Microsoft recently released their Xbox Music service to the public. At this moment the software is out for the Xbox only, in about a week it’s going to come with all Windows 8 products. It’s the second or third relaunch of their services (laying Zune to rest) and it’s good. But something really bothers me about it.

The continued penny pinching of the Xbox user base. Xbox Music is direct competition to Spotify, Last fm, Pandora and the others in the army of internet radio. All of these services are well entrenched with their users and many (namely Spotify) work on a huge array of devices. Xbox Music is going to only work on Microsoft devices for at least 6 months. It’s going to be the center of Windows 8 for music. You’ll be able to stream internet music for free, just like Pandora and Spotify with commercials (you can also purchase music), or go through the pay wall for the premium ad free, unlimited skipping service (called Xbox Music Pass). That sounds great and the software is pretty slick, no other program looks like it and it makes itunes look pretty ancient.

Here comes the stupid. Without the Music Pass, this services is gimped and useless on the Xbox. You can only listen to 30 seconds of a song. It’s an elaborate preview service. With the pass, you can actually use it the way it’s intended. You also have to have a gold membership to use this service. The money hoops for this on Xbox are completely insulting. This new service is made and run by Microsoft, why on Earth should a Xbox Gold member, who is paying upwards of $60 a year be required to pay MORE? Add it as another value to getting a Gold membership! This is a fledgling service that needs to impress people enough to drop whatever music service they already live with. That’s hard enough to do without giving people reasons NOT to use it. Anyone without Windows 8 is pretty much locked out as well…it’s not going to come to Windows 7. The loophole is that the Music Pass works with the Zune software but the amount of people using that is pretty small AND it’s not using the new design so the interface is a different experience (although the Xbox Music UI is heavily based on the Zune software).

The value that Microsoft is giving to it’s loyal player base just keeps getting smaller and smaller. The $10 hike for Xbox Gold membership was shady enough, this is just unbelievable greed. Lucky for Microsoft, Nintendo still has their head up somewhere above the clouds for their network, so that’s still no worry. They can even continue to point and laugh. Sony on the other hand just keeps making the right moves. They’ve matched many of Xbox Live’s features (for free) and the PS+ membership is a great value idea.

My plea to the powers at be in Redmond, WA: Stop trying to squeeze your fans out of every single dime, it’s going to come back and bite you. With the next generation looming on the horizon, you need to get all your ducks in a row. You better quality test that thing because EVERYONE is going to be watching for you to do a header into the dirt and you’ll be the ones responsible for a mass exodus from the Xbox platform.