amazon.com/music/unlimited
Jeff Bezos is the richest man on earth and he has a lot of business interests. Among them are music, shopping, film, and television. He also wants to go to space. That's his big dream.
It's easy to see how much money it would take to build a spaceship and go to the moon as a private entity- Hundreds of billions of dollars, easily. But thanks to Amazon's money, I'm sure Bezos will not have any trouble making that dream a reality.
As long as Jeff Bezos doesn't start neglecting his businesses on earth, I could care less where he goes in the great expanse of outer space. There is a certain standard of excellence that you come to expect from a service provided by one of the richest men of all time. And I hold Amazon to that standard always, no matter what version of the massive digital empire of Amazon it is that we are talking about.
And, generally speaking, I would say that Amazon delivers on its expectations. For example, Amazon Prime Video has put out award-winning and critically acclaimed original content, such as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and The Man in the High Castle. Plus, of course, Prime Video has lots of syndicated shows and movies for its viewers to enjoy. I haven't had many complaints with this corner of Amazon (other than maybe a few streaming and buffering issues here and there).
When I looked at Amazon Prime Music, I had high expectations. With the unprecedented funding that Amazon has for its streaming services, I would expect to see more songs to choose from than Spotify, on-par sound quality with Tidal, and an intuitive interface as Apple Music. Maybe it's unfair for me to come to Amazon Music Unlimited with such high standards, but, hey, these are the criteria we always look for in our quest to find the perfect music streaming platform, right?
History
Amazon Music Unlimited is a new streaming service that's better than Amazon MP3. You can stream certain content on-demand for free (rather, for the baseline monthly price you pay and nothing more), and you can download and purchase certain titles as well, allowing you to enjoy them anytime, offline or on.
Amazon Music (then Amazon MP3) launched a public beta version of the service on September 25th, 2007. That same January, 2008, it became the first online music store to sell songs and albums from all of the big four major music labels - EMI, Universal, Warner, and Sony BMG - as well as a number of independent and smaller record companies, without Digital Rights Management (DRM). What that means is that most of the songs were sold to customers in MP3 format without any audio watermarking - however, some songs today are watermarked. It depends on which country you are downloading from. Some places are limited on licensing agreements with record companies for one reason or another.
Amazon MP3 was first launched in the United States on December 3, 2008. It was later released in the UK on December 3, 2008, Germany on April 1, 2009, and France on June 10, 2009. Amazon continued this gradual global rollout over the years, expanding in the Japanese market on November 10th, 2010; Spain and Italy on October 4, 2012; and Mexico on November 7th, 2018.
Recently, on September 17th, 2019, Amazon Music announced that it would be launching Amazon Music HD, a new subscription tier that would be available for Amazon Music users in which listeners can enjoy lossless quality music, over 50 million High Definition songs. This lifted Amazon Music up to the status of Tidal and Qobuz for serious audiophiles and sound geeks (I use the term affectionately, of course).
Design
Honestly, I think the Amazon Music Unlimited design is really strange. It's almost as if the people who designed it were trying to do something totally different from the designs of Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal, just for fun. But there's a good reason why all of the largest audio streaming services use a similar design - it works really well.
Many people seem to be upset with Amazon Music, especially after the redesign that was just made. Grandpa always used to say to me, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it." I think Amazon should have heeded this advice when they redesigned their music streaming platform because it is going to take some time for people to get used to it.
Despite some aesthetic drawbacks, I do like the design of Amazon Music Unlimited. It has a nice dark theme to it, and I have always preferred this kind of look. If I had to describe it, I would say it is ?midnight steel? - lots of blacks and midnight blues, as well as plenty of dark and metallic grays make for a really slick presentation.
I don't like the layout because it's backwards. Everything is on the left side and the playlist options are on the right. It feels clunky to me.
Content
Hmm, as I touched on briefly before, Amazon Music Unlimited (and Amazon Music Unlimited HD) offers a lot of songs. This blows Spotify out of the water. At least in terms of quantity of songs. Spotify boasts just over 30 million. Tidal still has Amazon Music beat, however, with 60 million+. But 50 million songs are nothing to sneeze at, that's for sure.
In addition to streaming any and all of those 50 million songs on demand, Amazon Music Unlimited also gives you the easy option to download them (for a price). However, downloaded songs will have watermarks - not invasive enough to diminish your listening experience, but still - and if you ever cancel your Amazon Music Unlimited membership, songs that were downloaded in the free trial period will no longer be available.
Desktop and Mobile Experience
I think the desktop browser version of Amazon Music Unlimited is a bit mixed. However, their mobile app is much improved and easier to use.
Others seem to agree that Amazon Music Unlimited is the best app to use on your mobile device. It has an average user rating of 4.7 out of 5 stars on the Apple App Store, and 383,560 ratings in total. so it seems that most people think this is the best way to enjoy Amazon Music Unlimited. In fact, it's where you're going to want to be using the app most frequently anyway, right?
Pricing and Plans
Amazon Music has four different tiers and offers a variety of payment options. An individual account costs $7.99 per month, while the family plan ($14.99 per month) offers up to six accounts with simultaneous streaming. Another great deal, if you ask me, is the single device plan which costs $3.99 per month.
And if you're a student, Amazon Music Unlimited is only $4.99 per month - always a great deal!
If you want Amazon Music Unlimited Hd, then a single account will cost you $14.99.
Suggestions that I have for Amazon Music Unlimited
I would consider a redesign of your in-browser media player if the aesthetic is kept and an intuitive layout is found. I would also find a way to contractually get around the watermark business, which is incredibly annoying. Especially for songs that you have paid for. Oh, and adding podcasts into the mix would be a great move.
Conclusion
All in all, I think Amazon Music Unlimited is a great option for a lot of people. Though there are some downsides, it's overall a fair price and the library is pretty good. Plus, Amazonâwhat else can you ask for?
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