Amazon Music and Other New Features Arrive on Xbox One Consoles

Microsoft recently put out a press release detailing several new features coming to Xbox One in the system’s latest update. One of the chief features is the addition of the Amazon Music service. The app is already available to customers in the United States. However, more countries should be added soon. This isn’t the only service customers can use to stream music on the system, of course. Spotify, iHeartRadio, and Pandora are also present, as well as YouTube. But now Amazon Prime users can stream music from their consoles with no added costs to worry about. So that should make some fans happy.

These weren’t the only features announced, however. The press release detailed a number of other major changes. The biggest is probably the keyboard and mouse support for the system. While it was announced by Phil Spencer in September, this update brings the feature to the live service. Now developers can opt-in to mouse and keyboard support for games on Xbox One consoles. Of course, the first game to take advantage of this feature is Fortnite. Additionally, Microsoft is partnering with Razer to bring mouse-and-keyboard sets designed specifically for Xbox, which comes with several unique features, specifically for gaming on Xbox and Windows 10.

The press release also provided some new details on the Xbox Skill for Cortana and Alexa. The Xbox Skill for Alexa is now in beta for UK customers. And the Xbox Skill for Cortana now comes with some new improvements. It now automatically discovers and pairs with the user’s Xbox, removing the need to log in. And both the Cortana and Alexa got several new commands. It lets customers quit games or apps, as well as enter a new navigation mode to use the assistant as a controller. Though one wonders if that particular feature might be a bit convoluted. Fans will have to test it and see for themselves.

What are your thoughts on the recent new features for Xbox? Let us know in the comments below!

Chris Voyage

Chris has a fondness for geek media of all kinds – video games, anime, comic books, you name it. And he strives to bring people the same types of experiences that he grew up with, while also sharing his admiration for what’s already there through articles and fun geek news commentary shows! Whenever he’s not writing for The Nerd Stash, he’s keeping up his own website, Galvanic Media, along with some friends.