Amazon has just launched a new service called Music Unlimited. If you have one of the companies Fire tablets you might have noticed a new blue icon show up in the last few days. Amazon is trying to compete against Spotify, but Music Unlimited is only available in the US.
Amazon already had a music streaming service, Prime Music, which launched two years ago with a relatively small catalog — around two million songs. The new Prime Music system comes with a free 30 day trial to see if you dig it. You can subscribe for $7.99 per month or $79 per year if you are a Prime member, which is cheaper than the premium options from Spotify or Apple Music. In addition, if you have an Amazon Echo you can subscribe for only $3.99 per month. If you do not have a Prime subscription you can subscribe to Music Unlimited, but it costs $9.99 per month.
Should you sign up for Music Unlimited? Well let’s break it down. Amazon has 41.3 million songs in their catalog for sale. Music Unlimited has 27.4 million songs in its catalog and Prime Music has 2.2 million songs. If we look at their competition, Deezer has 40+ million songs, Groove Music has 38+ million, Google Play has 35+ million songs, Spotify has 30+ million songs, and Tidal has 25+ million songs.
Music Unlimited is only available in the US and plans to expand into the UK, Austria and Germany later this year. Do you plan on subscribing to Music Unlimited? Drop a comment below and let me know.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
