted by market research firm NDP group.

Regardless of preference, the launch of Microsoft’s new platform is a landmark event for online music streaming, which is expected to dominate attention and increase competition in the months to come.