Entertainment

Amazon Joins the Music Streaming Showdown

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Amazon introduced Amazon Music Unlimited, a new ad-free on-demand music streaming service, on Oct. 13. The popular online retailer hopes to challenge other giant streaming services, like Spotify and Apple Music, with its new music feature.

Music fans can expect a much wider catalog to choose from than Amazon’s existing music service, Prime Music. Amazon Prime subscribers may be familiar with the service, which launched in 2014 with less-than-satisfactory reception. Prime Music has a very restricted catalog, with only 2 million songs, as opposed to Amazon Music Unlimited’s “tens of millions,” according to the Amazon website.

Amazon’s new service aims to be different from its competitors by catering to Amazon Prime subscribers and offering incorporation with Echo products, Amazon’s speaker and voice-controlled household computer device. The streaming service has benefits for Echo owners. It allows listeners to request songs from voice commands, even incomplete lyrics or song titles. Alexa (Amazon’s answer to Apple’s Siri) can pick tunes from a specific artist, mood, time of day or a curated playlist. Additionally, Amazon Music Unlimited’s Side-by-Side feature matches artist commentary with track from their albums.

Three current rivals in the music-streaming business aim to capture our business. Which deal is music to your ears?

Amazon Music Unlimited

—Subscription for Prime subscribers is $7.99 per month, but otherwise it is $9.99 per month

—A family plan is $14.99 per month for up to 6 listeners

—If you own an Echo device and subscribe to Prime, Music Unlimited is $3.99 per month, but the subscription will only play the music you stream from the Echo device (not on the web or other mobile apps on your phone)

—Offers “tens of millions” of tracks

—Personalized stations and playlists

—Available as a mobile app

—Compatible with Echo devices for Amazon Prime subscribers for $3.99 per month (does not include the web or mobile app), otherwise compatible with all Apple devices, Android, the web and Amazon Fire tablets

—Limit is four authorized devices on your Amazon account

—Free trial is 30 days

 


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Apple Music

—Membership is $9.99 per month, $4.99 per month for current students

—A family plan is $14.99 per month for up to 6 listeners

—Incorporates your existing iTunes library with 30 million available songs on-demand

—Major album and video releases exclusive to Apple Music

—Curated playlists and radio stations

—Available as a mobile app

—Compatible with all Apple devices, Android, CarPlay and your personal computer via iTunes

—Limit is 10 authorized devices on your Apple Music account

—Free trial is three months

 

Spotify

—Premium subscription is $9.99 per month, $4.99 per month for current students

—A family plan is $14.99 per month for up to 6 listeners

—A free subscription is available—with advertisements and a limited number of song skips per hour

—Offers 30 million songs, podcasts and videos

—Discovery features help you uncover new artists and genres

—Personalized stations and playlists

—Available as a mobile app

—Compatible with all Apple devices, Android, your car, the web and PlayStation

—No limit on number of authorized devices

—Free trial is 30 days

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