Xbox Live is a networking capability of Xbox 360 that lets you play with other people online. You can create your own avatar so that people would know you. You can even rate players depending on their behavior so that people would know if he is a bad player or a good player. Online play isn’t the only feature in Xbox live. You can also access the marketplace, where you can see what the newest games available are. You can also download some preview videos and even play the demos. Members of Netflix can also use Xbox live to view the extensive library of movies that can be viewed and download them via you’re your Xbox. This is a paid subscription though and it is called Xbox Live Gold.
Those who are not willing to pay the very small annual amount that is required to have Xbox Live Gold can try out the service via their free membership called Xbox Live Silver. This is a scaled down version of the gold version that has all the features except multiplayer games and Netflix movie downloads. You can still create your own avatar, interact with the community, and even download demos for new games. But to give you a taste of what Xbox Live Gold can offer, Xbox provides a promo called Gold weekends. You should watch out for this as it upgrades your subscription to Gold for the whole weekend, giving you free online multiplayer gaming for free.
The service of Xbox Live lets you maximize the enjoyment that you experience on your Xbox 360. You should take advantage of this service if you can. But if you are still undecided about whether you could take full advantage of it for various reasons, you should try Xbox Live Silver. Not only is it free, it would also allow you to try out the Gold service for a weekend if you happen to get the offer.