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Music fans have often viewed Microsoft as something like a bad cover band, one that pumped out uninviting facsimiles of Apple’s iPod and iTunes with its Zune music players and service. Now that the Zune brand is dead, Microsoft is once again in search of a hit in digital music. But this time, to improve its odds of success, it is marshaling some of its most powerful brands as never before: Windows and the Xbox.
On Monday, the company plans to announce a service called Xbox Music that will offer access to a global catalog of about 30 million songs. The service will let consumers listen free to any song on computers and tablets running the latest version of its Windows software, as well as on the Xbox console. Microsoft will not initially limit how much music can be streamed, though that could change over time. The service is part of a broad set of bets Microsoft is making this fall to help regain ground it has lost to competitors, especially Apple and Google. In addition to Windows 8, a major new version of its flagship operating system that will start shipping on Oct. 26, the company is close to releasing a new version of its Windows Phone operating system for mobile phones and its first Microsoft-designed computer, a tablet device called Surface.
In an aggressive push to persuade lots of people to use the service, Microsoft will package the software for Xbox Music with Windows 8. The arrangement could awaken antitrust concerns about Microsoft’s use of Windows to gain toeholds in new markets. Microsoft’s do-over in the market is a sign of how a strong music service has come to be seen as a prerequisite for any serious player in the gadget business. Apple first showed the way with that strategy by making it simple to buy songs from the iTunes Store, helping it sell more iPods. Google and Amazon have also gotten in on the act, adding music stores to their Android and Kindle devices. In addition to competing with those big companies, Xbox Music is entering a landscape thick with independent music services that offer their own variations on the listening experience. Spotify, for example, provides on-demand listening to a large library of music, while Pandora programs radio stations tailored to its listeners’ individual tastes.
Scott Porter, principal program manager for Xbox Music, said many music fans today relied on a variety of services like those, along with more traditional sellers of songs like iTunes, to satisfy all their musical needs. This approach, though, can be tedious. “The dilemma is that music has become work,” he said. “Our vision for Xbox Music is that it shouldn’t have to be work.” Xbox Music incorporates elements of all of those services. There is an option to buy songs, so a music fan can own them permanently with minimal restrictions. There are Pandora-like radio stations built around songs and similar-sounding music.
1. From the first paragraph, we can learn that ______.
A) music fans do not like Microsoft any longer
B) Zune was substituted by other services
C) Windows and the Xbox are Microsoft’s only powerful brands
D) Microsoft plans to regain success in digital music with its powerful brands
2. Which of the following statements is TRUE according to the text?
A) The service provides consumers with songs on computers, tablets and Xbox console with no charge.
B) Microsoft won’t restrict the amount of the music download as time goes by.
C) Microsoft is sure that the service can beat Apple and Google.
D) Windows 8 and its Windows Phone and its first Microsoft-designed computer will release simultaneously.
3. The word “toehold” (Line 3, Paragraph 3) most probably means ______.
A) insistence
B) support
C) success
D) patience
4. Which of the following would be the topic of the text?
A) Microsoft introduces its powerful service: Windows and Xbox.
B) Microsoft turns to Windows and Xbox instead of its traditional style.
C) Microsoft’s Zune service was obsolete.
D) With the help of Windows and Xbox, Microsoft attempts to win victory in the field of music.
5. From the text we can see that the writer seems ______.
A) positive
B) negative
C) doubtful
D) objective