Spotify and Apple Music have both been making moves of late to increase the offerings of their services. Now another serious competitor, Amazon has shown some impressive cards. Already being a solid competitor due to its extensive prime membership program they now introduce hi-def audio streaming.
Amazon has just launched Amazon Music HD in the US, UK, Germany and Japan. It offers 50 million lossless HD songs, with a bit depth of 16 bits and a sample rate of 44.1kHz (described by Amazon as ‘CD quality’).
In addition, Amazon Music HD subscribers can stream ‘millions more’ songs in ‘Ultra HD’ (described by Amazon as ‘better than CD quality’), with a bit depth of 24 bits and a sample rate up to 192 kHz.
Spotify has at times tested lossless audio but has yet to officially launch a plan for all customers. Apple, meanwhile, is doing everything it can to extract the most quality from the AAC format it uses, but has always stopped short of going in on lossless.
It will cost existing Amazon Prime members $12.99 (US) / £12.99 (UK) a month and non-Prime members $14.99 / $14.99 a month. Existing Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers can upgrade for an additional $5 / £5 a month.
Amazon is getting busy with the up-sell, too: new subscribers to Amazon Music can now opt for a 90-day free trial to Amazon Music HD, while current paying subscribers can try Amazon Music HD at no additional cost for 90 days.
