Amazon Music HD: Will Lossless Streaming Help Combat Spotify And Apple?

Amazon Music Unlimited introduced a new tier of service Tuesday to help give it an edge against industry leaders Spotify and Apple Music.

Dubbed “Amazon Music HD,” this premium tier will offer high-fidelity, lossless music streaming for $14.99 a month, or $12.99 for Prime subscribers. The standard version of Amazon’s music streaming service costs $9.99, and $7.99 for Prime subscribers.

According to the Verge, Amazon will offer over 50 million songs in High Definition, referring to CD-quality tracks, and unspecified millions of tracks in the extra high-end Ultra HD quality. Similar quality is offered by Tidal with Hi-Fi tier, which costs $19.99 a month.

“It’s a pretty big deal that one of the big three global streaming services is doing this,” Amazon’s Vice President of Music Steve Boom said. “We’re the first one.”

Boom said that the High Definition and Ultra HD monikers were chosen to make this new tier more mass-market friendly.

As of April, Amazon Music Unlimited reportedly boasted 32 million subscribers. Market leader Spotify recently touted 108 million paid users in its second-quarter earnings report, while Apple Music recently passed 60 million subscribers. Spotify has dabbled in lossless streaming but hasn't gone so far as to offer the service to subscribers. Apple, meanwhile, has stuck to traditional music streaming formats and quality.

HD or Ultra HD tracks will feature a tag designating them as such when viewed in any of the Amazon Music apps. Smartphone users should notice a difference in quality when using wired headphones or speakers, but without external amplifiers, they won’t be able to get the most out of the new offerings. Boom said that those using Bluetooth headphones likely won’t notice any upgrade in quality. This includes Amazon's own line of Echo speakers.

Amazon Music HD is now available in the U.S., U.K., Germany and Japan. New subscribers can get a 90-day free trial of the service.