If you're in need of a streaming music service, and you already have an Amazon Prime subscription, then Amazon Music Prime is an option that's just waiting to be explored. The Amazon Prime bonus feature offers more than 100 million songs from Amazon's music catalog—no extra subscription required. The service is a good place to stream music and podcasts, but the service no longer offers on-demand listening. Music Prime is clearly a stepping stone to the more robust Amazon Music Unlimited, as it lacks the premium service's on-demand functionality, hi-res audio streams, and spatial audio.
What You Get With Amazon Music Prime
Amazon Music Prime, a service that's included with an $139-per-year Amazon Prime subscription, gives you a sample of what Amazon Music Unlimited offers. The services are similar in many aspects. The Home section displays a list of podcasts, playlists, and streaming audio stations curated by Amazon. If you've listened to Amazon Music before, this section contains a compact list of trending songs or podcasts, and algorithmic suggestions. Next to Home is the Library section, a place that highlights your recent listens, created playlists, and previously uploaded songs.
As with many other streaming music services, Amazon Music Prime has a search bar that lets you look up music and podcasts by artist/creator name, song/show title, or genre. Unfortunately, selecting songs reveals Amazon Music Prime's biggest flaw: no more on-demand listening. For all intents, the service is now akin to a free Pandora or Spotify account. This also impacts MP3s you've previously uploaded (more on that in a bit).
It's wonderful that Amazon expanded Music Prime's limited library to include Music Unlimited's full library, but it comes with a price. You no longer have the musical autonomy to stream songs on demand, which radically changes how and why you might use the service.
Amazon Music Prime vs. Amazon Music Unlimited
Both Music Prime and Music Unlimited offer 100 million tracks and ad-free listening experiences on several platforms, but they differ in a few ways. Amazon Music Prime is bundled in your $139-per-year Prime subscription; Amazon Music Unlimited is a standalone streaming music service with on-demand listening and a varied price scheme. Music Unlimited also has an upgrade option for studio-quality hi-res audio.
If you just want music playing in the background, Music Prime is a decent option. That said, you're stuck with shuffle-mode playlists, and must sign up for the $10.99-per-month Amazon Music Unlimited to hear what you want on demand ($8.99 for Prime subscribers). Subscribing to Amazon Music Unlimited replaces Amazon Music Prime as your Amazon jukebox, so you needn't worry about launching the wrong streaming service. Keep your eyes peeped for Prime Day promotions if you're considering upgrading to Music Unlimited. New subscribers get the 90-day trial period extended by an extra 30 days, giving you four months for free during this limited window. For new members, this is a sweet deal.
Amazon also offers a free music tier, Amazon Music Free, that doesn't require a Prime or Music Unlimited subscription. With it, you can listen to select, ad-supported playlists and thousands of stations via the web, Amazon Music mobile apps, Echo smart speakers, and FireTV devices. Some of the playlists include "Country Heat" and "Rap Rotation." You cannot play music on demand with this free option, either.
The Amazon Music Prime Listening Experience
Music Prime comes stocked with thousands of themed playlists and stations assembled by the rather pretentiously named collective known as Amazon's Music Experts. We found interesting collections, such as One Hit Wonders, Classical for Reading, and the oddly named 50 Great Epic Classic Rock Songs. It even offers a limited selection of video game soundtracks. Each playlist displays a track listing, the total runtime, and its curator. When you find a track or playlist that you like, you can quickly add the music to Your Music Library (a section where your favorite tracks live) by clicking Add to Library.
Unfortunately, if you're looking for LiveOne-like channel building to expand your musical horizons, you're out of luck. Amazon Music Prime lets you stream playlists and select singles and albums, but you cannot construct a station around, say, a hot George Clinton track as you can with Amazon Music Unlimited.
In testing, the music streamed to our ears through a pair of mid-range Audio-Technica headphones was crisp and satisfying. It wasn't a Tidal level of audio bliss, but most people won't have an issue with the sound quality. The streams carry a 256Kbps bit rate. Amazon offers HD audio and higher bit rate music, but that's for Unlimited customers only.
Although Music Prime no longer lets you upload digital audio files, all of your previously uploaded music lives in your account. The imported music and bookmarked Amazon Music Prime tracks exist as a single playlist within Your Music Library. You can't just listen to these tracks on demand anymore, either. That's not particularly great for organization, but it's not a deal breaker if you don't mind the content mish-mash.
Music Prime, like Music Unlimited, is relatively straightforward when compared to other streaming services. You don't get Tidal's in-depth feature stories and concert tickets or SiriusXM Internet Radio's excellent, live radio. In an era when streaming music services are attempting to stand out in a crowded field, Music Prime could do more. You can no longer download and listen to music offline, either, and there's a six-track skip limit.
Alexa Compatibility
On the upside, Music Prime is compatible with the Amazon Echo family of smart speakers, as well as Fire TVs and Fire Tablets. Since on-demand listening is now a premium feature exclusive to Amazon Music Unlimited, we get similar music on shuffle. We commanded our Echo, using the Alexa voice-control technology, to fire up The Jets' Greatest Hits, and it began shuffling similar artists, including Kool & The Gang and The Cover Girls. Not a bad musical selection at all, but not exactly what we asked for.
You can use Alexa to search for songs by lyrics, fire up playlists, and search for songs to match your mood. It's really cool to command Alexa to play up-tempo, happy music and have the Echo blast the "Pop To Make You Feel Better" playlist. If your Amazon device has a screen, you'll enjoy an additional benefit: lyrics.
Podcasts
Don't expect much non-audio content from Amazon Prime Music. There are a handful of comedy specials (in audio form), but no video or music editorial. That said, Amazon Music Prime offers a robust podcast catalog.
Amazon Prime subscribers who love Questlove Supreme, Serial, or This American Life no longer need to venture elsewhere for those shows. Even better, Amazon Music Prime features exclusive, original podcasts hosted by notable celebrities, such as Becky G, DJ Khaled, and Jada Pinkett Smith. It's Amazon Music Prime's first step toward becoming so much more than just music and comedy, a move that's important in a highly competitive entertainment category.
Mobile Apps
Amazon has Music apps for both the Android and iOS platforms that perform double duty for both Prime and Unlimited. If you're an Amazon Prime subscriber, you can access Music Prime; if you're a Music Unlimited subscriber, you can access that service. We tested the Android version on a Google Pixel smartphone and found that it closely duplicates the Music Prime browser experience. The app contains copious playlists, useful recommendations, and a music store for making purchases. It displays lyrics, too.
The mobile apps differ from the browser-based Music Prime in one significant way: You can use Amazon's Alexa tech to search for songs by lyrics or play tracks. For example, when we asked Alexa for dinner music, it supplied a laid back easy-listening playlist. In addition, you can cache tracks to a mobile device for offline playback.
A Prime Addition
By itself, Amazon Music Prime isn't a huge selling point, but it's yet another feature under the ever-expanding Prime subscription umbrella—especially if you pair it with Amazon hardware. If you're an Amazon Prime subscriber who just wants to listen to a few podcasts or radio without incurring additional costs—or exploring other apps—Amazon Music Prime is a streaming music service that's worth checking out, since you're already paying for it. Just keep in mind that the robust musical selection is limited to shuffled playlists.
If, however, you want a feature-packed streaming service that offers live radio, weather updates, and excellently curated stations, PCMag Editors' Choice picks LiveOne, SiriusXM Internet Radio, Spotify, and Tidal should be at the top of your list.
For more, check out the Best Free Streaming Music Services and the Best Hi-Res Streaming Music Services.
Mike Williams also contributed to this review.
