The beat stops for Groove Music in Windows 10 as it’s replaced by Media Player

The end of Groove is near

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In a new update forWindows 10users, Groove Music will be replaced by the new Windows Media Player, keeping all of your music and playlists intact.

According toWindows Latest, if you go to theMicrosoftStore inWindows 10, you’ll see Groove Music in the ‘Updates’ section. Once you press ‘Update’, the app will be automatically overwritten with the newer Windows Media Player.

While the ‘Groove’ name has been around since 2015, it’s actually been around since 2006 whenWindows Vistadebuted, as Zune Music to help manage content on yourZunedevice that was meant to rivalApple’siPodandiPhonedevices.

However, the app hasn’t had any major updates in recent years, and the name ultimately became meaningless to anyone who found the app on their PC, which is why it’s only a good thing thatWindows Media Playeris replacing it.

What makes Media Player better than Groove?

Windows Media Player doesn’t justplay your music- it can also play video files, from ones taken on your iPhone to any DRM-free files of movies and TV shows you have stored on your PC. In this sense, it’s now more similar to the excellent VLC Media Player.

You can alsorip your CDslike it’s 2001 all over again if you want to finally digitize your old music collection.

There are also some goodaccessibility optionsin Media Player, such as keyboard shortcuts so you can play, skip and pause your content that suits your needs better.

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Overall, it’s great to see Windows Media Player almost return to its former glory. It’s still baffling as to why Groove Music lasted as long as it did, especially withiTunes being replaced with Apple Musicfor example.

Yet Windows 10 and 11 finally have a dedicated media app that makes sense, both in its features and in its name. Now let’s start to see somevisualizersmake a return next Microsoft.

Daryl had been freelancing for 3 years before joining TechRadar, now reporting on everything software-related. In his spare time, he’s written a book, ‘The Making of Tomb Raider’. His second book, ‘50 Years of Boss Fights’, came out in 2024, with a third book coming in 2025. He also has a newsletter called ‘Springboard’. He’s usually found playing games old and new on his Steam Deck, Nintendo Switch, and MacBook Pro. If you have a story about an updated app, one that’s about to launch, or just anything Software-related, drop him a line.

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