Amazon Music Unlimited

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hi-fi or die
Amazon launched it's new on-demand streaming platform Music Unlimited today. Now open to everyone are tens of millions of songs (vs. 2 million on Prime Music) can be heard through thousands of playlists, both curated and personalized. It will be available as an app on desktop or on iOS and Android mobile devices.

The Echo integration looks to be pretty marvelous and fabulously priced.
30 day Free trial
  • $9.99/mo.
  • $7.99/mo. for Prime Members
  • $3.99/mo. for a single Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, or Amazon Tap device.
Post your reviews/opinions here......
 
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Amazon launched it's new on-demand streaming platform Music Unlimited today. Now open to everyone are tens of millions of songs (vs. 2 million on Prime Music) can be heard through thousands of playlists, both curated and personalized. It will be available as an app on desktop or on iOS and Android mobile devices.

The Echo integration looks to be pretty marvelous and fabulously priced.
30 day Free trial
  • $9.99/mo.
  • $7.99/mo. for Prime Members
  • $3.99/mo. for a single Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, or Amazon Tap device.
Post your reviews/opinions here......
I am finding little reason to try this one out at this point and I am a big fan of Amazon and the Dot. The main shortfall for me is the fact that the Dot doesn't fit into my audio systems as well as AirPlay (which is integrated into my three receivers) and I like the advantage of Siri with Apple Music away from home, too.

As a result, the Dot is more about listening to music in secondary systems (when I use it for music) and the regular Prime Music service that comes with my Prime Dues is good enough. I did pay the extra annual $25 fee to load up my own music back in May, so I may reevaluate whether I want to just spend the extra $15 and switch to the Echo plan when it gets ready to renew. However, the current Prime ("free") service has a lot of variety and currently fills my needs in that area.

Also, the Dot works great with Bluetooth (the ability to connect it to the iPhone just by telling it to connect is brilliant), so I can already use Apple Music with it and the slight Bluetooth compression isn't a problem for my current uses.
 
Was going to wait for the Dot Gen 2 to arrive at the end of this month to start the 30-day trial, but discovered yesterday that Unlimited is already integrated into the Sonos app, so giving it a whirl.

UI on the phone is simple, with none of the dreaded social media garbage that just gets in the way, and no big green "shuffle" button which made me despise the Spotify app (I'm letting the Spotify trial expire without subscribing despite Sonos integrating Spotify Connect, as I hate the Spotify app).

Albums I select on Unlimited get mixed right in with the AutoRipped albums from back when I actually bought CDs (years ago!), and are simple enough to organize into playlists.

Currently, voice control is limited to the Echo, with its marginal SQ, but soon will be able to voice control the main system via Dot, and ultimately via the full Sonos integration. Look forward to the Beta, which ought to start next month. This will be, I think, the ultimate in simplicity. I will need to remember a LOT of artists names and albums, as I play thousands of albums, but my aging brain can use the exercise, lol. I can always fall back to the Sonos app's search and browse when memory fails.

Unlimited doesn't have Apple's excellent curated playlists, so I'll keep AM around. I expect, now that Siri is open to third parties, that Sonos and Apple will bring voice control to AM in Sonos soon enough. I understand Siri has been upgraded with the latest OS, so will give her another try while on the go.
 
The wife signed up for the AMU trial the other day as she wanted an album that wasn't available via the Prime service. I've only listened a little but so far I like the UI and offerings. For 256k MP3 it's not bad to my ears. Today I'll be working from home so I can spend some time evaluating.

I'm trying to settle on only two paid subscriptions max. For the time being I have Tidal Hifi (discontinued AM and jazzradio.com) and now AMU trial- suspect it will become a subscription.
 
At 256k bit rate, Apple is at the low end of things. The streaming services seem to be pushing for higher streaming speeds.(a good thing) How long can Apple keep dragging their feet?
 
At 256k bit rate, Apple is at the low end of things. The streaming services seem to be pushing for higher streaming speeds.(a good thing) How long can Apple keep dragging their feet?
They're using the more modern AAC codec, which is superior to mp3, so reaches transparency at lower bitrates.
 
At 256k bit rate, Apple is at the low end of things. The streaming services seem to be pushing for higher streaming speeds.(a good thing) How long can Apple keep dragging their feet?
With Apple's 20+ million subs vs. Tidal's "1 million" subs....as long as they see fit. ;)

Not if but when a competitor like Spotify, Google or Amazon jumps on the high bitrate bandwagon then I'm sure Apple will be right Johnny on the spot.
 
Amazon launched it's new on-demand streaming platform Music Unlimited today. Now open to everyone are tens of millions of songs (vs. 2 million on Prime Music) can be heard through thousands of playlists, both curated and personalized. It will be available as an app on desktop or on iOS and Android mobile devices.

The Echo integration looks to be pretty marvelous and fabulously priced.
30 day Free trial
  • $9.99/mo.
  • $7.99/mo. for Prime Members
  • $3.99/mo. for a single Amazon Echo, Echo Dot, or Amazon Tap device.
Post your reviews/opinions here......
Does that mean you can only use it with one specific Dot or just one at a time? It is almost time to re-up for the $25 fee and I am trying to decide if it is worth paying another $23 for Echo-access. Probably not if I can only use it with one of my Echos.
 
I use it, I gave it a shot as we have a Prime account and it's the only pay service I use for music.

I don't have a Echo or any other Amazon devices so I use a Android Phablet and stream to a Airplay enabled AVR.
This required a Airplay app (AirAudio) and a rooted Android device.

I like it a lot and use it more than any other audio source.

Eric
 
Does that mean you can only use it with one specific Dot or just one at a time? It is almost time to re-up for the $25 fee and I am trying to decide if it is worth paying another $23 for Echo-access. Probably not if I can only use it with one of my Echos.
$23 ?

I assume the $25 you are talking about is for Amazon Music Storage for your library. Pretty sure Echo access to your "uploads" is included with your $25 annual fee. No? The $3.99/mo. Echo plan is for Amazon Unlimited.--so your $23 figure has me baffled.
 
$23 ?

I assume the $25 you are talking about is for Amazon Music Storage for your library. Pretty sure Echo access to your "uploads" is included with your $25 annual fee. No? The $3.99/mo. Echo plan is for Amazon Unlimited.--so your $23 figure has me baffled.
I am referring to the difference between just having my music available versus using the Echo plan for the unlimited service. It is worth it if I can access the plan from both Dots, even one at a time, since that is the only time I use their upload service for my music, but if it is only one Dot and it is permanently tied that Dot, I will just stick with their Music storage.
 
I am referring to the difference between just having my music available versus using the Echo plan for the unlimited service. It is worth it if I can access the plan from both Dots, even one at a time, since that is the only time I use their upload service for my music, but if it is only one Dot and it is permanently tied that Dot, I will just stick with their Music storage.
OK....now I'm with ya. Yer post was a tad cryptic and I was a bit slow connecting unspoken math dots. ;)

Sigh, such is the veritable Venn diagram of services---Never the twain (nor overlap) shall meet. LOL

If the Echo plan is in fact device locked, then that speaks a volume on Amazon's very strategic sneaky pricing plan leveraging the unique allure of the Echo gizmos.

Prime Member Unlimited = $8; Two dots = $8
Bezos ain't no Bozo.....:rflmao:
 
OK....now I'm with ya. Yer post was a tad cryptic and I was a bit slow connecting unspoken math dots. ;)

Sigh, such is the veritable Venn diagram of services---Never the twain (nor overlap) shall meet. LOL

If the Echo plan is in fact device locked, then that speaks a volume on Amazon's very strategic sneaky pricing plan leveraging the unique allure of the Echo gizmos.

Prime Member Unlimited = $8; Two dots = $8
Bezos ain't no Bozo.....:rflmao:
That is how it sounds in the description. Does anyone have first hand knowledge of how this works? If it is indeed $4 per Echo, I won't go that route. I will just stick to using the regular Prime radio stuff it does now combined with its excellent Bluetooth capabilities ("Connect to iPhone"). If it was just $48 for a year of using it with both Dots, I was just going to spring for it.
 
"Amazon’s Alexa voice control system can now be used to control the Amazon Music app on both Android and iOS mobile devices. This mobile integration is being rolled out in the U.S., UK, Germany, and Austria. Alexa can respond to the same range of queries as on the smart speaker of an Amazon Echo"

http://rainnews.com/amazons-alexa-available-in-amazon-music-app-on-ios-and-android/


index.php
 
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Almost. I tried sending a voice message to a contact, said it wasn't enabled on this device. Was able to tell it to play on Echo and/or Dot via voice command on the phone. Should be able to control lights, etc while away from home, but the Alexa app can already do that, so...
 
I use it, I gave it a shot as we have a Prime account and it's the only pay service I use for music.

I don't have a Echo or any other Amazon devices so I use a Android Phablet and stream to a Airplay enabled AVR.
This required a Airplay app (AirAudio) and a rooted Android device.

I like it a lot and use it more than any other audio source.

Eric

Just in case someone reads my post above, I had since moved on to Spotify Premium.

Eric
 
My wife got fed up with SiriusXM and had me switch her over to Amazon Prime for home and car. We haven't put money down on the pay service since so far there are only 2 songs she wanted that weren't included in the Prime version. She tried most services... Spotify (free version) was good but the ads got out of control.
 
Almost. I tried sending a voice message to a contact, said it wasn't enabled on this device. Was able to tell it to play on Echo and/or Dot via voice command on the phone. Should be able to control lights, etc while away from home, but the Alexa app can already do that, so...
While the quote from the article did make a bit of a reach by saying it can respond to the "full" range" of queries that the speakers/dots can, it is at least a mobile Alexa. And certainly, it's primarily engaged to serve Amazon's music app.

Yet it does work pretty well with many general (non-music control) commands. But it's ability (at this point) to encompass the "entire range" of third party skills is limited. Although it did open and let me play Seinfeld trivia, ask for weather, and "how old is Pete Townsend" LOL. :)

In other words it's another step forward for sure. Now then, it could be a slippery slope for Amazon to not limit the Alexa integration on phones, etc. That has potential to cannibalize Echo device sales. On the other hand, they may rekon if you are a Prime member or Amazon Music subscriber...they're willing to roll those opiate laden dice.

At this point, this new Alexa integration is close (without the cigar) to harnessing the power of the Alexa remote which I've bragged on in another thread. Neato
 
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