Amazon Music Unlimited Launches With $3.99 Echo-Only Subscription Option

[Bruce Oksol]

Not interested. But nice try Amazon. My Siriusxm subscription is good enough.

And eventually Siri will be in the home, but right now Alexa / Echo is quite interesting -- perhaps more of a "toy" right now, but the potential is boundless.
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Amazon: a day late, and a dollar short. It's kind of sad watching bookstores like Barnes & Noble and Amazon try to become tech companies, and inevitably fail.

"Bookstores like Amazon"?

Amazon started out as a bookstore, but that was years ago. Amazon is so much more now. I believe their Cloud services are among the top two or three services. Google, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, others I may be missing.

 

[ChazSch]

anyone else think the small speaker looks like a Roomba?

 

[coolfactor]

... considering what we pay...

What were you paying? Did you have to mortgage your house and sell your first child to afford it?

 

[Bruce Oksol]

Analysts love this. Analyst predicts Amazon shares could go to one thousand dollars.

 

[coolfactor]

Amazon: a day late, and a dollar short. It's kind of sad watching bookstores like Barnes & Noble and Amazon try to become tech companies, and inevitably fail.

In order to build their "book store" and ensure that it was a success, they built up a large number of internal systems. Then they proceeded to make those same services available to anybody via their "Amazon Web Services". So they are taking something that they did for themselves and selling it 1000x over again. It's genius.

They are on-par with the largest cloud companies — aws.amazon.com — and many companies use their services, such as Dropbox using their S3 (storage) tech, as one example. Apple is another example.

I use their S3 and CloudFront (web caching) services to help run my business.

 

[Bruce Oksol]

My thoughts exactly. I foresee artists abandoning this service for others that pay them more.

There may be a few independent artists -- mostly garage bands from Portland, Oregon, I suppose -- but most artists have contracts with major labeling companies. These companies will be selling "libraries" of music, not individual songs. My hunch is that the estates of artists from the 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, etc., will do very, very well. When you are boasting that you have tens of millions of songs, the libraries have to come from somewhere.

 

[baller1308]

anyone else think the small speaker looks like a Roomba?

More like a hockey puck, lol.

$7.99 for Prime members, might have to check it out.

 

[Shon-e2e]

I have SiriusXM and of course what you say is true. But the streaming App works very well is free with a subscription and has some nice features..

People still pay for Satellite radio? I tried that out once and thought the sound quality was crap. Plus, most of the stations played the same songs over and over - just like 'free' radio. Then, they decided to raise the price, which I already thought was ridiculously high. I don't even listen to it when they give me free time every so often. To each his own, but I just couldn't stand satellite radio. I'll just use the music app on my phone with higher bitrate music thank you very much.

 

[coolfactor]

People still pay for Satellite radio? I tried that out once and thought the sound quality was crap. Plus, most of the stations played the same songs over and over - just like 'free' radio. Then, they decided to raise the price, which I already thought was ridiculously high. I don't even listen to it when they give me free time every so often. To each his own, but I just couldn't stand satellite radio. I'll just use the music app on my phone with higher bitrate music thank you very much.

My understanding is that satellite radio is digital, at least in the past 20 years, so quality should be on-par with CDs. If you've experienced poor sound quality, then it's either your receiver / sound system, or the source of the audio. I don't think it was "satellite" radio that was at fault. Many people enjoy purely-digital TV channels via satellite every day.

 

[Wando64]

Amazon: a day late, and a dollar short. It's kind of sad watching bookstores like Barnes & Noble and Amazon try to become tech companies, and inevitably fail.

Oh man, you are hilarious and clearly know very little about tech companies beyond consumer services.
Just type "AWS" into Google and read for a few hours, then when you are done come back and we can talk.

 

[bdkennedy1]

Bit of a slap in the face for all Prime subscribers expecting them to pay more. It's now created a two tier Music offering. (Three tier if you factor in the lower priced Echo customer subscriptions).

Especially UK Prime members who already do not receive all of the additional Kindle benefits etc the US customers receive.

Yeah, I just got to experience Amazon Pantry - where you have to fill up a box in order to get free shipping even if you're an Amazon Prime member. Almost makes me not want to renew.

 

[prowlmedia]

Unfortunately it's the way of the world now, everyone wants something for next to nothing.

As it stands, the future of music for artists appears to be in advances from Publishers for new tracks / albums and money earned from touring / merchandising / advertising sponsors.

This is why live gigs are so expensive now. Does however mean a lot of bands can self publish and miss out (one of the many) middlemen.

The actual plays do wrack up into some hefty royalties and Artist have a FAR larger reach than the old days of finding a 7" in an HMV.

 

[freeskier93]

My understanding is that satellite radio is digital, at least in the past 20 years, so quality should be on-par with CDs. If you've experienced poor sound quality, then it's either your receiver / sound system, or the source of the audio. I don't think it was "satellite" radio that was at fault. Many people enjoy purely-digital TV channels via satellite every day.

The fact that it's digital has absolutely nothing to do with the quality. The quality depends on the bitrate and compression used. I'm not picky at all when it comes to sound, cheap BT headphones sound great to me, but satellite radio sounds like tinny hollow crap.

 

[TXCherokee]

I guess they had the courage to charge 3.99



Seriously, that's a great price, and even for prime members that's a nice price.

I know Apple doesn't compete on price, but if they want to continue to be players in this market they will

It's a terrible price. You are limited to listening on their devices. Which are limited by lack of mobility.

 

[FelixDerKater]

Even as a Prime subscriber, I never really think of Amazon as a place to go for digital music.

 

[Shon-e2e]

My understanding is that satellite radio is digital, at least in the past 20 years, so quality should be on-par with CDs. If you've experienced poor sound quality, then it's either your receiver / sound system, or the source of the audio. I don't think it was "satellite" radio that was at fault. Many people enjoy purely-digital TV channels via satellite every day.

Yes, it is digital, but sounds like low bitrate mp3s. Think podcast quality (imo). Not everyone notices, but I do (to be fair, my wife couldn't notice a difference, but it was driving me nuts). Maybe it's better now? It's been a few years since I spent any amount of time listening to it... And when I did it was in several different vehicles of different makes. Some with very expensive stereo systems, so I don't think it was the receiver.

As I said, to each his own. I was never impressed with satellite radio. I'd much rather choose my own programming and the bitrate of the music I listen to.

 

[burgman]

Yes, it is digital, but sounds like low bitrate mp3s. Think podcast quality (imo). Not everyone notices, but I do (to be fair, my wife couldn't notice a difference, but it was driving me nuts). Maybe it's better now? It's been a few years since I spent any amount of time listening to it... And when I did it was in several different vehicles of different makes. Some with very expensive stereo systems, so I don't think it was the receiver.

As I said, to each his own. I was never impressed with satellite radio. I'd much rather choose my own programming and the bitrate of the music I listen to.

People with golden ears are special and require special conditions to enjoy music... Ok,
I'm perfectly happy singing off key to music on my motorcycle with helmet speakers blaring in the wind, as I am when listening at home or friend's homes with systems that cost as much as Toyota. Actually not true, I'm happier on the bike.

 

[daftpunker909]

Amazon: a day late, and a dollar short. It's kind of sad watching bookstores like Barnes & Noble and Amazon try to become tech companies, and inevitably fail.

What a clueless comment - when was the last time you looked at what Amazon does these days?
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Don't know about the UK but in Germany Amazon Prime Video is almost given away for free. Every other movie service costs way more and offers far less. 4 Euros per month compared to the 10 to 20 Euros a month for the other services. And you get Amazon shipping for free! And the cloud drive for free. And the basic music library for free.

Including this new premium music library for free as well would be like stealing. The artist have to get paid too.

I don't see how amazon prime is not a good deal given you get storage, shipping, video, books, audible etc for 99 bucks per year. Yes, music is limited but please tell me where you get a better deal

 

[Larry The L]

Amazon proves once again that big companies _can_ innovate.

Setting a great example for Apple to emulate

This would never have happened if Steve Jobs were still alive!!

 

[Karma*Police]

I enjoy music and I think a 3.99 price is better then what apple charges. Don't sell this service short, music subscriptions isn't about catering a small niche of audiophiles. Given the millions of subscribers on Spotify, Apple music and Pandora. Clearly Amazon is looking to tap that customer base and with what they're offering, they'll be very successful imo.

I do believe Apple has to worry about Amazon, they're a huge organization that has shown themselves adept at entering into markets and being successful.

The price is better, the value is not. In fact, the value is downright horrible. For a few bucks more you can have your music everywhere you go and on any device vs only having music on your echo. I'm sure there are some unique cases where this subscription makes sense, but it's defintely not a very compelling offer for the masses of music lovers.

 

[Kaibelf]

Amazon proves once again that big companies _can_ innovate.

Setting a great example for Apple to emulate

I can play music at home with my Apple TV, and have been able to for a very long time.

 

[tw1ll]

Good to see Amazon challenge in this market. Anything that shakes Apple from their current complacent, non-user-experience-centric, cash grabbing mind set is good in my book. The sooner Apple get back on form creating NEW superb (and regularly updated) products and seamlessly integrated services, at a good price point, the better.

 

[Shon-e2e]

The fact that it's digital has absolutely nothing to do with the quality. The quality depends on the bitrate and compression used. I'm not picky at all when it comes to sound, cheap BT headphones sound great to me, but satellite radio sounds like tinny hollow crap.

This was my point. I don't have golden ears, but satellite radio sounds like crap to me. In fact, when I first listened to it, I was surprised by how bad it sounded. I couldn't believe that is was popular or even sought after. OTOH, I was impressed with satellite TV...

 

[citysnaps]

$9.99 is an absolute bargain if you listen to music regularly in a variety of locations (home, commute, work, gym, outdoors etc). $3.99 for something that is limited to home use is not that cheap, really.

And if you buy a $99 Apple Music Card for 12 months of service, the price drops to $8.25/month. Occasionally you can get those for $5 off, and then the price works out to $7.83/month.

Really enjoying Apple Music and being able to listen anywhere I'm at (car, home, on a hike, work, at the gym, etc) is a huge plus.

 

[macduke]

And they'll probably increase their Prime membership fees as well. The last time they increased the fee, they said something about it being because they keep adding so many benefits. Well what if I just want the faster shipping? They refuse to release an AppleTV version of their video streaming service, so I can't even use that. And now it looks as though they're subsidizing these new music plans for Prime users. Everything has a cost. Hopefully instead of passing it on to users who don't care, they'll instead subsidize it with some of the money they're finally making now after years and years of being without profits. I love Amazon as an online retailer, but I can't stand them as a software and services company.