Microsoft today released updates for Xbox Music and Xbox Video apps on Windows 8.1. The updated apps bring a number of improvements as well as new features. The updated Xbox Video app brings an improved layout, particularly for the section where it displays TV shows. It also comes with various “minor fixes,” and the app has also been improved for high resolution screens and portrait mode.
The Xbox Music app does what the name suggests, it lets users play and manage music from their personal collection or browse and purchase songs from the service. The updated Xbox Music app can now accept Microsoft Windows gift cards as a method of payment, Microsoft launched the gift cards only recently. Better support for when the app is being used in snap mode has also been added in this update. Xbox Music app’s left menu now displays a “now playing” list. Users can now simply start typing whenever the app is open launch a search. Playback controls are now always visible from inside the app, thus allowing users to play or pause a song with one tap or click. Furthermore, the share charm can now be used to share a web page inside the Xbox Music app. Both the Xbox Music and Xbox Video apps are now available for download from the Windows Store.