Is Amazon Music Unlimited worth the money? The popular streaming service explained
In the 17 years since Spotify launched, streaming has grown to become the main way to consume music. Even as someone whose vinyl habit is struggling to keep pace with his physical space, I can't be without the simplicity of streaming. Having almost all of the world's music a tap away is just too good to turn down.
Amazon Music Unlimited may not have the name recognition of Spotify or Apple Music, but it's one of the best music streaming services around, especially for Prime customers. These are its pros and cons to help you decide if it's worth the money.
What is Amazon Music Unlimited?
Launching in 2016, Music Unlimited is Amazon's answer to Spotify. It allows instant access to music on demand for computers, phones, tablets and smart speakers, with a library of over 100 million songs, many of which can be played in high-quality lossless format at no extra cost.
It's not just about music, however, with over 70,000 podcasts and limited audiobook support via Audible, which I will go into a little further down.
It's widely believed to be in third place in terms of market share, behind Apple Music and Spotify. In the US, as of February 2024, Amazon Music Unlimited is estimated to have a 23.8 per cent share of the music streaming market.
How much is Amazon Music Unlimited?
Music Unlimited costs £11.99 a month, but Amazon will knock £1 a month off for Prime subscribers, taking it to £10.99.
It also offers a free trial to those trying it for the first time. The length of this varies between a month and five months on an account-by-account basis, with longer periods reserved for sales periods like Prime Day and Black Friday.
It's even better for students, with a subscription costing £5.99 a month, and you can access the same price for a single Echo smart speaker. Alternatively, up to six people can share a family plan for £19.99 a month.
Make sure you do subscribe directly via the Amazon website, rather than via the App Store or Google Play Store, even if you intend to mostly listen on your phone, however. The price is slightly higher on these platforms because both Apple and Google take a cut.
What do you get for the money?
In truth, there has been little difference in the libraries of the major streamers for some time. Amazon Music Unlimited claims to offer over 100 million – the same as Apple Music, YouTube Music and Spotify – and I haven't spotted any major omissions myself. As with its paid rivals, this is free of ads, and you can download albums and playlists to your device for offline playback.
It offers two major advantages in terms of value, though. Firstly, it includes HD and Ultra-HD music playback within the cost for supported tracks. As Amazon explains, the former is lossless CD quality while the latter offers over ten times the bitrate of standard definition streaming. This used to be a paid tier in its own right and notably Spotify still doesn't offer lossless playback, despite having promised it since 2022.
The second perk is relatively new, and really pushes up the value proposition. As of November 2024, Amazon Music Unlimited subscribers can pick any one of Audible's 800,000-strong library of audiobooks to listen to each month.
Given an Audible subscription costs £7.99 a month on its own, this is the very definition of generosity, even if the title isn't yours to keep in the same way it is via a regular account.
Are there any downsides?
In truth, there aren't many downsides to Amazon Music Unlimited and a lot will come down to personal preference.
There are two bugbears that routinely come up. The first is that its music discovery engine isn't as good as what you get on Spotify. Naturally, that's a drawback if you use streaming services to uncover your next earworm, but if, like me, you chiefly use streamers to retreat to your musical comfort zone, that's a non-issue.
Secondly, put charitably, the interface on Amazon Music takes a lot of getting used to and is far from intuitive. While it has the features and library to match its rivals, getting the most out of it is a whole other matter.
Are there any alternatives?
There's no shortage of alternatives, but none that can quite match Amazon for value.
Spotify is the most popular option. That's in part because it's the oldest and has a strong legacy user base to build on, but its music discovery engine is widely accepted to be the best around. It costs £5.99 a month for students, £11.99 for individuals and £19.99 for families. There's also a £16.99 a month version for couples called Duo, and a free ad-supported tier.
Apple Music is a compelling offering for users tied up in Apple's ecosystem, especially as it's included in the excellent value Apple One membership. Otherwise, it's £5.99 a month for students, £10.99 for individuals or £16.99 for families. Like Music Unlimited, lossless audio is included in the cost of entry and it has a dedicated Classical app for culture vultures.
Tidal is pitched at serious audiophiles, and used to have pricing to match. But as of 2024, lossless audio has been included with the standard pricing of £10.99 a month, £5.49 for students and £16.99 for families of up to six members.
Finally, there's YouTube Music which matches the £5.49/£10.99/£16.99 pricing of Tidal. Crucially, however, you can pay £7.99/£12.99/£19.99 for YouTube Premium, which includes YouTube Music and gives you an ad-free YouTube experience.
Telegraph verdict: Is Amazon Music Unlimited worth it?
With so little to differentiate the main music streamers in terms of library and features, a lot comes down to personal preference. Amazon Music Unlimited's support for lossless formats is a big advantage, even if its interface isn't the most intuitive.
However, the recent ability to listen to any book from Audible each month transforms Music Unlimited as a valuable proposition. That's something its rivals simply can't match. If you're on the fence, there's no harm in taking out a free trial and trying out the service for yourself.
Amazon Music Unlimited FAQs
Is Amazon Music Unlimited easy to cancel?
If you subscribed via the Amazon website, you can unsubscribe via the Amazon Music page. Just select 'Amazon Music Unlimited' and then pick the 'Cancel' option in the Subscription Renewal section.
For those who subscribed on iPhone, go to the App Store, then tap 'Settings'. Under your name, you'll find a 'Subscriptions' section where you can tap any live subscription to cancel it. On Android, the process is similar: go to the subscriptions section in Google Play, pick Amazon Music Unlimited and tap 'Cancel Subscription'.
Is Amazon Music Unlimited included in Prime?
No. A regular Prime subscription comes with Amazon Music, which has the same library, but with quality capped at 320Kbps and more limited Alexa functionality. More importantly, it can only be played in 'shuffle' mode, meaning you can't pick specific tracks.
However, Prime subscribers do get a £1 per month discount if they choose to upgrade to Music Unlimited, getting it for £10.99 per month instead of £11.99.
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