[UPDATED] Amazon Music is rolling out an HD music services at an attractive price point aimed at bringing high-quality lossless streaming to the masses. Amazon Music HD will launch in US, UK, Germany, and Japan this week, beating Spotify and Apple Music to HD streaming.
Priced at $14.99 per month and $12.99 for Prime members. That’s just $5 more than regular Amazon Music subscriptions. Amazon Music HD pricing bests Tidal’s $19.99 per month HD offering by 25%. There is also a $19.99 family plan.
Amazon HD Music is currently offering a 90-day free trial.
Amazon HD Music launches with 50 million HD tracks (CD-quality, 16-bit 44.1kHz tracks) including “millions” of tracks in Ultra HD ranging from 24-bit tracks to 192kHz. The HD service will be compatible with audio products from “Denon and Marantz with HEOS Built-in, Polk Audio, Definitive Technology, Sonos, McIntosh, Sennheiser, and many more.”
Spotify Responds
“Never say never,” but don’t expect Spotify to launch an HD streaming service any time soon, Paul Vogel, Spotify’s Finance VP told investors at the Goldman Sachs Communacopia conference Tuesday morning. Asked to react to the Amazon Music HD launch, Vogel said that, while Spotify had looked at HD streaming, it was not the roadmap because users “simply don’t care” about higher-quality streaming.