Amazon Launches 'Prime Music' Streaming Service with Access to Over One Million Songs

[iolinux333]

I think there are going to be more than a few angry meetings in Cupertino today. Apple just lost millions of potential paying customers to this. Not to mention that little THREE BILLION DOLLAR screwup. lol

 

[milo]

So all that HBO content is "absolute garbage?"

That's one of the rare exceptions. And that's no recent seasons and not their two most popular recent series.

 

[derek4484]

Just gave this a try and it SUCKS. The interface is extremely clunky and its slow and laggy.

I like itunes radio MUCH better. Its worth listening to a commercial every now and then for the improved functionality.

 

[caseycicada]

Amazon is turning into the monopoly to end all monopolies. And for some strange reason, I am really happy about it.

 

[derek4484]

I'm not complaining. Prime is the best $49 a year I've ever spent.

Umm its $99 per year. I dont think it's ever been $49. I've been a Prime member for 10 years and it was $79 when I first signed up.

 

[caseycicada]

Umm its $99 per year. I dont think it's ever been $49. I've been a Prime member for 10 years and it was $79 when I first signed up.

I'm assuming you enjoy it then? I really want it, but I'm hesitant because I would use it for streaming movies etc but I have so many dvds that I havent watched yet... Advice?

 

[nburwell]

Good if you're already a Prime subscriber. However, those of us that aren't probably won't be intersted in this. I'll stick with my Spotify Premium subscription.

 

[lucidhysteria]

I've been a Prime subscriber since before they added the instant video, and I have to say, after reading this thread, it's the first time I remember seeing users complain when a service ADDS features. The price remained the same for 9 years (at least in the U.S.), and when it was finally raised a few months back, current subscribers were given an extra year at the old price. Honestly, a $20 price increase after a decade does not seem unreasonable at all to me, even for the shipping benefits alone — especially considering that during that time the number of eligible items has increased from around 1 million to over 20 million (according to the e-mail they sent informing people of the price increase) —*anecdotal comments in these forums notwithstanding. Features like instant video and the new music service are just icing on the cake (people are acting like they announced another price increase along with Amazon Music, but if so, I've missed it entirely; now, if you just want to be cynical and think that the recent price increase was specifically because of these services, fine, but I'm pretty sure the price would have gone up, anyway, so for one am glad they're actually adding more benefits instead of just charging more money for the same benefits, as they would have every right to do after 9 years —*unless you don't think the program is costing them any more money now than it did a decade ago).

I'm not an Amazon fanboy by far — there's a lot that they do not-so-well (their website is kind of a mess and needs an overhaul, and some of the Instant Video apps — such as on my Sony Blu-Ray player — are atrocious and not user friendly at all), and I will honestly probably hardly ever use this music service (I'm a still-rips-CDs-to-iTunes-because-I-want-to-OWN-my-music-at-the-best-quality kind of guy) — but there are some things Amazon does very well, and I for one am glad every time they add Prime benefits.

 

[derek4484]

I'm assuming you enjoy it then? I really want it, but I'm hesitant because I would use it for streaming movies etc but I have so many dvds that I havent watched yet... Advice?

To be honest, I dont use the streaming stuff that often. My LG smart TV has the built in Amazon prime video app too. I use it to watch reruns of Frasier, 24, and the Shield when I'm bored, but that's about it. Their FREE streaming content isnt that new and by the time the content goes from paid to Prime Free, I've usually downloaded it or watched it elsewhere. I guess you can say its a nice bonus but not worth buying Prime for in the first place. I originally bought Prime for the free second day shipping and the $3.99 next day air on ANYTHING. For instance, I bought a 55" LG Smart 3D TV few years back and paid $3.99 and got it next day. But now they've even skimped on the next day air costs. Some items are $3.99, but more often its $5.99 or more. And now that they've increased the price to $99, I probably wont be renewing with them again. Plus they just built a new distribution warehouse in the same county I live in (Lexington, SC) so basically everything comes from there UPS Ground next day delivery anyways, so now Prime isnt even worth it.

 

[caseycicada]

To be honest, I dont use the streaming stuff that often. My LG smart TV has the built in Amazon prime video app too. I use it to watch reruns of Frasier, 24, and the Shield when I'm bored, but that's about it. Their FREE streaming content isnt that new and by the time the content goes from paid to Prime Free, I've usually downloaded it or watched it elsewhere. I guess you can say its a nice bonus but not worth buying Prime for in the first place. I originally bought Prime for the free second day shipping and the $3.99 next day air on ANYTHING. For instance, I bought a 55" LG Smart 3D TV few years back and paid $3.99 and got it next day. But now they've even skimped on the next day air costs. Some items are $3.99, but more often its $5.99 or more. And now that they've increased the price to $99, I probably wont be renewing with them again. Plus they just built a new distribution warehouse in the same county I live in (Lexington, SC) so basically everything comes from there UPS Ground next day delivery anyways, so now Prime isnt even worth it.

Gotcha. I think I should try it for a year, but usually I buy things used, and not fulfilled by amazon. Maybe I'll get it sometime. I'm tempted... Perhaps if I come across a large amount of money one day I can spare the $100.

 

[Parasprite]

1) They customize your listening preferences down to specific songs you don't want to hear. Also better music discovery since your preferences are matched.

2) In some, you can curate your own albums.

3) Fewer ads, or when used with some devices or if you pay, no ads.

4) No annoying DJs with their insipid comments or long winded stories of how drunk they got last night.

I'll add two:

5) Stations with music you actually listen to.

6) More than just the top radio songs you've heard already.

7) More indie music, apparently (I'm not a fan, but still).

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Umm its $99 per year. I dont think it's ever been $49. I've been a Prime member for 10 years and it was $79 when I first signed up.

Student Prime is currently $49 per year, before the price change it was $39 a year.

You just had to agree to receive Amazon spam in your email (Hey! College grads need toilet paper and Axe Deodorant!) that you can't unsubscribe from. A simple filter puts them right into the bin.

----------

Amazon is turning into the monopoly to end all monopolies. And for some strange reason, I am really happy about it.

Like Google, they are strangely better at it than most.

You know...excepting the last few years or so.

 

[docprego]

I already love Prime, it's a massive bargain, even at $99.

Now I get music streaming for NO additional charge.

What's not to like?

 

[ericinboston]

ericinboston, there are albums I can't find in iTunes, and they have a boatload more than a million. Where are the albums Trans by Neil Young, or Face To Face by The Kinks, or... I literally could go on and on. A million is a lot of songs, but if I can't find what I want in 20x that, I surely won't find what I need with a mere million. Just saying.

True, there are "albums" that cannot be found on iTunes (and likely other online services)...the reasons are usually licensing deals with the Label/Artist or simply the album itself is out of print and the Label/Artist doesn't want it "in print" in any medium.

Yes, I've come across a few out of print albums in my life and it drives me insane...I have to go to eBay and buy it used.

There's a difference in not being able to find an album vs. find a song on iTunes (or whatever service).

If you re-read my post carefully, you will see that the # of actual "hit" songs is far less than a million...and that's counting duplicate "versions", covers, etc. Are there more than a million "songs" in the world in some kind of recorded fashion? Of course...but doing the math, you can see what songs are actually remotely popular.

Apple claims to have 37 million songs in iTunes...and of course there are lots of duplicates (as in my example in the previous post about Rolling Stones releasing the same songs over and over). I would love to see a breakdown of how they count 37 million songs....duplicates, multiple versions (I have tons of pop music songs where there are 10+ mixes of the song...Janet Jackon is a great example), local bands, etc.

 

[b33g33]

Welp, there goes my last reason to keep paying Beats a monthly fee.

If Apple does something with them later, I'll reconsider. Since they sunsetted MOG, I have been pretty unhappy.

[url=http://cdn.macrumors.com/im/macrumorsthreadlogodarkd.png]Image[/url]


Amazon today officially launched its Prime Music streaming music service, offering Amazon Prime users unlimited, ad-free streaming on over a million songs. The service allows users to play specific curated playlists as well as the ability to add individual songs to a playlist, and offers unlimited offline playback for all songs available on the service.

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Amazon has also rebranded its Amazon Cloud Player iOS app as Amazon Music [Direct Link], offering a refined interface and allowing users to access songs on the service, with tools for managing a library and playlists. Like the web interface, Amazon also allows users to download music from Prime Music to a mobile device for offline listening.

As previously reported, Amazon's music catalog appears to only include songs older than six months, likely to save the company on royalty costs. By comparison, other streaming music services such as Spotify, Rdio, and Beats Music all offer new releases to their subscribers. Apple's iTunes Radio also offers new releases to listeners, however the service is centered more around users discovering new music through stations as opposed to searching for individual songs.

Amazon's Prime Music service also joins the company's Prime Instant Video offering, which allows access to a library of movie and TV shows. Currently, Amazon has 20 million paying Prime members that also receive free 2-day shipping on most items in addition to movie, music, and TV show access.

Amazon Prime Music is available now as a free service to current Amazon Prime members, with Amazon charging $99 per year for new Prime members. A free 30-day trial to the service is also available on Amazon's website. The company is also expected to announce a smartphone with 3D capabilities next week Wednesday, June 18.

Article Link: Amazon Launches 'Prime Music' Streaming Service with Access to Over One Million Songs

 

[EbookReader]

http://www.theverge.com/2014/6/12/5802810/amazon-prime-music-hands-on
Amazon Prime Music is no Spotify killer, but it doesn't need to be
It makes Prime seem like a better value, and that's everything

And yes, there's offline playback for your mobile devices. (Play Music streams at a variable bitrate by default, but discerning ears can opt to listen only at its "high quality" setting of 256kbps.)

offline playback is a must for those that don't want to use their wireless data.

Good thing that Prime Music has it.

 

[theROZ]

Music service?

Really, who cares....you have trillions of radio services and music options already. How many times can you listen to Steely Dan... I find new ketchup flavors more intriguing.

 

[absessive]

Glad I got rid of Spotify

Prime just keeps improving in value, now if they were going to have the 20 million Spotify has, as well as Mac/iOS apps.

 

[applesith]

Yep, same here. Are you jailbroken by chance?

Nope.

 

[Jessica Lares]

Nope.

I figured it out. Delete it and then reinstall. It might install Cloud Player again, but it should work once you upgrade again.

 

[FlatBot]

not working in iOS for me

I'm just getting a hanging screen in iOS. Anyone else?

iPhone 5, 32 GB
iOS 7

 

[duncansby]

Don't want it, don't use it... as difficult as that may be to understand.

I like the delivery, I just don't want to pay for a bundled film service and a possible music service as I am quite happy with netflix and spotifly .

 

[Jessica Lares]

I'm just getting a hanging screen in iOS. Anyone else?

iPhone 5, 32 GB
iOS 7

I think Amazon's servers are crashing from it all. I couldn't use my MP3 cart just a few minutes ago.

 

[MichaelAtman]

Very interesting, I wonder how this will affect Apples new streaming service acquired with the purchase of Beats....

 

[TsMkLg068426]

You're saying access to 1,000,000 songs is weak? Here's some math and thoughts for you (I've been a music collector since the mid 70s and currently an ex-dj):

1)Your 2-3 favorite radio stations probably have a max of 30,000 songs in their bucket to possibly play. If you actually go (or listen) to your stations' websites and sift through the songs they've played the last 30-60 days, you won't find more than 2000 unique songs. I guarantee it.

2)You've probably heard of that thing called the Top40 list...been around for a long time and mainly covers the 40 hottest songs being played on most non-too-specific radio stations...for example, the Top40 list would not reflect an Oldies station or a Classic Rock station or a Rap-only radio station...so here's some math for you...in any given year, there is at best...BEST 100 songs that were worth remembering or playing on a radio station for that year. So in a given decade, there are at best, 1000 songs that were "hits" of that decade. Period. Now...if you want to start counting how many songs should be available for a radio station that "played every hit", you'd really be talking about 1950 until now (yes, there are some big band songs from the 20s and 30s but we will factor that in in a few mins)...so 1950 to present is 6.4 decades. 6.4 decades times 1000 songs is 6400 "hits". That's it. Even if you want to argue that there are more than 100 "hits" in a given year (let's say you find some 100 other great songs that are on die-hard rap channels or alternative rock or whatever and therefore want to double my list to 200 songs per year), doing the math again would get you 12,800 "hits" from 1950 until now.

You could argue that your opinion of all those other tracks on that U2 cd that were NEVER RELEASED are great (again in your opinion) and the math still would fall far short of a million. Let's say each full cd is 12 tracks long...and let's say 1 of those tracks is released and becomes a "hit"....that would mean that 6400 songs (which again very likely has more than 1 hit per artist from the same full cd) times 11 (to add up all the other 11 songs from each disc) would still get you to a total of 70,400 EXTRA songs that you personally feel are worthy of being called a hit...for all those decades...and if you want to call me crazy and double it again you're still at 140,800 EXTRA songs for all those decades.

You're now probably wondering where all those other 800,000+ songs are coming from...well, they are surely alternative mixes, remixes, instrumentals, radio edits on a Greatest Hits compilatin vs. the full Album Version on the original cd, remastered tracks, some songs from the 1920s-1950s (there were far, far fewer releases back then compared to even the '80s), live versions, and probably a boatload of classical music (which can be the same "song" which was done 90 times by different composers/performances), and songs from a very niche market/genre that simply are never or barely covered in any kind of top40 or other normal tracking lists. In essence, very very likely that Amazon's 1,000,000 songs is just that....1 million songs and there are likely tons and tons of duplicates. Look at a band like Aerosmith or Rolling Stones that released (and re-released) the same 20+ songs over and over and over and over. Amazon is likely just counting up all the cds and counting the tracks...not telling you that there's 38 occurrences of Walk This Way on various Aerosmith and non-Aerosomith compilations. I can't even count how many times J Geil's Band's songs appeared on countless 80s compilations...or It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year by Andy Williams.

I have 26,000+ songs in my iTunes library. They are all legal and come from my cd and vinyl collection. I mark songs as 5-Stars that are hits and even ones that I, personally, dislike but it was a hit that other people want to hear. My collection spans from 1965-present and covers mainly top40, rap, classic rock, and alternative rock...I have 4600+ songs in my Top Rated. Have I forgotten to tag a few sure as 5-stars? Surely. Am I missing a lot of "hits" from my Top Rated list?...no way...I might be missing 100 songs if I took weeks to scour online lists of "hits" and compared to my Top Rated playlist. My 4600+ also includes alternate mixes...so I have duplicate "songs" such as the radio edit of Tainted Love by Softcell but also the Extended Mix of Tainted Love.


Trust me, 1,000,000 songs is a boatload of songs...if you can't find a song from that bucket, I'd love to hear your example(s).

I guess you do not understand what I said it is okay most people do not understand artist like Armin Van Buuren, Above & Beyond or Markus Schulz but only pop music, do you understand that the Pop genre is pretty big? If I wanted hit music I would just listen to Top 40 radio but whatever everyone has a different taste and understanding about music.

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You seem very upset.

You seem to take everyones opinion too seriously why not relax and understand everyone does not have same taste for music.

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I'm just getting a hanging screen in iOS. Anyone else?

iPhone 5, 32 GB
iOS 7

Same here the app needs another fix it is a glitch.

 

[Eduardo1971]

I think there are going to be more than a few angry meetings in Cupertino today. Apple just lost millions of potential paying customers to this. Not to mention that little THREE BILLION DOLLAR screwup. lol

Amazon's 'Prime Music' was rumoured for quite some time now-I read about it months before the Beats purchase. I'm sure Apple was aware of such.