UPDATE: Apparently, the reporter at Business Insider mistakenly heard the term "Xbox, Music" -- which is used to issue commands to the Kinect -- and thought it referred to the Zune Pass music service. Which makes much more sense. Sorry about the mix-up.
ORIGINAL STORY: These days, there are quite a few options out there if you're looking to stream music through your internet-ready device. Services like Pandora, Last.fm, and Sony's Qriocity are readily available on a wide variety of hardware, including gaming consoles. Microsoft's own Zune brand already maintains a presence on Xbox Live in the form of a download marketplace and music streaming through a Zune Pass subscription. Now, the status of Zune on Xbox has come into question, as CEO Steve Ballmer has announced the simply-titled Xbox Music.
According to Business Insider, Ballmer announced the upcoming music streaming service yesterday during the Microsoft Partner Conference. There are currently very few specifics, but Ballmer stated that Xbox Music – which is also compatible with Kinect voice recognition – would be available this fall.
Personally, I believe Xbox Music is just a re-branding of the Zune Pass music service that's currently available. Ballmer mentioned that over 11 million songs will be available when the service launches; a number clearly consistent with the company's recent comment on the volume of tracks available on Zune Pass.
When the Kinect was launched in November last year, the Zune service was part of the big dashboard update, with Microsoft touting the ability to search songs with hand gestures. Since that time, Microsoft have responded to rumors that the Zune brand is being dismantled, stating that Windows Phone 7 functionality stood as the company's yearly Zune hardware update.
While it's entirely possible that Xbox Music will replace Zune Pass on Xbox 360, what about the movie and television downloads? Will they remain under the Zune banner, or will this be followed up with similarly minimalist-named services like Xbox Movies and Xbox TV?
We've reached out to Microsoft for comment on the matter.