Amazon is making its HD music streaming tier available for free to all Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers. Amazon Music HD offers CD-quality streaming at 16-bit with a 44.1kHz sample rate for a superior music listening experience.
Amazon launched its high-quality music streaming tier in 2019. While a regular subscription to Amazon Music costs $9.99/month, Amazon charged customers $14.99/month for Amazon Music HD.
Amazon Music Unlimited Subscribers Get Free CD-Quality Streaming
Going forward, Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers can upgrade to Amazon Music HD for free. Amazon claims it has over 70 million songs in lossless quality in its library, with 7 million songs in Ultra HD. These songs will be streamed in even higher quality at 24-bit with a sample rate of up to 192kHz.
Amazon Music HD library also consists of songs in 3D Audio formats like Dolby Atmos and Sony 360RA. When streaming music on compatible speakers like the Echo Studio, you'll be able to enjoy listening to music with a better surround sound experience.
Amazon Music Unlimited subscription is available for Amazon Prime members for only $7.99/month. For non-Prime members, the music streaming service costs $9.99/month. The Family Plan that allows you to share your plan with five family members costs $14.99/month.
Previously, Amazon required one to pay an additional $4.99/month to stream music in HD quality. Going forward, though, that won't be the case with HD music streaming available to all Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers. Only the Amazon Music student subscription plan will miss out on HD music streaming.
If you are already an Amazon Music HD subscriber, Amazon will stop charging you for the plan from the next billing cycle.
Amazon Music Unlimted subscribers in the US, UK, Germany, Canada, France, Italy, and Spain will be able to upgrade to Amazon Music HD for free.
Apple Music Also Offering Lossless Streaming for Free
Amazon's announcement of making Amazon Music HD a part of Amazon Music Unlimited coincides with Apple announcing that Apple Music would be gaining support for Lossless Audio with Dolby Atmos and Spatial Audio for free from June.
The announcements from Amazon and Apple will put Spotify in a fix, which announced its HiFi music streaming tier earlier this year. The lossless music streaming tier is due to launch later this year, with Spotify yet to announce its pricing and availability details.
Apple and Amazon announcements also make Tidal's Hi-Fi package seem exorbitantly expensive at $19.99/month.