Amazon's Music Unlimited upgrades with monthly & annual Family plans
Amazon on Wednesday launched two Family plans for subscribers to Music Unlimited, its recently-launched competitor to on-demand services like Spotify and Apple Music.
The standard Family plan costs $14.99 per month for both Prime and non-Prime customers, and lets up to six people share the service, each with their own separate recommendations. Prime members alone have access to an annual option costing $149, a little over $30 cheaper than subscribing per month.
When Music Unlimited first launched in October, the service only had its four individual plans: $9.99 per month for the general public, $7.99 per month/$79 per year for Prime customers, or just $3.99 per month for owners of an Echo, Tap, or Echo Dot, though in that case the service will only work on one speaker.
All of Amazon's plans come with a free 30-day trial period. Apple by contrast offers a 90-day window, while Spotify is completely free to use, though people have to upgrade to Premium to remove ads and get other features like offline caching.
Amazon's monthly Family plan is essentially identical to those from Apple and Spotify. The main draw may therefore be with Prime customers, or people who want to take advantage of integration with the Alexa voice assistant on Echo and Fire devices. Alexa can, however, play music from services like Spotify, Pandora, and TuneIn.
The standard Family plan costs $14.99 per month for both Prime and non-Prime customers, and lets up to six people share the service, each with their own separate recommendations. Prime members alone have access to an annual option costing $149, a little over $30 cheaper than subscribing per month.
When Music Unlimited first launched in October, the service only had its four individual plans: $9.99 per month for the general public, $7.99 per month/$79 per year for Prime customers, or just $3.99 per month for owners of an Echo, Tap, or Echo Dot, though in that case the service will only work on one speaker.
All of Amazon's plans come with a free 30-day trial period. Apple by contrast offers a 90-day window, while Spotify is completely free to use, though people have to upgrade to Premium to remove ads and get other features like offline caching.
Amazon's monthly Family plan is essentially identical to those from Apple and Spotify. The main draw may therefore be with Prime customers, or people who want to take advantage of integration with the Alexa voice assistant on Echo and Fire devices. Alexa can, however, play music from services like Spotify, Pandora, and TuneIn.
Comments
Anyway, that's why I guess I'm missing the point. Anything they do they could also do with their iPhones except they don't have to be in their kitchen (where they keep it). I understand you can use it to order stuff from Amazon but they don't, at least not yet. Other than that, what is the point?
And just for clarity, she has an iPhone 6, he has a 5s and she she also has a Apple Watch Sport. Most of what they use the Echo for they can use those devices for and they're always with them.
You say Echo can hear you anywhere in the room. What happens when you are down the hall or upstairs or just in a room where the door is closed?
Your point about needing a 6s or newer for "Hey, Siri" is certainly valid, but more and more people get there daily. I bet there are more people with a 6s or 7 than there are people with an Echo.
Keep in mind, my friends HAVE listened to music through Echo, but still usually have the stereo in their living room playing music. I use my Watch to turn on my stereo and then use Remote to AirPlay my music.
Aside from "better" voice recognition (thanks to more microphones and better power) and better sound than a phone (larger speaker and better power) I don't still don't get it. If those are the only advantages, they aren't very strong. Or, for me, not strong enough to pay for another device and go through all that setup just to maybe not have to take my phone out of my pocket.
Artists make their money from live performance and merchandise.