Amazon HD Music goes live

Has anyone tried it yet? It was just announced.

I’m curious if the Amazon library is better than Tidal.

 

Here’s the full press release for those who want it. Bottom line: Up to 24/192, $14.99 without Prime, $12.99 with Prime. Available in the US, UK, Germany, and Japan today. Three month free trial, too.

Amazon Music Introduces Highest Quality Audio for Streaming with Amazon Music HD
September 17, 2019 at 9:01 AM EDT
amazon.com/music/unlimited/hd.

“We spoke with many artists while developing Amazon Music HD, who were excited about the potential for fans to be able to stream their favorite music, and hear it as it was originally recorded,” said Steve Boom, VP of Amazon Music. “From rock to hip-hop to classical and pop, we believe listening to music at this level of sound will make customers fall in love again with their favorite music and artists. As we usher in a new listening experience for our customers and the industry, we’re combining the convenience of streaming with all of the emotion, power, clarity and nuance of the original recordings.”

Amazon Music HD will always offer customers the best quality recording available for streaming, providing an unparalleled listening experience. Legendary albums including Fleetwood Mac’s Rumors and Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue become revelatory new experiences, almost as if the listener is sitting in on these storied studio sessions. Songs like Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright” and St. Vincent’s “Digital Witness”, are also now available in Ultra HD, revealing nuances that were once flattened in files compressed for digital streaming.

“Earth will be changed forever when Amazon introduces high quality streaming to the masses,” said rock icon Neil Young. “This will be the biggest thing to happen in music since the introduction of digital audio 40 years ago.”

Amazon Music HD offers customers more than 50 million lossless HD songs, with a bit depth of 16 bits and a sample rate of 44.1kHz (CD quality). In addition, customers can stream millions more songs in Ultra HD (better than CD quality), with a bit depth of 24 bits and a sample rate up to 192 kHz.

Amazon Music HD will play the highest quality audio the customer’s device and network conditions will support, and is compatible with a wide variety of devices, including desktop, mobile (iOS & Android), select Echo devices, Fire TV, and Fire Tablets. Amazon Music HD is also compatible with many third-party devices, including most products from Denon and Marantz with HEOS Built-in, Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, Sonos, McIntosh, Sennheiser, and many more. To learn more about Amazon Music HD, visit amazon.com/music/unlimited/hd.

Here’s the full press release for those who want it. Bottom line: Up to 24/192, $14.99 without Prime, $12.99 with Prime. Available in the US, UK, Germany, and Japan today.

 

90 days free means that I'll give it a try. Also, it's $129 if you pay for the year, which comes out to $10.75. Depending on their library and implementation, that's not too bad.

 

Are they selling downloads?

 

90 days free if you've never tried Amazon Music. Otherwise 30 days. Also, go annual - 12 months for the price of 10.

 

No

 

How does their library compare to spotify?

 

Trying it now. First thought - Tidal is in BIG trouble. I have Tidal and enjoy it, especially with Roon.

Music quality is very good and so far it streams better than Tidal on my desktop. The UI is way better than Tidal. Have tried finding all of the hd that I know exists - Eagles, Rolling Stones, etc. For the most part, if HD is available, it is on Amazon. For example, the Eagles are in 192khz. There are NO Beatles UHD (96khz or 192Khz) and Sgt Peppers and the White Album should be in UHD, but I assume they will be. The desktop app is very good, with recommended songs, stations and curated playlists. The trial is for 90 days.

So far, so great. This should jumpstart HD on the other services as well.

 

It's all coming, folks. Cd-quality streaming at a low, low price

This was always going to happen.

Good times.

 

Oh - The Eagles "Long Road From Eden" is in 192Khz.

St. Vincent - "Digital Witness" sounds great!


By the way, I am running a Mytek Liberty, so have a great DAC to use.

 

I've held off signing up with a streaming service, waiting for just something like this. I subscribed immediately (monthly with free trial), and am listening right now.

Selection looks very good. I'm listening to a "Wayne Shorter" station, and the results so far are excellent.

UI is OK, no worse than the other services, and I like the "mini-player" that can be set to stay on top of other windows.

Tentative grade is "A".

 

Signed up for the trial. First thing off the bat is that I can’t playback from iPhone to my Chromecast Audio (I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, Amazon has to keep selling the Echo). I DO have an Audioquest Beetle connected so I can use Bluetooth for the duration of the trial!

Happy to see that some of my AutoRips are now in HD/Ultra HD. For instance, Bloc Party’s Silent Alarm is now HD (16/44) and Blur’s The Magic Whip is Ultra HD (24/44). Pretty cool.

I like the interface so far but can’t say for sure yet whether it’s better than Tidal/Qobuz. The price is certainly better!

 

unless you're an artist trying to make a living!

 

So no mention of MQA? If not, it's a big moment in the ultimate fadeout.

 

This’ll change things! Cheaper than competitors.

Wondering if the Autorip items are upgraded to lossless too? Will go check it out.

Edit: Sound quality is GREAT!

I bet Apple will follow suit very quickly now. Interesting times!

 

But will Spotify...?

 

NO MQA - regular files. For example - just listened to Eagles Long Road Out of Eden in 192khz

 

Oh - better than that. You can download the tracks to listen off-line. I just did so

 

You can download any track to listen offline

 

At last. Have tried Tidal and Qobuz on occasion, but Apple and Amazon have always had the best model/accessibility in my opinion. This feels like a game changer and Tidal will find themselves quickly squeezed out if they aren’t careful.

The sound quality seems very very good.

 

I don't care how many ways Amazon tries to push their music services on me, I haven't bitten yet and probably never will. As a Prime teat-sucker, I've had any number of come-on's teased, announced, demo'd, trial-period'ed, discounted, offered, re-branded, re-formatted, re-platformed and eventually, "oh, well, we just signed you up anyway, just push this button!". Something about their desperate insistence to make this a crucial part of my relationship with them rubs me the wrong way.

I would say I'm fine just purchasing music from them, but, between pre-order, Customer Service and Marketplace, they've diddled with me enough to lose both my confidence and my trust to do the basic thing they came online to do in the first place.

Why would I want to give them another chance to become indispensable in my life. I'll just take my free shipping and my Mrs. Maisel, than you very much.

 

This is a concern, or at least should be.

My other is that Amazon is MONOLITHIC and OMNIPRESENT. It would be so easy to make Amazon my one-stop-shop for streaming and also vinyl (so I can get my HD/Ultra HD AutoRips) but at what cost?

 

Ok I've had a look and their music selection isn't a patch on Spotify. As someone who relies on streaming primarily for discovery, that's a no from me for now.

 

TMI

 

New and more obscure music I’d definitely agree, though the UK bit of Amazon music has a lot more interesting grey/unauthorised releases than Spotify. For example the Dylan MTV rehearsals and various other live Dylan bootlegs. The nearest I’ve got to that on Spotify was a Joy Division live album which sounded awful (nearly unlistenable) and which then disappeared.