Amazon Prime has become more expensive over time, now costing up to $180 per year. Would that price be worth it if you also received free music? Amazon Prime members previously had access to over 2 million free songs, but that number just grew to 100 million.
While access to 100 million songs might seem like a huge improvement, some subscribers are unhappy. In the past, Prime members using Amazon Music could select and listen to any of the provided songs on demand.
With the music library increasing to 100 million songs, the service will play any albums or playlists selected in shuffle mode. Users who wish to have direct on-demand access to any of the provided tracks will need to upgrade their subscription.
Amazon follows a similar model to Spotify, offering a tier in which an extensive collection of songs are made available at no cost. Still, they can’t be selected on demand. You could consider Amazon’s offering better than Spotify’s free tier, as it doesn’t include ads.
While Spotify offers random, ad-supported access to 70 million songs, Amazon Music provides random, ad-free access to 100 million songs. If you are a Spotify free-tier subscriber, you may want to consider switching over to Amazon.
Existing Prime members who have previously taken advantage of Amazon Music may be less pleased with the shuffle mode change. Unfortunately, for those members, the decision is either to live with the change or pony up another $8.99 a month.
The change to Amazon Music will also include access to many of the company’s in-house podcasts and a selection of other top podcasts that are ad free. Amazon Music is not just attempting to target music listeners; it wants podcast fans, too.
Amazon Prime members can take advantage of the new offerings by heading to the Amazon Music webpage and beginning streaming. A desktop app (PC and Mac) and mobile apps for Apple iOS and Android devices are also available at no additional cost.
Michael Archambault is a senior writer for The Penny Hoarder specializing in technology.
