I wonder how large the catalogue will be, and how it will effect Tidal’s pricing etc.
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At least interesting to see that a new player comes on the market. Also interesting to see if they will start selling HD music and what the pricing level will be as compared to Qobuz…
50 million songs
This could be a game changer, they have the clout to undercut rivals, and Spotify and Apple have been sitting on their hands on high def streaming…they need a new offer pronto. Would be interested to see how their high def downloads are priced and general catalogue.
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The BBC site shows The UK streaming pricing, but there will be no purchasing albums for download. Streaming is considerably cheaper than Tidal and Qobuz.
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“EARTH WILL BE CHANGED FOREVER WHEN AMAZON INTRODUCES HIGH QUALITY STREAMING TO THE MASSES.”
NEIL YOUNG
Maybe I gave the wrong impression by posting the Neil Young quote. Actually I’m very exciting about this. Thanks for the link. Here’s the US one too: https://www.amazon.com/music/unlimited/hd
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How is ‘CD-quality’ being marketed as HD?
So streaming services are just now offering music quality that was established in 1983 with the launch of the Redbook CD standard?
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Surely it is Perfect Sound Forever.
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“It stresses that the service is high definition, not hifi or hi-resolution.”
Um - I’m not sure that I understand what they are saying here. If it isn’t hifi, then it seems to be of little interest. What is the difference between high definition and high resolution, and how can it be high definition if it is neither hifi nor high resolution? I suppose it could be definitely not hifi…
amazon claims there will be flac 16/44 and up to 24/192 .
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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. Download options are also available.
Amazon Music HD will play the highest quality audio the customer’s device and network conditions will support, and is compatible with a wide variety of devices, including desktop, mobile (iOS & Android), select Echo devices, Fire TV, and Fire Tablets. Amazon Music HD is also compatible with many third-party devices, including most products from Denon and Marantz with HEOS Built-in, Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, Sonos, McIntosh, Sennheiser, and more.
I wonder if they are protecting themselves. They state in their notes "Your choice of speakers, headphones, and listening conditions also impacts overall sound quality. ", so I wonder if they’re saying just buying “HD” doesn’t automatically make your cheap mobile with some £5 headphones hifi.
I signed up for trial as can use it on my Bluesound Node 2 and phones. App is really nice and clearly labels what Res files are. They also show you what your device is playing back at, the max you device can playback and what the source Res is. Also they have a really good kB of the service covering all the different os and whats supported on what devices even talks about DACs and what is supported. Very impressed
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This will be more compelling with Roon integration, which I am not going to hold my breath waiting for. I wonder how good the jazz and classical catalog will be.
@CrystalGipsy Thanks for the report. Can you please tell us where you found the info regarding the supported devices. I just spent 45 minutes I and could not figure out how to stream to my Muso 2. Any ideas?
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Tried their app previously and whilst it functions well it won’t play nicely with Chromecast or even with the Echo Dot in terms of integration to Naim (older streamers)…not sure about Apple devices either. Probably OK if your streamer supports Bluetooth but all this Apple won’t play with Amazon who won’t play with Chrome etc etc pisses me off. Glad I got that off my chest 
This is good news for the consumer and competition, I’m not so sure for the likes of Qobuz and Tidal, though they may still have a place for purchases of hi-res material.
I have the legacy Qobuz Sublime but am not quite prepared to shell out the extra for Qobuz Sublime Plus (or whatever it’s called) for HD streaming, but still get discounted HD purchases on many qualifying titles.
If you use only some of the features Prime freebies are good value for many and discounted HD streaming could be very appealing to the masses.
Amazon also has the server infrastructure to support this in-house, and I suspect it will be a good service, or if not ideal now it will in time.
When Amazon Prime video freebies launched the quality was dire very early on, watching Carnival Row and The Boys recently in 4k streaming reminded me how good their streaming services have become.
Interestingly, a recent Amazon Music app update (which I didn’t do) seemed to suggest some kind of new DRM support (which is why I didn’t update), this might be the reason for that.
I wonder what it’ll take Apple to embrace CD quality let alone hi-res streaming/purchases.