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Amazon Music has launched a new "HD" subscription level to its streaming service, becoming the first of three major streaming services to deliver high fidelity digital sound. He joins bands such as Tidal, Deezer and Qobuz, all of whom are small streaming platforms offering high quality audio options. The two largest streaming services, Spotify and Apple Music, do not yet offer high-resolution levels.
Amazon Music HD subscribers now have access to approximately 50 million songs in what the company calls "HD," which is essentially CD-quality audio (16-bit files with a sample rate of 44.1 kilohertz) . A subset of "millions" of these songs, according to The New York Times, will be available at the "Ultra HD" level (up to 24 bits and 192 kHz). The recordings are encoded with FLAC, a format that allows lossless audio compression. The bit depth, sampling frequency, and audio format all contribute to the amount of audio information that is stored in each file.
Amazon Music HD is now available for $ 12.99 per month for Amazon Prime members and $ 14.99 per month for regular customers, or $ 5 per month for current individual or family plan members . "With these awards, we are showing the world that quality is for everyone," said Steve Boom, vice president of Amazon Music. Times.
Although streaming services continue to provide subscribers with high quality sound, its value has been strongly questioned – in particular because many academic studies have shown that the average consumer can not discern the difference between a high sound quality and low quality sound.
Nevertheless, Neil Young, who has already tried to launch his own high-fidelity audio company called Pono, supports the new level of Amazon Music. "The Earth will be changed forever when Amazon introduces high quality streaming to the masses," Young told reporters. Times. "It will be the biggest thing that will happen in music since the introduction of digital audio 40 years ago."
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