If you search for "Groove Music" today, you will find two very different stories. One is a tale of a streaming giant that failed to take off. The other is a quiet success story about the best free music player for Windows that you are probably ignoring.

Even though the subscription is gone, the "Music Locker" feature remains. You can upload your MP3s to OneDrive, and the Groove app on any Windows PC will stream those files to you for free. It turns your OneDrive storage into a personal cloud music server.

The app uses Microsoft’s Fluent Design System (acrylic blur, smooth animations). It is far more modern looking than the clunky Winamp skins or the dated interface of MusicBee (though MusicBee is more powerful).