Amazon HD Lower Price

Go with Apple then, which also just announced hifi upgrade. They claim to protect your privacy and claim to collect less data. 

Google is going to have the best AI for recommending music. But they will collect everything about you. They still haven't stepped up on high bitrate yet either. I think they have to, I think they want this market and they'll just have to offer what Again and Apple offer.

My question is, those of us that paid for the annual rate, will we get a refund of the difference?

I posted this on another Amazon thread (that already existed), but here's the email I received...

We have some great news for you – going forward, there will be no extra charge for HD as part of your Amazon Music Unlimited subscription.
You will continue to have full access to all of your HD content, but at no additional cost. This change will be reflected in your next billing cycle.

I've been using AmazonHD since they announced it. Ended the Tidal (Masters?) subscription. Tidal was ok, but the focus on Rap/R&B/Pop was annoying. I play it with BluOS products, NAD C388 (with BluOS2i MDC card), and Node2i - they have been great, and both stream at 24/192 while listening through LXmini + OB-subs with either ATI 6012 (class AB) or Hypex FA123 (Ncore class D).

BluOS is great, control either Blu units with phones, tablets, PCs and even group (at will) for whole home (same stream). Also plays nice by voice, with Alexa skill.
Allows access to AmazonHD custom playlists (unlike Denon/Marantz HEOS - which does not). However doesn't allow creation of custom playlists from within BluOS.

Another cool thing is AmazonMusic family plan, which allows multiple (think 6) family member accounts. So each family member can have their own favorites/custom playlists/history/etc. and they're not all mixed into one account. That means I don't have to listen to Pretty Wife's country music when I choose to listen to my UHD favorites playlist! UHD shows as FLAC (BTW). Family plan also allows multiple simultaneous UHD streams being played on any devices. Example: I'm listening to my "Chill Sounds" on 2-ch system, wife's on Sun porch on her phone BT to Edifiers, Son is streaming to IEMs from his phone, Nephew is in basement on the HT system (Denon HEOS) via Echo Dot control.

It's actually very futuristic now that I think about it. A massive catalog (I've never not been able to find a track I've search for), playable in CD+ quality, anywhere an internet connection is available. Tech has come a long way since my early audio years with cassettes and LPs. "Someone go flip the record over." - not!

omm0910

It’s only a matter of time until Qobuz and Tidal become irrelevant. Amazon, and now Apple, and probably soon Google Play music, want this market. Last time I checked they had rather more money, customers, and additional products that they can tie into, compared to Qobuz and Tidal. They can keep the price low for years until they bleed out. Frankly they are not even on Amazon Apple and Google’s radar. They are dead men walking ...

I would not be so certain. Not everyone bases their purchases solely on price, and that’s especially so in audioland. The big question is: Can providers such as Qobuz find a profitable model at what will be a relatively niche level of volume? Presently none of the streaming providers are profitable.

I am using Tidal (with the masters option ) and am loving it. Some songs pull up in MQA and some pull up in CD. Some MQA songs don’t sound as good as CD and some sound better. As far as it’s rap oriented I don’t care what songs it thinks I might like. I just type in the song I want and hit play. The Blu os app is great too. I always figured that 5 or 10 bucks extra a month for people here wasn’t too big a deal. I am not well off but I hope Tidal and Qobuz stick around.