Microsoft today announced a new partnership with Spotify for new users of their Xbox Game Pass service. The new partnership is only open for U.S. and U.K residents, though - anyone else will have to pony up for both services, if interested. In essence, should you upgrade your existing Xbox Live subscription to Xbox Game Pass (either on PC or console), which you can currently do for just $1, you will also get access to Spotify's Premium plan for a long 6 months. Fuel for thought and whatever you feel like doing - just diving into one of the more than 100 entries into Microsoft's Game Pass, or the millions of songs available with Spotify.
this is interesting, I really like Xbox Game Pass on PC, I think it is a fantastic value honestly. this is nice bonus... but I would rather they not do this type of thing, and just keep the monthly fee for $5 as long as possible... as soon as it goes to 10 im unsubbing from it. so meh
You can always alleviate some of the cost of Xbox Live or the Game Pass if you make use of Microsoft Rewards program.
This is not some link with any catches. You can literally earn free points and get rewards. About every 3 weeks I redeem my points for a $5 Amazon Gift Card. Depending on how much I put into this, I usually earn enough points in a year to redeem for around 18-20, $5 Amazon Gift cards. I roughly get a free $100 a year that I put towards buying Christmas presents off Amazon.
As to why I bring up the MS Rewards? If you take the small amount of time every day, you should easily be able to obtain 8,500 points in 30 days to pay for your Xbox Live Gold - free Xbox Live Gold. Xbox Live Gold membership (1 month) - 8,500 points
Xbox Game Pass Ultimate (1 month) - 12,000 points
I earn nothing for mentioning this. I just bring this up where I see it being beneficial for others, just to share. Join and try it if you want, don't try it, call me a dork for suggesting it or whatever you want. I just wanted to share for others that might find this useful or if they're thrifty and like free things.
Earn gift cards, give back to causes, and more by simply doing the things you love to do with Microsoft. Join today or sign in now with your Microsoft account.
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Every day you can earn up to 270 points. Most weekdays there's generally one or two extra ways to earn another 10-30 (maybe upwards of 50) points. You'll see usually four emails a month (once a week) with links to click and you can earn another 50 points that way - the last email I saw come through a few days ago was about otters. Click a link to see otter videos (you don't have to watch them), click a link to see otter pictures, a link for something else about otters and a 1 question quiz (keep picking the the possible answer out of the 4 given to earn points). There is also a Streak Bonus you can earn for logging in on a constant daily basis to earn extra points.
You need to earn 500 points a month to obtain a Level 2 status - this brings down the overall cost for rewards by a little (maybe 10-15%).
There are a good handful of different rewards. I tend to save up for 5,250 points and redeem a $5 Amazon gift card - I do this about every 3 weeks and after a year I've built up $90-100 on my Amazon account in gift cards. For me that's a free $100 or so to buy Christmas presents with.
If you just did the minimum daily 270 points (here's the breakdown):
Daily Poll - 10 points
Daily Quiz - 10 points
PC searches using Bing - 150 points (5 points per search)
Mobile searching using Bing - 100 points (5 points per search)
You can earn 1890 points a week (7 days).
If you factor in the 4 - 50 point emails a month, that's 200 points.
If you factor in the Streak Bonus and you don't miss a log in for the first month, you earn an extra:
extra 45 points - Day 3
extra 75 points - Day 8
extra 75 points - Day 13
extra 105 points - Day 20
extra 105 points - Day 27
(every 7 days after that I believe you earn 150 points - I think......)
That's an extra 405 points in a month.
Then some days (generally weekdays) there are a few other links/activities to click on to obtain other points from 10 to 50 and it's easy to say you can generally, easily earn an extra 50 points a week.
Also, if you utilize MS Edge while searching in Bing, that is an extra 20 points a day (600 extra points a month)
In all, you should be able to easily earn in the first month:
7,560 (from 1890 a week - 7 days)
405 if you get a 28 day login Streak going
200 extra (at least 50 a week for extra added links/activities)
600 points using MS Edge while searching in Bing
8,765 points in the first month - that'll will get you a free Xbox Live Gold for a month
You can also earn points if you shop through the MS Store online - I think it's a point a dollar. I've never purchased anything from the store, but I figure I'd mention it since it is an optional way to earn points...if you want to buy stuff.
Just thought I'd share. I do this every day, usually in the morning or sometimes during my lunch break and it takes me roughly 5 minutes - it may take a little longer for anyone new to it, but once you learn how it all works, about 5 minutes a day during a downtime period while you're probably at the PC or on your phone anyway....might as well earn points and get yourself something in return.
