Amazon Music arrives on Google TV and Android TV

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

It’s been almost two years since the official YouTube app made its way back to Amazon’s Fire TV platform, and a pledge was made to bring the Prime Video app to Chromecast and Android TV as well. Of course, it was the YouTube ( and YouTube TV) vs Prime Video rivalry that kept the two platforms away from Amazon and Google’s hardware, with the average consumer losing from the tussle between the two titans. Well, it took two years for the ‘cordial relations’ between the two companies to get warm enough that they can turn their attention to audio after warring over video. Today, the Amazon Music app was finally made available on Google TV and Android TV.

Available in US, UK, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Japan, and Australia

Starting today, if you own Google’s latest Chromecast with Google TV or an Android TV machine, you can download the Amazon Music app on it. Amazon Music’s services are available both across free and paid tiers. The free, ad-supported tier will give access to a select few playlists and thousands of stations, while a Prime subscription removes ads and gives you access to a library of 2 million songs. There is also an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription tier, which offers access to a much larger library of 70 million songs.

READ MORE: Android TV update gives it a Google TV-inspired makeover

If you’re a Prime subscriber, Amazon Music Unlimited will cost you $7.99 per month, while non-Prime members will have to shell out $9.99 for the service on a monthly basis. However, if you’re not particularly a fan of Amazon’s music service, you can always switch to Spotify or Tidal apps on your Android TV and Google TV. And if you got a YouTube Premium subscription, you can reap the benefit of YouTube Music, which also has its own app optimized for Android TV.

There are both free (ad-supported) and paid tiers of the music streaming service

For now, users based in the US, UK, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Japan, and Australia will be able to blast music via Amazon Music on their Android TV or Google TV device, or through set-top boxes, game consoles and speakers connected to it. Google’s TV platform landed another high-profile service earlier this month in the form of Apple TV+.

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Amazon buys podcast maker Wondery as battle against Spotify and Apple heats up

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

Amazon announced its foray into the world of podcasts in September this year, announcing a whole slate of content for its Amazon Music platform by roping in some big names. Less than three months after its debut in a segment dominated by heavyweights like Spotify and Apple, Amazon has today announced that it is acquiring Wondery, a podcast network that was launched in 2016 with backing from 20th Century Fox.

Wondery is now a part of Amazon Music

“When the deal closes, nothing will change for listeners, and they’ll continue to be able to access Wondery podcasts through a variety of providers. With Amazon Music, Wondery will be able to provide even more high-quality, innovative content and continue their mission of bringing a world of entertainment and knowledge to their audiences, wherever they listen,” Amazon said in its press release.

Now, Amazon has not revealed financial details of the deal, but as per a Wall Street Journal report that was published earlier this month, the e-commerce giant was in talks to acquire Wondery at a valuation of $300 million. Wondery – touted to be the last independent podcast maker with a healthy revenue stream and sizeable audience under its belt – launched a premium tier of its service earlier this year.

READ MORE: Amazon extends Spotify podcast support for Alexa devices to 11 more countries

Wondery had a few award-winning shows under its belt

Wondery had a few hits under its belt such as true-crime podcast Dirty John launched in collaboration with the Los Angeles Times, iHeartRadio Podcast Award winner Dr. Death, Webby Award winner Business Wars, and the Lindsay Graham-hosted American History Teller among others. It now remains to be seen how Wondery fits into Amazon’s plans of emerging as the next podcast powerhouse, considering the fact Amazon-owned Audible also dabbles with its own exclusive shows.

With a deep-pocket giant like Amazon now behind the Wondery brand, advertising and reaching a global audience will most likely receive a bigger push. And with podcast wars heating up as Spotify and Apple continue to rope in new talent and properties, it would be interesting to see how Amazon’s arrival disrupts the industry in the foreseeable future. 

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Amazon Music now tells you trivia and album info about songs with its X-Ray tool

Posted on by Nadeem Sarwar

If you’ve ever watched content on Amazon’s Prime Video platform, you must have noticed that tapping on the screen shows you some interesting information about the content under the General Trivia section, alongside information about the cast that is currently on the screen. This feature is called X-Ray, which originally arrived on the Kindle ebook reader and is extremely helpful. Amazon is now bringing the X-Ray feature from Prime Video to its music streaming platform – Amazon Music.

The X-Ray feature is now available globally in Amazon Music. I’ve tested it on multiple accounts here in India, and it works just fine. As for the information offered by the feature, you can find details such as the artist’s name, writer, producer, assistant engineer, artists behind each musical instrument, and a lot more. And of course, you will get to know interesting trivia about songs. For example, I got to know that Rob Zombie was the vocalist,  writer as well as producer of the hard rock song Dragula. 

Regarding the feature, Amazon told Engadget that X-Ray on Amazon Music will “offer a behind the scenes look at song information, artists, and albums with access to everything from fun trivia to song credits, related content, and more.” To see details about a track, just look for the X-Ray button at the bottom of the playback page, provided the requisite details are available. 

You can either tap on the X-Ray button at the bottom, or swipe up from anywhere on the playback page to see the details. When you perform either of the aforementioned actions, you’ll see a self-scrolling carousel of information just like the credits at the end of a movie. The feature is quite neat, and won’t be forced upon Amazon Music users, unlike Amazon Prime Video, where the whole trivia and information catalog appears on the left side of the screen as soon as you tap on the screen. 

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Amazon Music introduces Podcasts in the US, UK, Germany and Japan

Posted on by Prakhar Khanna

Amazon has announced a new feature coming to its Music platform. The company is launching podcasts on Amazon Music. It will be made available to the users in the US, UK, Germany and Japan, across all tiers of service at no additional cost. As for the content, it includes original shows produced exclusively for Amazon Music and hosted by creators including DJ Khaled, Becky G, Will Smith, Dan Patrick, and more. Amazon Music customers can access podcasts in the Amazon Music app for iOS and Android, on Amazon Echo devices, and here.

In a bid to compete with Spotify, Amazon Music’s podcast feature will enable creators to reach new audiences globally. “Our customers’ listening habits are constantly evolving, and we know they’re looking to us to provide them with a rich experience rooted in music and entertainment,” said Steve Boom, VP of Amazon Music. “Podcasts, paired with our recent partnership with Twitch to bring live streaming into the app, makes Amazon Music a premiere destination for creators.”

Various shows are already available on Amazon Music podcast. It includes shows such as Crime Junkie, What A Day, Radiolab, Revisionist History, Planet Money, Ear Hustle, Why Won’t You Date Me? with Nicole Byer, and Stuff You Should Know. Amazon says millions of episodes from top shows are being added all the time. One of the upcoming show is Disgraceland, a show exploring the criminal antics and connections of some of the world’s favorite musicians, from the Rolling Stones to Tupac. It will highlight tales of getting away with murder and behaving badly. Disgraceland will arrive exclusively on Amazon Music in February 2021.

Podcasts are now available to stream on all tiers of Amazon Music at no additional cost, including free access on Echo, web, and in the Amazon Music mobile app.

Source: Amazon

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28 new countries around the world get Amazon Music Unlimited and Echo devices

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

You can stream your favorite tunes on Amazon Music Unlimited and have Echo smart speakers shipped to a bunch of new global territories.

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Amazon Music Unlimited subscriptions go half off to $4.99 a month for ‘eligible students’

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

Just like Apple Music and Spotify, Amazon Music Unlimited memberships now include a student-exclusive tier available for $4.99 a month instead of $9.99.

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US-based HTC U11 buyers can get three months of free Amazon Music Unlimited service

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

As deal sweeteners go, three months of Amazon Music Unlimited streaming instead of one isn't so remarkable. But the HTC U11 is very attractive anyway.

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Amazon Music Unlimited audio streaming service quickly spreads to the UK, Germany and Austria

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

The busiest time of year for Amazon’s main area of expertise has officially kicked off both on American and British shores, but the e-commerce giant isn’t pausing its increasingly ambitious efforts to gain more relevance in various hardware and software segments either.

Fire tablets and Echo smart speakers should sell like hotcakes this holiday season, and alongside them, Amazon hopes to also boost Prime memberships and especially early Music Unlimited adoption.

Not entirely satisfied with Spotify or Apple Music’s bang for buck in the US, UK, Germany or Austria? “Premium” Amazon Music Unlimited monthly service costs as little as $3.99 stateside for a good few weeks now, expanding to the other three aforementioned markets today at similarly irresistible prices.

Namely, £3.99 a month in Great Britain for use on a single Echo or Echo Dot, £7.99 as far as Prime customers with phones, tablets or PCs are concerned, and £9.99 for everyone else. Across the board, you’ll be getting 24/7, uninterrupted access to a rich library of over 40 million songs and thousands of hand-curated playlists and personalized stations “not just at the tips of your fingers, but also on the tip of your tongue.”

Yup, in case you forgot, the other global Amazon Music Unlimited key selling point is Alexa. You can ask your own personal assistant for a hands-free selection of “party music”, for instance, “happy music” or even search and play that song that goes “I was doing just fine before I met you.”

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Amazon Music Unlimited rival for Spotify and Apple Music could be mere weeks away

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

Amazon’s almost instantaneous answer to Google’s increasingly ambitious Alexa-contending moves, as well as Apple’s rumored Echo challenger? Since the e-commerce giant’s intelligent personal assistant remains a venerated industry pacesetter, especially as far as home ...

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Amazon’s rumored music streaming service could start at $5 a month for Echo users

Posted on by Adrian Diaconescu

Trying to break into a competitive space dominated by Apple and Spotify, and also including respected veterans or tech giants like Deezer, Google, Pandora or

Continue reading »

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Amazon Music gets on Android Wear in app update

Posted on by Jules Wang

Amazon’s last move regarding anything Google was a pretty mean one. Not only would it not support sending music from its app over to Chromecast, but it took Chromecast off of its marketplace. But it seems as though while that bad blood is sticking around, the Android ecosystem still needs that Amazon Music ...

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