Prime Music: My First Impressions + what an Expert Says



At some point while we were all sleeping, Amazon launched Prime Music, through which users can stream unlimited tracks from Amazon’s music catalog. This all, no doubt, in preparation for their upcoming smart phone release. Don’t get too excited—Amazon’s music catalog can boast around 1 million songs—and that’s about it. Music streaming competitors’ numbers are more in the 20-30 million range for, well, not an increased price to match that ratio. 

Music industry critic Bob Lefsetz warns that the move is a step even further backwards from current music-streaming models via Apple and Spotify that take large percentages of profits from rights holders and musicians. The payment model is unclear, selection limited, and could turn out to be, as Lefsetz is quick to call it, “a disaster.” 

He suggests that Competitors will only see an increase in users. The imperfect attempt at a music streaming service has larger repercussions. If Amazon hopes to have a successful smart phone launch (particularly after powerhouses like Facebook have failed with their attempts at smart phone hardware releases), they’ve got to spend more time perfecting every detail before hurrying into the game.

I was able to download the app, though as the article says, there are some quirks. for example, when I accessed the primemusic website, it started playing samplers while prompting me to download the app. when I started downloading the app, the website was minimized but it kept playing songs evern after the downloaded app was installed and I registered using the app. It became a bit confusing since I didn't realize that the songs were still being played by the background website and not the app in front.

Once I figured it out, the selection left me cold - once again, in a zeal to hit the million mark, Amazon sacrificed the quality, same as it has done in Prime Videos and Prime ebooks.In 20 minutes of browsing, I  did not find a single song that I was either familiar with or liked enough to add to my personalized playlist - this experience was very similar to the "Free" Prime videos and eBooks. 

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