Article: Amazon Music HD Launches

[firedog]

Well I'm not in the States, but I just Googled "Amazon HD Unlimited" and the link took me right to the service. Put in my Amazon login and it immediately offered me a US subscription.

 

The app is okay. Seems to work well. The selection seems good, especially for the first day it's in business. The price is also good for hi-res streaming. But unless they get Roon integration, I don't think I'd switch from Qobuz. That's just too useful a feature to give up, and I'm not going to pay for 2 hi-res streaming subscriptions. 

 

But I can definitely see that  this could put both Qobuz and Tidal out of business. 

[firedog]

Already a thread at the Roon site asking if they are going to try and integrate it into Roon. 

It will be interesting if Amazon will cooperate and let Roon use their database within the Roon user interface. Spotify wasn't willing, so Roon didn't want to cooperate with them. They are pretty picky about their UI. 

[firedog]

9 hours ago, ddetaey said:

And how did you get past the payment page?

Dirk

Not sure what you are asking. I got to the Unlimited HD page and then logged in to my Amazon account. Then it just worked and I paid over PayPal. 

[firedog]

8 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

I really don't see Amazon getting into the audiophile market for streaming. I see Amazon as having a much more mass market appeal and because of that I see this failing because 99% of consumers don't care about the differences between their MP3s and 24/192 nor do they want to invest a bunch of money into it. However, if Amazon can get audiophiles and take over the streaming market I see it all going to hell and them destroying everything. Like Walmart and Amazon have done to Main Street USA.

I can see Amazon being a negative influence, because as Chris' says, the customer service  will be close to non-existent. 
However, this is nothing like an Amazon vs Main street war. That's Amazon killing brick and mortar commerce. This is one online streaming service vs. another. 

[firedog]

7 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

 

Your comment reminds me of all the barking done by MQA Ltd and @Lee Scoggins about high resolution's inability to scale because the files were just so dang huge. It just scaled bigly :~)

 

I wonder what Lee is thinking now with all his big "inside info" about how MQA had a major coup coming up that would alter the market.  I really think this is going to kill them. I think there will be little reason for anyone to sign up to Tidal now. Maybe there will still be subscribers for Qobuz (especially Sublime +) for the audiophile niche market, but not anyone else, at least in the US. 

[firedog]

1 hour ago, cscamp said:

Yup! Roon needs to make a choice here. They may possibly lose subscribers because of this. I love Roon, but supporting only 2 music services maybe their downfall. Glad I didn't buy the lifetime subscription.

Unfortunately for Roon, it's up to Amazon more than it is to them. Amazon needs to give them database access, and agree to have their data display in the Roon UI. Spotify wasn't willing, so Roon didn't integrate them. 

[firedog]

7 hours ago, wgscott said:

 

I used the link. Do you get any feedback as to whether it worked, or do you only find out after 3 months and I forget to cancel?

 

If Damien adds this to Audirvana, I think I will subscribe.

There's a checkbox somewhere where you can tell them to remind you 3 days before the trial is up and they charge you. 

[firedog]

22 minutes ago, mansr said:

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

Plus, many professionals-unlike audiophiles- don't see any advantage in rates above 44.1. Not sonics or anything else.
They are using 24 bit because of headroom when doing lots of processing. 24 bit means they have considerably lower noise floor, meaning they can do all their work more comfortably do lots of manipulations, overdubs, and mixing, especially when recording digital feeds directly into a board, and not worry they might be raising the noise floor to a noticeable level. 
 

Unlike 96 or 192 sample rates, a 24 bit recording doesn't take up that much more space or require that much more time to process. It may seem insignificant to you, but to a professional who might work on multiple albums a day, that time saved is money. 

I think 24/44.1 is actually more common than higher rates. 

[firedog]

So I tried HD and it's okay. But for me to consider subscribing, they need to let us get away from using OS mixer, and integrate with Roon. 
I don't really see any value there that would make me want to switch from Qobuz. The Qobuz-Roon library integration is worth a few bucks a month to me.

With a service like Amazon HD, it means switching between apps, etc. Not part of the user experience I'm looking for. 

[firedog]

16 hours ago, Abstraction said:

The system I use most is Tidal / Roon /  Ultrarendu/ Mytek Brooklyn / HD800

 

16 hours ago, Abstraction said:

I like high quality audio, but I am not interested in it.

 

Uh, I think you are pretty interested, based on that setup....just teasing. I get your point, I also find doing A/B annoying and am convinced that I hear/listen differently when doing it, undermining it's usefulness. 

[firedog]

16 hours ago, Abstraction said:

Okay, here is my point: Amazon has  immensely more of this music than Tidal and my local drive together. I haven't checked out the more common jazz material, but I assume that, if they have a more or less complete catalog of the Matthew Shipp trio,  it will be quite complete.  I would be interested in hearing  from people with expertise in various categories of music with reports on Amazon's offerings. I also am interested in contemporary, avant-garde classical music.  I haven't checked that.

Have you checked Qobuz? They generally have a good Jazz selection, although possibly not in your specific area. They do have several Matthew Shipp albums, with 2-3 from the trio. My experience in this specific area is surely less than yours, but I've seen that they do catalog this genre, but sometimes not immediately upon release. 

I'd imagine their catalog will only improve over time, it's still being built up.