Amazon Music HD now included free with Amazon Music Unlimited

By Simon Cohen May 17, 2021

Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers now have another reason to stick with the streaming music service: Amazon has just made its Amazon Music HD streaming tier free for all existing Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers.

The news comes on the same day that Apple announced it will be adding support for Dolby Atmos and lossless audio on Apple Music for no extra charge.

New and existing subscribers to the Amazon Music Unlimited Individual Plan ($8 per month for Prime members and $10 per month for Amazon customers) or the Family Plan ($15 per month) can now upgrade to Amazon Music HD at no extra cost.

Amazon Music HD has a catalog of more than 70 million lossless, CD-quality songs, with a bit depth of 16 bits and a sample rate of 44.1kHz.

However, there are also more than 7 million songs available in better-than-CD-quality hi-res audio at a bit depth of 24 bits and a sample rate up to 192 kHz. Amazon Music HD has added more than 5 million songs to its hi-res catalog since its 2019 launch. Amazon claims this is the largest available selection of music in the hi-res format.

Amazon Music HD also provides a growing selection of tracks in 3D Audio formats such as Dolby Atmos Music and Sony 360 Reality Audio. Currently, Dolby Atmos tracks can only be streamed on Amazon’s own Echo Studio smart speaker. Meanwhile, Sony 360RA tracks will also work on Sony’s RA5000 and RA3000 speakers by using Alexa Cast.

The Amazon Music HD tier was previously an additional $5 a month for current subscribers to the Individual or Family Plan. For current subscribers to Amazon Music HD, there will be no extra charge for HD starting with their next billing cycle.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics

Contributing Editor, A/V

Simon Cohen covers a variety of consumer technologies, but has a special interest in audio and video products, like…

Audio / Video

NAD’s CS1 adds wireless streaming music to any audio system

The NAD CS1 Endpoint Network Streamer.

If you've got a hi-fi system you love, but it doesn't speak Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, AirPlay, or any other wireless streaming languages, NAD's new CS1 Endpoint Network Streamer ($349) provides a super-simple and compact upgrade.

The London, England-founded, Canadian-based company, announced the compact audiophile-grade component today that allows you to add streaming capabilities to pretty much any music system. The CS1 can play high-res audio at up to 24-bit/192kHz (with its internal DAC also supporting MQA decoding) via various sources, with connectivity options that include Bluetooth 5.0, dual-band Wi-Fi, and Ethernet, and features support for Apple AirPlay 2, GoogleCast, Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, and Roon. Through Bluetooth, however, you can stream music from any app from a smartphone, computer, or tablet, opening up the playback options.

Audio / Video

Amazon Music Unlimited is getting more expensive in 2023

amazon music expands prime membership expansion

Amazon is raising the prices of its Amazon Music Unlimited streaming subscriptions starting in February 2023. The price of an individual membership will increase by a dollar, from $10 to $11 per month. The student plan is going up by the same amount, from $5 to $6. Similar price increases have been announced for the U.K. and Canada, though the price of a family plan appears to be unchanged.

The increase comes less than a year after the last time Amazon bumped up its music streaming pricing. In May 2022, it increased the amount that its Prime subscribers must pay for Amazon Music Unlimited, from $8 to $9 per month. The planned February 2023 price increases do not affect what Prime members will pay.

Audio / Video

What is Tidal? The hi-fi streaming music service fully explained

Two Tidal UI screens on smartphones.

Most big-name music streaming services have a lot in common. Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora, and YouTube Music all have similar choices in music and quality -- it's just a matter of picking your preferred platform.

Tidal, on the other hand, breaks the mold. The business structure emphasizes the artists having more control over the platform, and it offers higher-quality audio in comparison to the big names. We have all the details on how this service works so you can decide if it's right for you.
What is Tidal?