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Amazon is promoting their paid music-streaming service with a 3 months for £0.99 deal. Sound too good to be true? It does sound that way, which is why I went and tested Amazon Music Unlimited myself.
I’ve been a loyal Spotify member for five years now, so I thought there was almost nothing that could get me to leave the paid music-streaming service.
This is mainly because I didn’t think anyone had improved upon on Spotify’s service, but to be fair, also because I hate change.
However, with Amazon rapidly adding new Prime members to its ranks, I thought it was worth checking out their paid music-streaming service, Amazon Music Unlimited.
Prime Music, Amazon’s free music-streaming service that accompanies a Prime membership has somewhat lukewarm reviews for its limited library, but I was curious how its paid version, Music Unlimited, stacked up against what I was used to from Spotify, so I signed up for a trial.
Below, I walk you through how Amazon Music Unlimited works, what features you should know about, and how it compares to similar paid services like Spotify and Apple Music.
First, you should know how to test it for free.
Before getting into the service, there is a way that anyone can test Amazon Music for just £0.99. So if you’d like to try it for yourself, make sure to start with Amazon’s three month deal.
You may be worried about forgetting to cancel your free subscription and waking up to a Music Unlimited bill one day, but don’t worry, you can disable auto renewal immediately after signing up. The option is located in Amazon Music’s settings, and can be done in a single click.
I’ve already turned mine off, so instead of being billed I’ll be kicked off the service after the month is up.
How Amazon Music’s pricing compares to the competition.
The first component to understand and compare is the pricing of each music streaming service. There are several different pay structures of Amazon Music at your disposal, and it’s important to know which one is right for you.
First is Prime Music, which is included with your Amazon Prime membership. It’s ad-free, unlike Spotify’s free membership, but has a far more limited library. Despite that, it’s still a nice feature you can use for free.
Second is the individual plan, which costs £9.99 a month for non-Prime members — the same price as an Spotify or Apple Music membership. This plan costs just £7.99 a month, or £79 a year, for Prime members, making it cheaper than the competition.
Amazon Music’s family membership, which is available for groups of six or fewer, is £14.99 a month or £149 a year for both Prime and non-Prime customers. Amazon lists this as its best value deal.
Lastly, and this is a unique feature to Amazon, there is the Echo plan. It costs only £3.99 a month, and includes access to the full music library, but limits playback to a single Echo or Echo Dot.
So what does Amazon Music Unlimited look like?
Amazon Music Unlimited doesn’t look that different from other music streaming services; it lets you compile your own library, make your own playlists, and select music tailored to your tastes.
Like its competition, the service is working to curate more towards your musical taste, and offers you songs, albums, artists, playlists, and stations “inspired by your listening.”