Amazon has discreetly launched its subscription-based music streaming service -- Amazon Prime Music -- in India. The service can be availed by Amazon Prime members and can be accessed on the web via music.amazon.in or via the Amazon Prime Music app available for download on Android and iOS.
Until now, Amazon Prime Music was available only to users of Amazon Echo (REVIEW) smart speaker in India on a preview basis, but now it is available to all. However, it should be noted that the ad-free music streaming service is only available for Amazon Prime users as part of their Prime membership.
With this launch, Amazon will be looking to give a tough competition to other Indian and international music streaming services like Gaana, Saavn, Wynk, Apple Music, Google Play Music, Hungama and more.
How to access Amazon Prime Music service?
Upon opening the Amazon Music site (music.amazon.in), you will be asked to log-in using your Amazon account credentials (if you are not logged in). Once done, the service will ask you to select your music preferences by different languages including, Hindi, English, Punjabi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Bengali, Bhojpuri, Gujarati and Rajasthani.
The language preferences can be selected by hitting the thumbs up/like button. Amazon Music will then use the information to curate recommendations for you. If you are using the service on your Echo speakers, it will show your playlists and albums in the recently played section.
The mobile app comes with Alexa (Amazon's digital assistant) integration, which makes it all the more easier to look for your favorite song. All you will need to do is tap on the Alexa icon in the app and say-out the song name, album, or artist name.
Furthermore, the music app is ad-free, meaning that you will not be getting those annoying ads while listening to music. Users will also get unlimited downloads to play the songs offline on the mobile app. Apart from this, the app also allows users to select the music on their phone and cast it on Chromecast-enabled devices.
Amazon Prime membership
Amazon Prime Music comes as a part of Amazon Prime membership, which costs Rs 999 per year or roughly Rs 84 per month. This makes it a little cheaper than Apple Music which charges Rs 120 per month (Rs 60, if you're a student) and Google Play Music which comes at Rs 99 per month.
Although Amazon India does not reveal a specific figure for the number of songs it has on offer in India, it says that Prime Music has hundreds of playlists and stations specially curated by its music experts across genres, moods, activities, decades and artists.
That said, the service has most, if not all, of the latest and recently released albums.
