Microsoft's Cortana loses song ID ability in Windows as Groove ends too

Microsoft ending its Groove music streaming service has been known for awhile now with the ax finally coming downwards over the concluding few days, but another repercussion has now been confirmed: Cortana'due south song recognition capability first introduced in 2022.

In the by, tapping the music icon on Cortana's UI let the artificial intelligence service act like a glorified Shazam identifying whatever music playing. The link would then have users to the Microsoft Shop to view the anthology or optionally buy it. Without the music store, still, in that location is no real side by side stride for the user unless Microsoft wants to feed customers to Amazon, Apple, or Google, who all maintain music stores (for now).

What users at present see when they try to ID a song in Windows 10.

With the elimination of Groove tapping the icon now results in an mistake with "Vocal unrecognized" and Microsoft slipping in a not-so-subtle "this service has been retired."

Jason Deakins, who works on Cortana and search at Microsoft confirmed the end of the service in a tweet responding to myself and @faltermayer:

Hi @faltermayer, that is right: due to the shutdown of the Groove music service, Cortana's music recognition functionality has been retired.
— Jason Deakins (@JasonDeakins) Jan iii, 2022

Considering Shazam pulled its Windows Store app back in March 2022 – an app once promoted as a success of UWP – Microsoft is left with nearly no song identification applications. Granted, well-nigh song identification is performed by users of Android or iOS phones using Shazam (now owned by Apple), and without a domestic dog in the smartphone race, the service is likely used infrequently on the desktop.

Nevertheless, Cortana's song recognition power was an first-class demonstration of Microsoft bundling in services into the OS for a more native experience. Those days announced to be over.

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Welcome to the tenth episode of Ask Windows Central, a show where we answer our community'due south most asked questions around Microsoft, Windows, Surface, Xbox, and the general tech manufacture. In today's episode, we respond questions near Windows 11, Surface Duo, Your Phone, and more!