Amazon Music rolls out a lossless streaming tier that Spotify and Apple can’t match

VR3

why not do the free trial and see? it is free

mhardy6647

OleBoot wrote: »

I don't really get streaming. Maybe I'm too stuck in the past. I listen to a local university FM station (remember them?) for new music and then either download it from HD tracks or Super Hi Rez if it's available there, or order a CD from Amazon and RIP it, Similar for older re-releases or older stuff I missed at the time. I suppose if you listen to a huge diversity of tunes, streaming maybe makes sense as that would be cheaper than buying downloads/CDs.

I think (i.e., I suspect) that's because you're an Old Guy (as am I) and, as such, we're accustomed to, and even enamored of, owning something -- even if that something is only a license to use content encoded on some sort of physical (or virtual) media.

VR3 wrote: »

why not do the free trial and see? it is free

As I read it, though, it's one of those things that you have to opt out of otherwise, you're signed up and gettin' the bill.

tophatjohnny

Just spoke with a Amazon employee in the digital dept and the HD plan is included in the 90 day trial. And you can request a notice when your 90 days is up for those that aren't to swift with dates???

gudnoyez

BlueFox wrote: »

Interesting. I have hundreds of Blu-Ray disks, and they have never been damaged. Even cheapo CDs have only had a few broken cases.

To be watched



Watched

The fewer CDs you have the less chance you have if you ordered all of them through Amazon aka CD Now, consider yourself lucky do a search on complaints on receiving damaged goods from Amazon you would be suprised.

I have probably bought a couple hundred empty Jewel cases to replaced cracked one's or severely damaged ones that I have obtained from Amazon. To much of a hassle to return them with a 50/50 chance of them arriving damaged. I have literary a few thousand CDs not all have been bought of CD Now but I have replaced a couple of hundred jewel cases that have been cracked and quite a few Blu Ray cases.

gudnoyez

pitdogg2 wrote: »

gudnoyez wrote: »

BlueFox wrote: »

You don’t need Prime to use Amazon. It just costs a bit more without Prime.

When's the last time you got a CD from Amazon without a cracked case? I quit ordering stuff from them because of it.

gudnoyez wrote: »

Nothing it's just I've had dozens of shipments from them damaged due to insufficient packaging CDs, Blu Rays, stuffing them in a cushy envelope don't protect such items at all. I'm just not a fan of the whole Amazon way of doing things

boom EXACTLY. Prreach it brother

I remember getting a box full of Jewel cases from you to replace some of the cracked ones . Amazon's packing is horrendous.

OleBoot

mhardy6647 wrote: »

OleBoot wrote: »

I don't really get streaming. Maybe I'm too stuck in the past. I listen to a local university FM station (remember them?) for new music and then either download it from HD tracks or Super Hi Rez if it's available there, or order a CD from Amazon and RIP it, Similar for older re-releases or older stuff I missed at the time. I suppose if you listen to a huge diversity of tunes, streaming maybe makes sense as that would be cheaper than buying downloads/CDs.

I think (i.e., I suspect) that's because you're an Old Guy (as am I) and, as such, we're accustomed to, and even enamored of, owning something -- even if that something is only a license to use content encoded on some sort of physical (or virtual) media.

Mebbe so, me lad, mebbe not.

VR3

I know in the past you simply go in and deselect the auto enroll as soon as you sign up, easy peasy

monepolk

I just set a calendar reminder to make sure.

Emlyn

Not starting out so great. The PC App crashed and would not restart without reinstalling the software. A 4K Fire TV box attached in my home theater will only pass a 16 bit signal although a 24 bit signal is available. That mean's it's better than the lossy format it did before, but doesn't seem worth keeping for the price so far. I can stream lossless 192khz tracks from my own NAS. Haven't tried it on my Android phone yet.

monepolk

Did you go into preferences>advanced>audio quality and set to HD/Ultra HD instead of the default best available?

Emlyn

monepolk wrote: »

Did you go into preferences>advanced>audio quality and set to HD/Ultra HD instead of the default best available?

I'll double check that. The service does work on my phone after I updated the app.

Edit: I'm getting up to 24/192 on my PC, but have to download to play back at that resolution despite a high speed connection. Works though.

monepolk

Interesting. The reason I found the Preferences is because I noticed the drop while listening to one of the Ultra HD songs. If using USB, did you check your sound settings on the PC?

Emlyn

Yes, the settings are all good. I'll reserve judgment on the system until they get the bugs worked out, which is normal for this type of service early on. It bombed out again and now none of the track resolution info shows at all. Good thing they have a free trial period!

One thing I did learn is it's only possible to download high definition tracks for offline listening if I already own the track in a lower resolution form, or buy it. I have several hundred albums on the service already though because I bought most of my CDs in the last 15 years through Amazon and those came with the compressed digital version on their music service. One weird thing is on some albums only some of the tracks are in high resolution format so someone may see ten tracks on an album but tracks two and eight are standard resolution.

Viking64

Bump.

rebelsoul

That's weird mine downloads and i have no music on this pc 24/192.

tonyb

Is your PC capable of 24/96....your dac or other devices ?

rebelsoul

i have a external usb dac

Osarion

I use a laptop and WiFi for streaming, with Amazon at 96/24 it almost always has to buffer and then it switches from HD to standard. Tidal never buffers when playing masters at 96/24 and usually with a web page or two open as well.

I have no choice but to use WiFi at the moment as there is no line in my listening area and the laptop I use is WiFi only so double whammy!

Tidal also sounds a bit better to me, I thought this before I tried to play a full song on Amazon so no buffering bias on my part. For example Natalie Merchant's San Andreas Fault, the Ohh ohhh part at the beginning has a more open, reverb like sound with Tidal. With Amazon the bass also seems a little more boomy sounding.

90 days is a good long trial so lots more playing around to be done. I like the layout of Amazon and I don't mind saving a few bucks a month so maybe in an update or so I can stay connected in HD like I do with Tidal. If not then I'll revisit it when and if I ever get a dedicated streamer and run Ethernet to the room.

rooftop59

I like the desktop app. Sounds good through my ifi dsdnano. But I can’t get the mobile app to play a damn thing over network. Keeps saying something like no network available. Anyone know what setting I need to change?

rooftop59

so the tidal desktop app is FAR superior to amazon's at this point. It allows the USB dac to bypass the computer soundcard, does not perform sound leveling by default, and just sounds better. Tidal is also well integrated with other platforms at this point.

Seems like amazon is having some of the same initial problems that tidal had, which is a bit surprising because amazon is a giant corp. If they get the kinks out is 3 months I will have a difficult decision...

Emlyn

They released an update already that seems to have fixed one of the issues I was having. One word of advice for those on a data plan for a phone is to watch the usage. Streaming 24 bit audio can eat through 4GB in no time at all. I have 8GB but always set a warning just in case.

rooftop59

Emlyn wrote: »

They released an update already that seems to have fixed one of the issues I was having. One word of advice for those on a data plan for a phone is to watch the usage. Streaming 24 bit audio can eat through 4GB in no time at all. I have 8GB but always set a warning just in case.

update for which app?

Emlyn

The Amazon app on my computer updated last night .

rooftop59

Skip, at work yes the windows app which DOES bypass the windows audio. The iFI has complete control. At home is a bryston or SBT.

I completely agree about integration...

I am listening to James Farm's (a jazz group) City Folk on amazon, and its labeled as "MQ stereo" ultra HD 24/48. Makes me wonder if this is MQA???

SIHAB

Great info. Seems I'll wait for Amazon integration into <unknown> streamer
before I try streaming again. The plus side for me is the wifey has prime
already.

rooftop59

When you engage this windows volume has no control and as far as I can tell it is completely bypassing the windows sound processing. I am not an IT guy so I could be wrong...

gudnoyez

For the non prime members why would you even consider, the savings of $5 or $10 dollars. I wouldn't jump ship from Tidal or Quboz for that little bit of savings. If you cant utilize streamers or use roon anyways at least not yet. If you are using a decent streamer with roon then why worry about minimal savings?

Emlyn

I agree on that. While the free trial is nice to have, I'd give this service another year of development time before considering it to replace something else. At the moment, it seems to mainly be a reasonable alternative to iTunes. But I have more than 40K tracks of my own uncompressed WAV and DSD music available to me so I've not yet been a big time user of any online music service.

pumpkinman

gudnoyez wrote: »

Nothing it's just I've had dozens of shipments from them damaged due to insufficient packaging CDs, Blu Rays, stuffing them in a cushy envelope don't protect such items at all. I'm just not a fan of the whole Amazon way of doing things

Coming in late on this but 2 of my last 3 CD’s from Amazon had cracked cases. One was bad enough I felt the need to replace it. I hate it but I’ve become numb to it.

machone

I have LMS loaded on a solid state Windows server with Picoreplayer loaded on an Rpi with an external dac.. It performs
flawlessly and sounds excellent with local music or streaming Tidal. To my knowledge there is no plug-in for Amazon Music on LMS so I will have to pass until Amazon decides to release technical details so a plug-in can be developed.