Microsoft’s Zune is like the seed that has spawned into the entire company following one design strategy known as Metro. We’ve also known for a while that the Zune brand is on its way out since it failed to deliver results. When Microsoft discontinued the Zune hardware, they made an interesting pitch calling Windows Phone 7 the next Zune player—and the last. In Windows Phone 8, Zune has been replaced by Xbox Music. The same service will be offering multimedia content on the Xbox and in Windows 8. According to rumors, Xbox Music will at some point become a cross-platform service with features similar to Spotify. The leaked Windows Phone 8 has given us a preview of what Xbox Music will be, and perhaps signs of the cross-platform, cloud-based Xbox Music service. The settings for Xbox show the Xbox Smartglass capabilities too. Screenshots of Windows Phone 8 Xbox Music:

Xbox Smartglass and cloud-based XBox music:

It looks like “Xbox Music cloud collection” is music you have paid for and is available on Microsoft’s servers. These playlists can be synced across your PC, tablet, Xbox and phone. Windows Phone 8 has introduced the ability to transfer files between devices using SD cards, and I believe the XBox Music cloud collection will be excluded—and that’s probably how Microsoft will keep music labels happy.