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Alexa will pepper you with questions to build better playlists
Amazon is rolling out a few tweaks to Alexa that will make it easier to find the music you want to hear. By telling Alexa what you like and don't like and by conversing with Amazon's assistant about what you enjoy listening to, Alexa will be able to create more personalized suggestions and playback even when you just say, "Alexa, play music."
Amazon Music Unlimited is now available in Canada
Today, Amazon announced the expansion of its Music Unlimited service to Canada. Listeners can sign up for a free 90-day trial; after that period has passed, Prime members will pay CDN $8 per month or CDN $79 per year to continue service. The family plan costs CDN $15 per month, whether you have a Prime membership or not. It's CDN $149 per year for Prime members. Non-Prime members will pay CDN $10 per month. Subscribers can also opt for a single device plan for CDN $4 per month, which will allow Unlimited subscribers to listen to their music on one Echo device.
Alexa can now play that song you heard but can’t remember the name of
Sometimes you want to listen to a certain song but you can't quite remember what it's called. Other times you might just want to listen to some of your favorites that you haven't heard in a while. Now, Alexa can find those tunes for you. While listening to Amazon Music, you can now ask Alexa in very general terms to find music you listened to earlier or play something you haven't heard recently. You can do so with specific artists by saying, for example, "Alexa, play that Kendrick Lamar song I was listening to yesterday," or, "Alexa, play Rihanna songs I haven't heard in a while." You can also ask for genres, but you can get even more general than that by asking Alexa to just play something you haven't heard lately.
Alexa can build Amazon Music playlists for you
Amazon announced today that Amazon Music listeners will now be able to ask Alexa to make a playlist through their Alexa-enabled devices. Commands like "Alexa, add this to my playlist" and "Alexa, create a new playlist" can be used and users can ask the assistant to add songs to a specific playlist or to create a new playlist from the current song being listened to.
Samsung smart TVs gain Amazon Prime Music support
Samsung has recently tightened its relationship with Amazon, partnering up on its HDR10+ tech meant to counter Dolby Vision HDR. Now, Samsung's smart TVs will be some of the first third-party, non-Alexa devices able to stream Amazon Prime Music and Amazon Music Unlimited in the US and elsewhere, Samsung announced. The service will also work on all of Samsung's audio devices, including sound bars and wireless speakers.
Amazon's Alexa and Prime Music service arrive in Canada
The absence of Amazon's Alexa and Prime Music services in Canada has been a strange oversight, given that the nation's share a border and (one of two) common languages. That has now been corrected, as Amazon has finally launched the Echo family, Prime Music and Alexa Voice services and skills in the land of hockey and poutine. "We're excited to bring [Alexa] to Canada with an experienced designed from the ground up for our Canadian customers," said Amazon Senior VP Tom Taylor in a statement.
Alexa can find ‘baby making’ music on Amazon's streaming services
Amazon announced today that users of its streaming service Prime Music, which is free with a Prime membership, and its subscription-based Amazon Music Unlimited can now ask Alexa to find tunes appropriate for various activities. As of now, over 500 different activity-based requests are supported including music for meditation, partying and even "getting pumped." The new feature is available immediately to users with Alexa-enabled devices.
Amazon's standalone music streaming service is finally here
Based on a string of rumors that began circulating in January of this year, it was only a matter of time before Amazon rolled out its full-fledged music streaming service. Today is that day. Enter Amazon Music Unlimited, a standalone offering set to rival the likes of Apple Music and Spotify. It is, of course, a complement to Prime Music, the free streaming service for people who are part of Amazon's $99-per-year membership. Naturally, Prime subscribers get the benefit of paying less for Music Unlimited: eight dollars a month compared to $10 for everyone else.
Amazon will stream a live Macklemore concert
Apple and Google aren't the only tech giants that can stream live concerts. Amazon is planning to stream a live Macklemore concert on February 27th at 12AM Eastern to help mark the launch of the superstar's latest album. The free-to-view gig should be worth tuning in, especially since it's supporting social justice outfits, although there's some missed potential here. While you'll get to watch through most desktop web browsers, the concert won't be available through any of Amazon's devices. Sorry, your Fire TV is going to gather dust while "Thrift Shop" and "Downtown" blast from your PC's speakers. There's no replay, either. Still, it's good to see Amazon dive into live concert streaming -- here's hoping there are more in the pipeline.
Amazon's Prime Music stores tracks on an SD card
To help you conserve that limited storage space on your Android device, Amazon is letting you download Prime Music tracks to an SD card. If your go-to device has a slot for extra memory, you'll be able to store music from Amazon's streaming library for offline listening. As you might expect, you can download any purchased albums and songs there, too. In addition to the storage update, you can now control the audio and browse the app from your Android Wear device. The service also gained expanded artist pages and tabs for new and popular music to keep you up to date on what's fresh. The latest version of Prime Music for Android is rolling out now, so if you're not seeing the new features, they should arrive shortly.
Prime Music adds Katy Perry, The Weeknd and other Universal artists
To keep pace with the likes of Apple Music, Spotify and other, Amazon is expanding its music streaming library once more. Today, the online retailer announced that Prime Music now features tunes from Universal Music Group. If you're not into industry minutiae, Universal is home to Katy Perry, The Weeknd, Maroon 5, Drake and Lorde, just to name a few. The deal also means that Amazon will offer a collection of classical and jazz from Universal, too. Prime members are privy to the new tunes for unlimited streaming as well as "expertly programmed" playlists on iOS, Android (and Android Auto), Fire devices, Amazon Echo, or the web. [Image credit: Mauricio Santana/Getty Images]
Amazon Acoustics channels 'MTV Unplugged' for Prime Music
Exclusive content is all the rage these days when it comes to music streaming services, and Amazon has some new goods of its own. The retailer announced Amazon Acoustics today, a collection of unplugged performances from a variety of artists. As you might expect, the songs are only available for purchase from Amazon or streaming from Prime Music. And yes, Prime members get them at no additional charge. In terms of the artist lineup, there are originals and covers from JJ Grey, Train, Five For Fighting, Michelle Branch, Marc Roberge of O.A.R., Surfer Blood, Deer Tick and more for 32 total tracks.
Amazon Prime Music streaming comes to the UK
Hot on the heels of Apple Music, Amazon is launching its own music streaming service in the UK. Unlike Spotify, Rdio and most of its other competitors though, there's no single price for Prime Music; to gain access, you'll need an annual Prime subscription. The £79 fee comes with a host of other perks, including one-day delivery and Prime Instant Video, but it's a key difference in the way Amazon wants to sell the service. Even if it falls a little short of its rivals, it might not really matter -- Prime Music simply adds to the value of Prime and makes Amazon's subscription more appealing to new and existing subscribers.
Amazon Prime Music now offers radio stations on iOS
Dig Amazon Prime Music on your iPhone, but would rather not go sifting through songs or playlists when you just want to start streaming? You don't have to after today. At long last, Amazon has updated Prime Music's iOS app to bring in Prime Stations, ad-free radio feeds based on artists and genres, much like what you'd get if you paid for Pandora or Spotify (minus their larger catalogs, mind you). And if you do want more control, there are also personalized recommendations that suggest playlists and tracks based on what you've listened to in the past. While this probably won't get you to switch to Amazon's music service if you weren't already a fan, it will give you one more reason to keep that Prime subscription going.
Amazon expands Prime Music library with loads of new tracks
Amazon's recently announced music service for Prime members just got a bit better. Today, the giant online retailer revealed that its Prime Music library is welcoming a bunch of new songs into the mix, from artists such as Miles Davis, Ray Charles, Kendrick Lamar, Shakira, Skrillex, Ella Fitzgerald, DJ Snake & Lil Jon (#TD4W, anyone?) and many, many more. To make use of these newly added tunes, Amazon said it has curated "hundreds" of fresh Prime Playlists, citing this feature as one users have come to love since the service's launch last month. Amazon will need to keep making similar moves if Prime Music is to be a threat to the likes of Spotify, so this is, without a doubt, a step in the right direction. The next natural step would be expanding outside of the US, but record labels might make that a lot more complicated than it sounds.
What you need to know about Amazon Prime Music
Remember all those rumors about Amazon launching a music streaming service? Well, they were absolutely true: Amazon pulled back the curtain on Prime Music earlier today, which gives paying Prime subscribers access to over a million songs for no additional cost and without a single obnoxious ad in earshot. Amazon Digital Music VP Steve Boom told us that customers have been clamoring for this little development for ages now -- here are a few answers to the burning questions surrounding Amazon's newest media play.
Amazon launches free streaming music service for Prime members
It looks like the rumors were true: Amazon has just launched Amazon Prime Music with a million-plus songs and unlimited streaming with no ads or restrictions. As we noted earlier, the service is free to Prime members (only in the US for now) who've paid $79 to $119 for a subscription, and Amazon clearly hopes that it'll be yet another carrot to lure new subscribers. You'll also be able to download music to listen offline, which will be available on Kindle Fire, iOS, Android and Mac/PC devices anywhere, thanks to Amazon's Cloud Player -- now known as Amazon Music. The site has already been stocked with hundreds of "expertly programmed" playlists like "Powerful Women of Pop" and we were able to successfully sign up and start listening ourselves. Note that while a million songs sounds like a lot, Spotify currently has 20 million songs and Deezer has 30 million. In addition, the site doesn't seem to carry much new music yet, with quite a few songs in the Billboard Top 100 missing. Still, given other Prime perks like free shipping, streaming and the lending library, it might be enough.
