I’ve been using the new Amazon Music for a week: I think Spotify has reason to worry

A few days ago Amazon did a unique advertisement: Amazon Prime subscribers could now enjoy the full catalog of Amazon Music. Nothing less than 100 million songs ad-free.

The ad seemed great until you saw the limitations of the new service, which basically makes the user have to sacrifice control of reproduction to gain catalogue. The question, of course, is whether the result is better or worse for the user. The answer, we fear, is a categorical: it depends.

How is the Amazon offer

The change to Amazon Music for Prime subscribers is a big one, affecting both the catalog and how you enjoy it. The Amazon Help and Customer Service section gives specific details of the different alternatives which now offers users:

That table (it’s expanded in the original link) makes it clear that we currently have three ways to access to Amazon Music. One free and independent of the Prime subscription, one included with that subscription and another paid and independent of Prime, which is the already known Amazon Music Unlimited.

Each of those options has its features, but the free, standalone version of Prime is the most limited and now it does not offer support for custom playlists (without being able to skip songs). The Unlimited version is the one that competes head-to-head with the payment plans of other music streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube Music.

What really changes is access to Amazon Music if one is an Amazon Prime subscriber. We have more than a week testing the service with a Prime subscription, and these are the advantages and disadvantages that we have found.

Advantages of the new Amazon Music…

Amazon’s new proposal is striking for two large sections, and of course it can be very interesting for certain types of users:

  • 100 million songs: Being able to access the entire catalog of Amazon Music songs is undoubtedly the first great advantage of the renewed service. No more asking Alexa to play a song or music from an artist and she tells us that for that we will have to subscribe to Amazon Music Unlimited. We will be able to listen to that music, although with a big but for some users.
  • No advertising: Being able to listen to music we like is great, but being able to do it “free” and without ads is even better. It is clear that the service is not free as such – it is part of the Prime subscription – but the feeling is that it is because Prime subscribers are essentially so because of the advantages in shipping and offers from the Amazon online store.

… and disadvantages

Faced with these advantages, it is clear that the change in the strategy and operation of the service is notable and affects some important sections for users. Let’s see them:

  • Forced Shuffle: Do you want to listen to a specific song right now? Will not be able. Amazon Music creates a playlist based on that song you want to listen to and you’ll end up listening to the one you wanted at some point (hard to know when), but not directly or immediately.
  • Limited song skips: You will also not be able to skip from song to song in an unlimited way. After a certain number of jumps, the service will force you to listen to the song that was playing at that moment, which means that you also lose control over playback in that regard.
  • Lists yes, but in random: The service allows you to create personalized lists with which it is possible to limit our preferences and gain some control, but again its reproduction will be random.

A week testing the new Amazon Music

I have been using this new version of Amazon Music as my music streaming platform ever since the change happened. I have been a subscriber to Spotify and YouTube Music, for example, and during these days I have been able to draw clear conclusions of what the service means for Amazon and for users.

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The truth is that on the internet we have seen to much critics to that change. Users using the previous version highly valued having control over playback even though the catalog was very small (2 million songs vs. 100 million).

So we have seen messages on social networks and forums such as Twitter or Reddit in which Amazon users and customers complained about that randomness or how their playlists, in which they had invested time and effort, were now useless. For all of them the service it was perfect just the way it wasAnd they didn’t ask for more.

These criticisms are logical taking into account these arguments and one even more forceful: the subscription to Amazon Prime costs 139 dollars a year in the United States, when in Spain it costs 49.90 euros a year. They pay almost three times more, and that makes these changes can sit even worse there (although the purchasing power of North American users is also usually higher).

Be that as it may, my experience with Amazon Music it has been extraordinary, but it has also been because of how I have enjoyed it. In my day to day I am constantly listening to music for work, and although I use playlists often, the shuffle mode based on a song or artist that I like is perfect for me.

It is because that “background music” behaves as I expect: It’s a kind of radio station or piped music over which I actually have some control. I can skip some songs, and at any time I can change the song or artist that I want that station to be built around.

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on mobile I have used the application less, but in my case again the experience is good. Loes because that format “radio station” is suitable for me. If what you are looking for are playlists whose songs sound in the order you have established, Amazon Music is not the ideal one, of course.

There are alternatives in that sense, of course: Spotify works even better in one way (you can listen to whatever you want immediately), it does worse in another (advertising), and in my case Amazon Music makes up for it in most scenarios.

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The podcast section is another of the value propositions of the new Amazon Music.

On Amazon Music it is also still possible to create playlists that used to “cheat” the Amazon system being able to listen to a small group of songs that we like quickly, because even if the playback is random – or mixed with other related ones – we will listen to all of them sooner rather than later.

In my tests, this simple trick works to recover some of the lost control, and to this is added an interface that, without being the best among its competitors, complies very correctly, at least in its version for desktop browsers.

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If that’s also your way of using the service, then Amazon Music may be just as great for you as it was for me. For users with that “casual” or “custom radio” format that match my tests, Amazon Music is a great option that avoids ads and whose recommendation algorithm It has worked in my case remarkably.

It is indeed refreshing not to always be tied to the same platform, because suddenly I have discovered (and added to my favorites list or other lists created on the service) new songs that had not been recommended to me by Spotify or YouTube Music, for example.

However, it is clear that former users of the service may be upset by this change and for that sacrifice of control in favor of the catalog. If that’s what you’re looking for, Amazon Music (in its version included with Prime) will hardly be a suitable platform for your tastes.

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Karaoke mode is eye-catching and effective in the Amazon Music web player.

In fact, if you’re willing to live with ads, Spotify in its free client is certainly a more powerful alternative on desktop and even mobile —let’s thank Adele—. Not only that: its popularity and its social facet —with many shared songs and lists— also make it win over.

Amazon Music is therefore postulated as a good alternative for certain types of users, although there is another interesting section to take into account. is the one stood out analyst Mark Mulligan, who explained how this new Amazon proposal perhaps it is more aimed at emerging markets like India, Brazil or China.

There, he explains, Amazon Music “strike a balance between scale and average revenue per user (ARPU).” Premium platforms need more resources to grow, and Amazon seems to want to be a valuable alternative for those emerging markets that may be increasing the popularity of the service.

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I’ve been using the new Amazon Music for a week: I think Spotify has reason to worry