Streaming services are practically part of the furniture now. They’re the epitome of aural-media convenience, serving us access to an unfathomable volume of ‘stuff’ – from music to podcasts to whale noises if that happens to be your thing. Amazon Music is one of the top-dog platforms for such convenience and, as part of the huge Amazon Black Friday deals blowout they’re dropping the barrier to entry for new subscribers with a three months’ free subscription to Amazon Music Unlimited.
As a guitarist making music in the most physical of ways, it’s impossible to deny the merits of physical media – but, beautiful as it is to sit down and listen to a vinyl record, it’s hard to imagine life without the incredible convenience of the streaming subscription. There are a handful of services that have come to define the streaming era, Spotify chief amongst them, but Amazon’s own answer to streaming has some HD tricks up its sleeve.
Amazon Music has a free tier with ad-stippled listening at standard definition; the Unlimited subscription naturally blows it away, but also tops a number of other industry-leading platforms with its approach to fidelity. Subscribing to Amazon Music Unlimited ups the fidelity to CD-quality lossless playback, which already trumps the average fidelity of other subscription-service streaming platforms; it also offers millions of tracks at ‘Ultra HD’ fidelity, meaning up to 24-bit/192kHz audio.
There’s also a healthy showing for spatial audio in Amazon Music Unlimited, with thousands of songs available in 360 Reality Audio or Dolby Atmos. If you’ve spatial audio headphones, or a network of connected smart speakers in your home, you get to experience 3D audio at its best.
Music isn’t the only benefit to an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription, either. You also get unfettered access to a veritable smorgasbord of podcasts and radio shows, including some incredible Amazon-exclusive content from the likes of Rolling Stone and the BBC. What’s more, Amazon has just announced that users in the US will now also get free access to Audible, too.
There are so many streaming services to pick from nowadays, each with their own exclusive offerings and practical merits. That said, Amazon Music Unlimited is a tough subscription to beat this Black Friday, particularly with a compelling offer of three free months. Furthermore, if you invest in Amazon Prime (itself a worthy streaming platform in its own right, as well as a handy way to get new guitar strings delivered in a pinch), you can have Amazon Music Unlimited for a reduced monthly fee of $9.99 thereafter.
If times are tight, then this is the ideal opportunity to get something for nothing this Black Friday. If you’re looking for something guitar-shaped, take a look at our round-up of this year’s best Black Friday guitar deals.
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