It should come as no surprise that on the day Apple Music announced lossless audio at no extra cost, Amazon has responded by removing the additional charge for its highest-quality streaming audio option.
Amazon Music Unlimited costs $7.99 per month for Prime subscribers, or $9.99 without Prime. Until today, Music HD, which provides high definition audio streams, required paying an additional charge. Prime subscribers were paying $12.99 with that increasing to $14.99 without Prime. However, now the cheaper Music Unlimited subscription includes HD streams for free.
"When we first launched Amazon Music HD, our goal was to lead the industry by enabling music fans around the world to stream the best quality recording, the way artists intended their music to be heard," said Steve Boom, VP of Amazon Music. "We’re thrilled now to make Amazon Music HD available to everyone at no extra cost. All music fans should have access to this quality of music, and now they do!"
Amazon has an advantage over Apple Music simply because it already offers over 70 million songs in HD (16-bit at 44.1kHz), over seven million in Ultra HD (24-bit at 192kHz), and "a rapidly-growing catalog of 3D Audio, including songs mixed in Dolby Atmos and Sony 360RA." Removing the price premium makes it even more attractive a few weeks before Apple catches up. And if you already subscribe to Music HD, there's nothing to do except wait for your next bill to show the lower price point. Music Unlimited subscribers can also upgrade to HD for free at any time in the US, UK, Germany, Canada, France, Italy, and Spain.