Apple grabbed all headlines yesterday with its announcement of lossless audio and spatial audio for Apple Music subscribers free of cost. However, just hours earlier, Amazon announced the same for its Amazon Music subscribers. The company is also upgrading all existing subscribers to the Amazon Music HD service that launched in 2019.
With this move, Amazon is now on par with Apple to offer lossless audio for no additional cost to its subscribers. The service has been available for user in the UK since 2019 and subscribers needed to pay higher fees in order to access the service. The HD service will be available to most users using an iPhone 5 or newer and a compatible headphone or speaker.
Amazon Music HD goes free for regular subscribers
Similar to Apple Music, Amazon Music is now offering its entire library of 70 million songs in lossless audio. As part of the HD service, subscribers can choose from two quality modes — HD and Ultra HD quality. The HD mode brings CD-Quality audio up to 850Kbps and up to 16-bit at 44.1kHz. Amazon says this mode preserves the detail of the original file.
The Ultra HD mode promises better audio quality and Amazon says that it retains studio recording details. The bitrate transmission is uprated to 3730 Kbps and up to 24-bit and 192kHz. Currently, Amazon only supports Ultra HD for 7 million songs. There’s support for Dolby Atmos too but you will need an Amazon Echo Studio smart speaker to avail that.
At the moment, Amazon Music HD isn’t available in India and hence, users looking for lossless audio streaming services in India have to get Apple Music or wait for Spotify’s upcoming Hi-res audio streaming service.
Amazon Music Unlimited Subscription is currently priced at $9.99 per month and $7.99 for Prime Members in international markets.
On the other hand, Apple Music is globally available and comes at several prices. In India, one can subscribe to Apple Music at Rs 99 per month, or use it as part of the Apple One subscription plan that costs Rs 195 per month. Amazon Music is currently available as part of the Prime membership in India that you can get at Rs 999 per year.
