Amazon launches Music Unlimited starting from $4 per month

Amazon has launched Music Unlimited, an on-demand music streaming service featuring ‘tens of millions’ of songs. The new service, available in the US from today, comes with a standard $9.99 monthly subscription fee, a $7.99 per-month subscription for Prime members, or $3.99 per month to listen exclusively with an Amazon Echo device.

The anticipated streaming service provides a number of music-streaming staples like offline and ad-free listening, access to thousands of playlists, as well as compatibility with Mac, Windows, Android, iOS and a slew of Amazon’s own products. The Amazon Music app has also received an overhaul following the introduction of the new service.   

A family subscription plan is set to arrive later in the year for $14.99 per month, or $149 per year, for up to six people. Prime members can claim the deal for $79 per year instead. For comparison, Spotify and Apple Music family subscriptions cost $14.99 for the same 6-person deal.

Amazon is clearly keen to drive adoption of its connected home speaker range, which comprises the Amazon Echo and Echo Dot, and this could prove to be one of the USP’s of Music Unlimited’s otherwise fairly standard feature list. 

While the listening experience might be underwhelming on the diminutive Dot, you could theoretically buy it for 50 bucks simply to access the cheaper subscription tier and then hook it up to your speakers or headphones via its 3.5 mm jack port or Bluetooth. What’s more, the Echo products are driven by Amazon’s machine learning A.I. Alexa, which becomes more personalized over time. That said, usage would be restricted to your home and the Echo range’s user-interface won’t allow for the same experience as a smartphone or computer does. 

Alexa will work much like a DJ on the Echo – using just your voice, you’ll be able to request tracks from a specific artist, or from an era, your favorite genre, or even one that matches your current mood.

Amazon Music Unlimited is only available in the US for now but it will roll out to other territories before the end of the year. Let us know in the comments if Amazon has done enough to tempt you into Music Unlimited.