Following Apple’s launch of its next-generation music service, which includes lossless audio and spatial audio with Dolby Atmos support, Amazon has made a move that is likely aimed at maintaining its streaming music customers. Amazon Music HD, the company’s high-quality subscription tier, will be available to all eligible Amazon Music Unlimited users at no additional expense in the future, according to the company.
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Amazon Music HD was first released in the fall of 2019 with access to over 50 million tracks that will stream in high definition (HD) with a bit depth of 16 bits and a sampling rate of 44.1kHz (around CD-quality). It also announced that “millions” more songs in Ultra HD, or 24-bit, with a sampling rate of up to 192kHz, will be available online (or better than CD quality).
The HD collection on Amazon Music has expanded to over 70 million songs, with over 7 million Ultra HD tracks available. Amazon Music HD customers can now listen to songs remixed in 3D Audio formats like Dolby Atmos and Sony 360RA, which can be played on Amazon’s high-fidelity speaker, the Echo Studio.
According to Sony, music in 360RA can also be streamed via Amazon Music HD on Sony’s RA5000 and RA3000 speakers via Alexa Cast.
The introduction of HD streaming was seen as a way to counteract the threat posed by Tidal, a music streaming service that had been catering to audiophiles with higher quality streams, as well as a way to differentiate its service from larger streaming rivals like Apple and Spotify — the latter of which recently announced its high-end subscription, Spotify HiFi, whose pricing and launch date are still unknown.
Amazon Music HD was formerly valued at $12.99 a month for Amazon Prime members and $14.99 per month for non-members. Amazon Music Unlimited Individual Plan ($7.99/month for Prime members, $9.99/month otherwise) and Family Plan ($14.99/month) users can also switch to Amazon Music HD for free — a discount of $5 per month.
The reforms will take effect at the beginning of the next billing period in the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, France, Italy, and Spain.
Amazon’s decision to make the HD library a free update comes on the heels of Apple’s announcement this morning that lossless audio will be available for free on Apple Music beginning next month.
Apple claims to have over 75 million lossless music tracks. The update will also include Dolby Atmos support and spatial audio. Given the industry shift, Spotify is under pressure to make its HiFi music service competitively priced as well.
Amazon Music Unlimited has been dubbed the “dark horse” of music streaming, owing to its ability to expand due to its connections to Amazon’s famous Prime membership.
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Since early 2020, the service has had 55 million users, but Amazon has refused to include a revised number. Apple Music, for example, reported 60 million subscribers in 2019 and was expected to rise to 72 million by early 2020, with potentially more than 80 million by the end of the year.