PSA: Don't forget to do THIS before Groove Music dies

Groove Music is to dance off into the afterlife at the end of the year, and Microsoft has been sending emails to subscribers reminding them of the need to transfer their playlists to Spotify if they want to retain them, something I had done already. They also, however, sent a second email which I had neglected to act on until today.

That email urge users to make sure to download any music they have purchased over the years to their hard drive, or lose their investment forever.

Given that I have been a streaming Groove subscriber for many years, I had thought I had no purchased music on the service at all, but was surprised to discover I had several albums and more than 50 tracks for which I appear to have paid actual money for on top of my subscription. Having moved PCs at least a few times, the music (which was always available to stream) was no longer on my PC, meaning if I did not download it now, it would be lost.

When downloaded the music is DRM-free MP3s which can be uploaded to another music locker service like Amazon, iTunes or simply OneDrive.

To download your music, open Groove, go to your music collection and select the Purchased filter. Right-click or press and hold your music files and select Download from the menu.

Music is downloaded to your Documents\Music\Purchases folder in 320kbs MP3 files which as mentioned can then be used in numerous other locations.

The deadline to download music is the 31st December 2017, and to move your playlists the 31st January 2018.Check the Groove Music app now to see if there is anything you may miss after that date.