Convenience outweighs that for my tastes. To each their own.
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Amazon Music Unlimited Launches With $3.99 Echo-Only Subscription Option
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Most people aren't audiophiles, and either don't care, or can't tell the difference. I listen to music on my Echo at home all the time, and if I'm missing something great, I certainly don't know it.
Fair enough on sound quality. That is subjective. I find Echo to be fine for my uses.
But I don't get your point about this service being tied to Echo, unless you are speaking only about the $3.99 option. I just signed up for the Music Unlimited trial and it works on all my devices and I can use play it on anything with Bluetooth like in my car. To me, there is value in my daughter being able to ask the Echo to play something and have it always play for her and not just give her a sample.
The only downside I see to it so far is that you can't use Google Casting with the Amazon Music App. I'll have to see how big a deal that is to me over the next month.
Amazon is likely paying artists "market" rates (i.e., similar to what Apple Music or Spotify pay per listen). They are likely just eating the difference for now.
I signed up for the trial. It does include this feature.
Now Amazon needs to make PC workstation...maybe Apple can emulate that as well.Amazon proves once again that big companies _can_ innovate.
Setting a great example for Apple to emulate
While Apple chased the silly iWatch and iCar, Amazon has eaten its lunch with Alexa, Echo, and the inevitable music subscription.
Hey Apple, refocus on your core with Siri, iTunes, Apple TV, and the Airport Extreme. You literally had the entire "digital home" in your hands and let it slip through your fingers.
Hey Apple, refocus on your core with Siri, iTunes, Apple TV, and the Airport Extreme. You literally had the entire "digital home" in your hands and let it slip through your fingers.
Amazon proves once again that big companies _can_ innovate.
Setting a great example for Apple to emulate
Amazon should totally make a phone.
Alexa and Echo are the same thing, and the music service literally just launched today, so it hasn't eaten anything yet.
Apple's privacy focus may really limit their ability to compete in some of these spaces. They just don't have access to the same quantity of data as Google and Amazon.
It's actually $41 cheaper if you compare 12 months of Apple Music to the $79/yr cost for Prime members.
Of course, if you don't already have Prime, it makes no sense.
On a slightly different tack.........
This will be of interest to myself due to Sonos agreeing a tie in with Amazon for control of Sonos speakers via voice control. I'll pick up an Echo Dot and the cheapest subscription just to see what the Sonos options turn out to be, I'm hoping to use the 3.5mm lead into the Play 5 speaker and have Amazon Music throughout the house/garden.
This will be of interest to myself due to Sonos agreeing a tie in with Amazon for control of Sonos speakers via voice control. I'll pick up an Echo Dot and the cheapest subscription just to see what the Sonos options turn out to be, I'm hoping to use the 3.5mm lead into the Play 5 speaker and have Amazon Music throughout the house/garden.
This. So Prime Music has about a million songs, and the new Amazon Music Unlimited has tens of millions of songs.
Where can I see the comparisons list?
If you are using it just to listen to music, you are limiting yourself to about 0.5% of what it can do. I use it to check when the subway will be at my stop, schedule an uber ride, control all of my lights in the house, control my thermostat, control my TV, read books to my kids, tell jokes to my kids, set a timer, ask for unit conversions when cooking, order dominos for nights we have a babysitter, get cocktail recipes, and soon be able to pay my citi bills. That is just a small fraction of what you can do, not to mention you can create your own skills as well.
I wish all of these things were just bundled into one, and Amazon gave u the option to pay at different price points.. based on your selection which can be changed anytime.
eg. Do u want to eco only subscription or the prime subscription.
May be easier for a company to do it this way, but it hurts the user,,, they need yet another subscription.
Plus, Apple music still, and continues, to offer the 3 months free trial for all new members, no one else does... so i see that only as an advantage... weather u need it or not. why pay when u don't have to.
eg. Do u want to eco only subscription or the prime subscription.
May be easier for a company to do it this way, but it hurts the user,,, they need yet another subscription.
Plus, Apple music still, and continues, to offer the 3 months free trial for all new members, no one else does... so i see that only as an advantage... weather u need it or not. why pay when u don't have to.
Sadly, Music Unlimited doesn't have custom stations, like Google Music Play or most other services.
I just subscribed and asked Echo to play a Massive Attack Music Unlimited station.
No go. It either goes to Pandora (which is actually great and has the best radio station algorithm of any of the majors I've tried, including Apple Music, Google Play or Spotify), or just shuffles Massive Attack only songs from Amazon. But no station.
I went to the Music Unlimited site and you can't create stations from songs, or even from artists Totally lame.
Oh, and you need to use Flash to play Music Unlimited from a browser! Really!?? In 2016?!!
I just subscribed and asked Echo to play a Massive Attack Music Unlimited station.
No go. It either goes to Pandora (which is actually great and has the best radio station algorithm of any of the majors I've tried, including Apple Music, Google Play or Spotify), or just shuffles Massive Attack only songs from Amazon. But no station.
I went to the Music Unlimited site and you can't create stations from songs, or even from artists
Totally lame.Oh, and you need to use Flash to play Music Unlimited from a browser! Really!?? In 2016?!!
That's the point of prime. All in, or not - very easy for the consumer to sink into Amazon's brand, just like Apple does. And really, it is a crazy deal that can't be found anywhere else for $100/yr. Until then, the prices/competition for unlimited music distribution to users goes down, this is great competition.
I have an Echo Dot and another one on the way, but I prefer Apple Music because of Siri and AirPlay. Also, since Siri is on my AW, it is with me all the time. Amazon's main weakness compared to Apple is that it isn't built into the OS of the most popular phones in the world
The way I use the Dot, I can live with Prime Music and as a nifty Bluetooth receiver for my phone when I am listens to podcasts. While $4 a month isn't a bad price, I wouldn't use it enough to make it worthwhile.
I have mine plugged into a decent AirPlay receiver in the kitchen and the second one will be attached to a receiver in my office.
The way I use the Dot, I can live with Prime Music and as a nifty Bluetooth receiver for my phone when I am listens to podcasts. While $4 a month isn't a bad price, I wouldn't use it enough to make it worthwhile.
I have mine plugged into a decent AirPlay receiver in the kitchen and the second one will be attached to a receiver in my office.
It's $79/year for a year of Amazon Music (or whatever they're calling it), vs. $99/year for Apple Music (if you buy the Apple music gift card).