What you need to know
- Amazon Music HD is the company's new high-quality music streaming tier.
- The new Amazon Music HD service will cost $13 per month for Prime members and $15 for everyone else.
- The company says its new HD service offers "millions" of songs in the lossless FLAC file format.
Amazon today rolled out Amazon Music HD, a new tier of its music streaming service that is claimed to offer millions of songs in Ultra High Definition quality. The company's new lossless tier is now available to customers in the U.S., UK, Germany, and Japan.
Steve Boom, VP of Amazon Music, said in a statement:
We spoke with many artists while developing Amazon Music HD, who were excited about the potential for fans to be able to stream their favorite 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 favorite music and artists. 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 the U.S., Amazon Music HD will cost $13 per month for Prime members and $15 per month for Amazon customers. If you have an existing Amazon Music subscription, you can add Amazon Music HD for an additional $5 per month.
Amazon is offering a 90-day free trial to Amazon Music HD for new subscribers. Existing Amazon Music subscribers can also try out the new tier for 90 days at no extra cost. Amazon Music HD is claimed to have more than 50 million lossless HD songs with a bit depth of 16 bits and "millions" of songs in Ultra HD with a bit depth of 24 bits and a sample rate up to 192 kHz. Unlike rival offering Tidal, however, Amazon Music HD uses the lossless FLAC file format.
Amazon Music HD is compatible with smartphones (iOS and Android), desktops, select Echo devices, Fire TV, and Fire tablets. Additionally, it is compatible with third-party devices such as Denon and Marantz with HEOS built-in, Definitive Technology, Sonos, McIntosh, Sennheiser, and more.
Amazon Music HD
The Amazon Music HD tier aims to bring high quality streaming to the masses. Subscribing to the HD service will give you unlimited access to more than 50 million songs in CD quality. For a limited time, Amazon Music HD Individual and Family plan subscribers can try Amazon Music HD without any additional cost for 90 days.
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