Amazon Music Unlimited vs. Spotify: How Do They Compare? | Tech News
In the summer of 2015, Apple decided to take on Spotify with Apple Music, a paid music service built into the Music app of iOS. Sixteen months later, Amazon—never one to be left out of the digital playground fun—launched a very similar service, Amazon Music Unlimited.
Music is nothing new to Amazon. It’s been selling MP3s for years, while Prime members can access 2 million tracks via Amazon Prime Music. Amazon Music Unlimited expands that catalog to “tens of millions” of songs.
The big difference between Spotify and Amazon Music Unlimited is Amazon offers a tier of service for use on devices powered by Amazon’s own Alexa AI assistant. Just ask Alexa to start a free trial. Access via Alexa also features something called Side-by-Sides, which is sort of like a DVD commentary from an artist played along with a music track.
The Echo tier of service ($3.99 per month) only works on one Echo device (Amazon Echo, Echo Show, Echo Look, Echo Dot, Echo Spot, Echo Plus, or Amazon Tap). To use it on more than one Echo or on other devices, Prime members pay $7.99 per month or $79 per year; a family plan costs $14.99 per month or $149 per year. Non-Prime members pay $9.99 per month.
Just how does Amazon’s service compare to Spotify? Here’s a breakdown.
Amazon Music Unlimited | Spotify | |
Founded | October 2016 in the US | October 2008 in Stockholm |
Cost |
| $9.99/month for Premium; free, ad-supported tier |
Family Plan | 6 accounts for $14.99/month or $149/year | 6 accounts for $14.99 per month |
Free trial | 30 days | 30 days |
Requires mobile app | No | No |
How many countries | 30+ | 65 |
Works with Alexa | Yes, search for music by artist, lyric, mood, decade, etc. | Yes |
Number of users | Amazon will only say it has “tens of millions” of paid users | 170 million active, 75 million paid |
Number of music tracks | “tens of millions” | 35 million+ |
Internet radio playlist curation | “Thousands” of hand-curated Playlists, personalized Stations, and live English audio streams of Bundesliga 1 matches and conferences. | Human-curated and algorithmic playlists, like Discover Weekly, a special playlist delivered every Monday |
Sound quality | 256Kbps; users can pick lower bitrate on mobile apps | Varies based on device |
Supported devices | Click here | Click here |
Podcasts | They’re already on Alexa for free. | Yes |
Videos | No (try Amazon Video) | Yes |
Taylor Swift | Yes | Yes (after a little begging) |
For more, check out our picks for Best Online Music Streaming Services.
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