Amazon's streaming music service has gone live in the U.K. and will roll out to Germany and Austria later today, according to TechCrunch.
Amazon Music Unlimited launched in the U.S. last month to compete with the likes of Apple Music, Spotify, and Google Play Music, which just got a revamp. Amazon Prime members in the U.K. will pay £7.99 per month or £79 per year, while non-Prime members can subscribe to the service for £9.99 per month. A Family Plan for up to six members "coming soon" costs £14.99 per month or £149 per year.
Additionally, owners of Amazon's Echo smart speakers have the option of using the service on only those devices for a discounted price of £3.99 per month.
"If you want a sense of the future of voice-controlled music, go ahead and ask Alexa for a free Amazon Music Unlimited trial, and play around on your Echo," said Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, in a statement. If you don't know the name of a song but know a few lyrics, if you want to hear songs from a specific decade, or even if you're looking for music to match your mood, just ask. Our U.S. customers love Amazon Music Unlimited on Echo, and we think our UK customers will too."
Amazon said it was "thrilled" with customer reaction to the launch of the service in the U.S., but did not divulge subscription numbers. Amazon Music Unlimited is distinct from the company's Prime-only music library, which offers access to two million songs, whereas the former service offers access to 40 million songs from all the major labels.
Prices in the U.S. start at $7.99 per month for Prime members and $9.99 per month for non-members, which puts it in the same price bracket as Apple Music, Spotify, Google Play Music, and Tidal's standard price plans.
Top Rated Comments
£3.99 for access on the Echos would have been great. But if it's just 1 Echo, I'll have to pass. Annoying.
47 random requests after asking Alexa to sign up for free trial it is clear this is a keeper for me. Only on the Dot just now but will most likely go for the £79 up front option working out monthly as mentioned above.
Huge difference to music searching abilities, who'd have thought 2 million songs was actually quite limiting. No idea why but the requests are now hitting home every time (even ones that the prime library should have been able to cater for). A hugely improved music experience.
Courting Strong by Martha - no problem
Play some 80's punk rock - no problem
European Electronica - no problem
Val Doonican's Daleney's Donkey - yep no problem and why wouldn't you
Even simple requests like play some soft rock / easy listening etc etc is coming back with much better stations/playlists.
It may be early days, it may be because I added gin to my tea but who cares, this is good stuff.
[doublepost=1479130941][/doublepost]Hi Piggie,
Yes it is for one dot (at a time), although any others can still access Prime Music as before. Bit of a faff but I just switched 'unlimited' between two dots using the device settings tab on my amazon account page (saw this method online somewhere). Any more than one and economically it would be best to pay the £79 yearly cost up front then everything is covered. - just realised my experience is based on already having Prime membership -
Only concern is this may be because I'm on the free trial and as such full membership but hopefully not. I'm one of those Sonos bores so I line into one speaker then link to any other I wish too.