Amazon Music HD is a lossless streaming service that’s far cheaper than Tidal
Amazon has promised you will “Hear music the way the artists intended” on its new lossless music streaming platform, Amazon Music HD.
The retail giant has just launched Amazon Music HD in the UK, US, Germany, Austria and Japan. It will host 50 million songs and offer “more than double the bitrate of standard streaming services”, according to the firm.
Related: Spotify vs Amazon Music
Amazon is currently offering a 90-day free trial of the service. Prime members will be able to subscribe for £12.99 a month and Amazon customers will be able to subscribe for £14.99 a month. You can sign up to Amazon Music HD here.
This price-point is a little higher than the £9.99 per month that Spotify Premium users pay, but way lower than the £19.99 per month you have to pay for Tidal. Amazon is clearly hoping that lossless audio at a slightly lower price will win over audiophiles.
Steve Boom, VP of Amazon Music, commented on the development of the platform: “We spoke with many artists while developing Amazon Music HD, who were excited about the potential for fans to be able to stream their favourite music, and hear it as it was originally recorded.
“From rock to hip-hop to classical and pop, we believe listening to music at this level of sound will make customers fall in love again with their favourite music and artists” he added.
“As we usher in a new listening experience for our customers and the industry, we’re combining the convenience of streaming with all of the emotion, power, clarity and nuance of the original recordings.”
In a not-at-all-suspiciously enthusiastic endorsement, iconic musician Neil Young has got behind Amazon Music HD. “Earth will be changed forever when Amazon introduces high quality streaming to the masses,” he said. “This will be the biggest thing to happen in music since the introduction of digital audio 40 years ago.”
Amazon Music HD offers customers more than 50 million lossless HD songs, with a bit depth of 16 bits and a sample rate of 44.1kHz (CD quality). In addition, customers can stream millions more songs in Ultra HD (better than CD quality), with a bit depth of 24 bits and a sample rate up to 192 kHz.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
