Article: Amazon Music HD Launches

[mansr]

2 minutes ago, serendipitydawg said:

I know it has only just been announced, but is this U.S.A. ONLY? Or will it be available in the UK?

I see no sign of it on the Amazon UK site.

[mansr]

4 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

This affiliate link works for the UK - https://www.amazon.co.uk/music/unlimited/hd?tag=audiophile0bc-20

How did you find it?

[mansr]

There's no way to find it from the amazon.com front page either. Do they not actually want people to use it?

[mansr]

5 minutes ago, kirkmc said:

Yes, but can DRM be easily added to FLAC files? 

Anything can be encrypted. This website is encrypted. Music streaming is no different. One way or another, the servers provide files encrypted such that only an authorised application can decrypt them. I don't have much of a problem with that, since they'll obviously keep providing client software as long as the service is operational.

[mansr]

7 minutes ago, mevdinc said:

You can change the country you want at the top right corner.

Is there a way to navigate from the amazon.com (or .co.uk, de, or whatever) main page to the HD music signup page? Clicking on any of the music related links takes me to a signup page for the regular Unlimited service with no HD option. The direct link Chris provided works.

[mansr]

11 minutes ago, kirkmc said:

Actually, this website is not encrypted; all that HTTPS does is ensure that sensitive information - user names and passwords - are encrypted. 

I suggest you reread how https works, preferably from a more accurate source than wherever you got that idea.

 

11 minutes ago, kirkmc said:

But my question was more about FLAC with DRM in general. I haven't heard of this being done before. 

FLAC is just data like any other. It's easy to have a server encrypt it with a key known only to authorised clients. Not much different from storing your own files on a cloud service, really.

[mansr]

20 minutes ago, kennyb123 said:

Yeah my bad.  I deleted my comment after seeing this.  My point is still valid.  Why did he need to take a swipe at Kirk?  Why couldn't he have just corrected the statement as I did?  

I had already made a correct statement, to which the incorrect one was a reply. Why should I repeat myself?

[mansr]

28 minutes ago, Patrick Cleasby said:

My Waiting For The Sun showed up as Ultra HD. That's a prime suspect. And of course Fairytales

Qobuz has a proper 24/96 version of all The Doors albums (and it's a bargain too): https://www.qobuz.com/gb-en/album/the-complete-studio-albums-the-doors/0603497933105

I don't know what Amazon is streaming, but at least a non-MQA release exists.

[mansr]

37 minutes ago, labjr said:

"...up to 192 kHz, and an average bitrate of 3730 kbps."

 

3730 kbps seems low? Shouldn't it be like 5,400 for 192khz sample rate 

How did you arrive at 5400? Uncompressed 192 kHz 24-bit stereo is 9.2 Mbps. With FLAC compression it usually ends up in the 4-5 Mbps range.

[mansr]

10 minutes ago, labjr said:

I was going by what I see in Jriver when a 192k file is playing.

OK, 5.4 Mbps is also within reason for the compressed bit rate. I agree that 3.7 Mbps seems low. Maybe its the average rate of the whole high-res catalogue with a mix of 96 kHz and 192 kHz.

[mansr]

1 hour ago, bbosler said:

here is a screen shot of preferences and the spectrum of a download of Living Loving Maid I purchased after I set it up like this

 

 

 

 

I suspect purchases are not high-res even when the streamed version is. Download in that settings page probably refers to cached files for offline playback with the streaming application.

[mansr]

2 minutes ago, PAR said:

Nevertheless I have always had a suspicion that there is something odd about 24/44.1 recordings. After all if you are going to master @24 bit why do this with a sample rate of 44.1 when, almost certainly if you have a 24 bit ADC , 96KS/s is available to you?

It is apparently quite common. One reason could be total bandwidth limits in a multi-track system.

[mansr]

2 hours ago, lucretius said:

I am curious as to where I can find the link to download the app?

https://www.amazon.com/gp/dmusic/desktop/downloadPlayer

[mansr]

49 minutes ago, Superdad said:

And what I find most humorous is that the just-announced Amazon “Studio” wireless smart speaker with Dolby Atmos is a single, large-coffee-can-sized pod. Are we to believe that the Atmos DSP is so powerful that this speaker will throw sound in such a ventriloquist-like manner that we will be able to close our eyes and feel enveloped in a big wrap-around sound-stage? 

Maybe they managed to get it "sorted" Frank style.