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Apple Music is on Amazon Fire TV
Apple Music users in the US can now listen to their tracks on Amazon Fire TVs (or sticks). The news comes only months after Apple Music became available on Echo devices stateside. Apple's streaming service is also expected to come to Echo users in the UK in the coming weeks.
Amazon's Fire TV Stick drops to £25 in the UK
If you're looking to buy a cheap streaming dongle, now might be a good time to reconsider Amazon's Fire TV Stick. Today, the company dropped the price of its Chromecast and Roku Streaming Stick competitor to £25 in the UK, which is £10 less than before. As we noted in our original review, there's a lot to like about Amazon's HDMI dongle. Unlike Google's Chromecast, it comes with a dedicated remote and a fleshed-out TV interface, which should appeal to homeowners looking for a traditional set-top box experience. It also comes with a 30-day Prime trial, which is just enough time to binge-watch the best movies and TV shows on Prime Instant Video. It's not clear yet if this is a temporary or permanent price-cut, so if you're interested, best order now just in case Amazon jacks it up again.
Amazon's Fire TV Stick arrives in the UK next month for £35
Google's Chromecast streaming dongle has proven to be quite the hit, but it does come with some drawbacks. There's no physical remote, for instance, and the lack of menus or any overarching UI can be alienating for some. Amazon took a swing at the idea last October with the Fire TV Stick, and after launching in the US it's ready to tackle the UK too. It'll begin shipping on April 15th, although Prime members can pre-order the device today for £19. That's a sizeable discount on the regular £35 asking price, which is just a smidge higher than Google's offering (£30) in the Play store. If you've been weighing up a new Prime subscription, this could be the time to take the plunge; the company will knock the stick down to £7 for anyone that's willing to sign up for a new 12-month membership.
Fire TV Stick review: a more affordable streamer from Amazon
Earlier this year, Amazon entered the crowded field of streaming set-top boxes. But while the Fire TV sounded like a real winner on paper, in practice it was more of a mixed bag. For round two, the internet retail giant scaled back its ambitions and the price. The Fire TV Stick is a streaming dongle similar to the Chromecast or Roku Streaming Stick that's focused mainly on serving up video and less on gaming. Plus, the $39 price tag dramatically lowers the bar for entry. But, even at less than half the price, the Fire TV Stick would be a hard pill to swallow if Amazon didn't iron out some of the kinks from its first-generation device. So has a few more months of polish addressed our concerns about Fire OS on the big screen? Without giving too much away, the answer is mostly yes.
