The head of the Xbox team confirmed today that two heavily requested features will make their way to the Xbox One this year. During Microsoft’s Build conference we learned that background music will be one of these features. The Playstation 4 already has a similar feature made possible through Sony’s partnership with Spotify. At this time it is unclear if the Xbox One will also work through Spotify, Microsoft’s own Groove or another streaming music service.
Spencer also confirmed that the Xbox One will finally receive the digital assistant named Cortana. Using the Kinect you can ask Cortana practically anything you wish to know and she will use the Bing search engine to produce results for you. With your permission Cortana can also keep track of things for you like an upcoming flight you have reserved. If the flight is delayed then Cortana can let you know ahead of time.
These features will arrive with the Windows 10 Anniversary update which will also bring Universal Windows Apps to Xbox One as well as allow developers to use the console itself as a devkit.