Microsoft announced on Thursday that its Zune Music Pass will offer a more competitive $9.99 plan for all-you-can-stream music starting Oct 3. For people in the US, the big change is the dropping in the price, the service will drop the 10 MP3s to keep model it’s been harboring for quite some time now. Old subscribers will be grandfathered into the $15/month + keep 10 pass if they wish. New subscribers will not have that choice.

The streaming music service landscape is increasingly competitive with companies such as Spotify, MOG and Rdio battling for the hearts and ears of music fans. But Zune is at least interesting because it’s targeting Microsoft users specifically, offering interaction between Windows Phone 7, Xbox 360, Windows PC, Zune MP3 players and Zune.net. Zune, however, does lose out because it doesn’t work on rival iOS and Android mobile platforms.

That $10 price gives you unlimited access to the service, which means 14 million songs all at your beck and call. However, there is a downside to the price cut. The Zune Pass will be dropping one of its distinguishing characteristics—the ten music downloads users are allowed each month.

Elsewhere, Microsoft has also now finally brought the Zune Marketplace and Zune Pass to Canada — it opens up on October 3rd, with the Zune Pass running the same $10/month (or $100 for a year of service).

Source – Zune Insider