Amazon Launches Prime Music

[tubemonkey]

Updates:

• Amazon Music now available for Fire TV - PM to be added later this year
• Still missing landscape mode for Android devices

[CWatkinsNash]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Updates:

• Amazon Music now available for Fire TV - PM to be added later this year
• Still missing landscape mode for Android devices

Any news on Roku? (I'm lazy and you seem to be on top of things. )

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by CWatkinsNash

Any news on Roku? (I'm lazy and you seem to be on top of things. )

Nothing yet. I suspect Roku won't see it until after Fire TV gets it.

[sakura-panda]

I'm tempted to sign up for Prime because of this (am currently using Prime on a "household account" -- my husband gets all the benefits and I get only free shipping.) Most of the Prime benefits wouldn't get used by me -- video streaming, kindle library, etc -- but I could see myself using this one, especially if I could stream it on the Roku.

I don't know what Fire TV is -- is it another box? Like Apple TV and Roku?

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

I don't know what Fire TV is -- is it another box? Like Apple TV and Roku?

It's Amazon's set top box:

Amazon Fire TV

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

I'm tempted to sign up for Prime because of this (am currently using Prime on a "household account" -- my husband gets all the benefits and I get only free shipping.) Most of the Prime benefits wouldn't get used by me -- video streaming, kindle library, etc -- but I could see myself using this one, especially if I could stream it on the Roku.

Do you have a separate Amazon account that you use for everything other than shipping? If not, each Amazon account is allowed to have 10 devices registered for Amazon Music and 4 eligible devices are allowed to download Prime Music content. As to streaming Prime Music, only 1 device at a time can do so; in which case, you take turns.

See this post for details.
.

[tomsem]

Note if you happen to have a Fire HDX, you should be able to Miracast to FireTV, so you can play music through it (as a workaround until there's a Fire TV app). I have not actually been able to find a demo of this however.

[sakura-panda]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

Do you have a separate Amazon account that you use for everything other than shipping? If not, each Amazon account is allowed to have 10 devices registered for Amazon Music and 4 eligible devices are allowed to download Prime Music content. As to streaming Prime Music, only 1 device at a time can do so; in which case, you take turns.

See this post for details.
.

We don't share anything -- we even each have our own paid Pandora One account. I think Netflix (which has family member profiles now) and Prime Shipping are the only things I don't have my own accounts for.

That is interesting about the devices; ten seems to be a generous number of devices -- off the top of my head, I can think of five that my husband might want to connect with and that seems like an excessive number! I wonder if they will allow one device (like a Roku box) to be registered to two accounts? (I say that, but he has said he isn't interested in Prime Music for himself right now so it's really a non-issue. I think that could change for him though, depending on how the program evolves.)

I've been looking hard for a way to stream my own music through the TV and this really might be the best/easiest way to do it, depending on if they implement it conveniently for me (such as on my Roku, TiVo or TV). I use Pandora now, but I can't get the playlists set up right -- either too much of one music type/song/artist (and I get tired of it) or too much of the music I don't want and no good way to skip them with the TV app. I guess I don't have to make a decision until/unless it becomes available that way.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

I wonder if they will allow one device (like a Roku box) to be registered to two accounts? (I say that, but he has said he isn't interested in Prime Music for himself right now so it's really a non-issue. I think that could change for him though, depending on how the program evolves.)

No; Amazon only allows 1 account per device.

[sakura-panda]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

No; Amazon only allows 1 account per device.

Sure, on Amazon products, but what about non-Amazon? We have separate Pandora accounts and often log each other out to log ourselves in. It would make sense for them to allow that too if they put an app on a non-Amazon branded device. (Which maybe they won't do. I am not interested in any of their hardware and it would be a deal-breaker for me if they don't make apps for other devices.)

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

That is interesting about the devices; ten seems to be a generous number of devices -- off the top of my head, I can think of five that my husband might want to connect with and that seems like an excessive number!

10 is a lot, but I'm always maxed out. Even worse is having to wait a month (after reaching the limit) to transfer from one device to another.

I've been looking hard for a way to stream my own music through the TV and this really might be the best/easiest way to do it, depending on if they implement it conveniently for me (such as on my Roku, TiVo or TV). I use Pandora now, but I can't get the playlists set up right -- either too much of one music type/song/artist (and I get tired of it) or too much of the music I don't want and no good way to skip them with the TV app. I guess I don't have to make a decision until/unless it becomes available that way.

I don't stream music on my TV; in fact, I rarely stream videos on my TV. My PC and Fire HD 7.1 are my primary devices for music and video.

The biggest problem I have with Prime Music is that it's missing a radio feature. I prefer radio stations over albums and short playlists, because I can turn one on and let it play for hours on end. My favorite music apps are AOL Radio and TuneIn Radio. I can select sub-genres that match my tastes - British Invasion, Deep Classic Rock, 90s Alternative, 40s Oldies, and Classical 101 to name but a few; or I can build a station around a group. Can't do that with Prime Music.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

Sure, on Amazon products, but what about non-Amazon? We have separate Pandora accounts and often log each other out to log ourselves in. It would make sense for them to allow that too if they put an app on a non-Amazon branded device. (Which maybe they won't do. I am not interested in any of their hardware and it would be a deal-breaker for me if they don't make apps for other devices.)

That I don't know. I've never tried it. I know about Amazon, because I read it in one of their FAQs. I can see where it would come in handy to be able to do so.

[tubemonkey]

Originally Posted by tubemonkey

I was hoping PM would be more along the lines of Pandora where you could listen to stations by genre or build your own based on a song or a group. Instead, we get songs, albums, and greatest hits collections. Unfortunately for me and others, the stuff we listen to the most is totally missing.

Right now, I'll give it a C-. There's some minor stuff in there that'll make for great listening.

Well, after nearly a month of listening, I'm more impressed with PM than I was initially. I'm now giving it a B-. I discovered I can get nearly whole albums with a song search. After pulling up the album it's on, I frequently find that most of the songs are Prime eligible. I then add all that I can to the cloud.

I'll give it a B when they add landscape mode to the Android app and a B+ when they add Universal to their catalog. As an on demand music service, it's good if you like it's rather small catalog of one million songs. Time will tell if they can get Universal onboard.

The only way I'll ever give PM an A is if they add genre based radio stations and allow stations to be built around a group or a song. Until then, AOL and TuneIn are my go to streaming music services.

Overall, Prime Music adds definite value to Amazon Prime and I'm glad Amazon added it.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by sakura-panda

Sure, on Amazon products, but what about non-Amazon? We have separate Pandora accounts and often log each other out to log ourselves in. It would make sense for them to allow that too if they put an app on a non-Amazon branded device. (Which maybe they won't do. I am not interested in any of their hardware and it would be a deal-breaker for me if they don't make apps for other devices.)

You can certainly logout from one account and login with another one on the iOS and Android apps.

However there is a fairly lengthy 'sync' required each time you do that (I probably have several thousand songs in my library, between purchased and Prime content that I've added). And you would be blowing away any content you had downloaded for offline listening. So it would not work very well.

Pandora has nothing like that amount of data to sync, typically only a few dozen 'channels', so that scenario is workable.

Really, mobile devices are 'personal' and not designed to be shared (with the possible exception of Windows tablets).

[tomsem]

I'm also impressed with the selection, though for me very little of my 'A-list' music is included in Prime.