Amazon launches lossless high-res music service!

[ktm125]

Hi,
Thank you for your message.
We are still not able to support Amazon Music while Amazon is not releasing an API:
https://support.soundiiz.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009509314-Why-Amazon-Music-is-not-fully-supported-
Thomas, CoFounder
Soundiiz.com

 

[gvl]

I was addressing the external Chromecast box, no idea what goes on inside there.
Impossible to get hard info on what Spotify streams to what. One source says it's Ogg another AAC

I always thought based on the bits of information I found over time that Ogg is limited to the Desktop and Mobile apps, everything else is using AAC codec. Chromecast streams by itself, you can turn off the device that initiated the cast and the playback will continue.

 

[ahofer]

Has anyone tested Amazon’s classical catalogue? I have Qobuz and Tidal, which seems to cover a lot (plus over 1000 ripped CDs which I don’t have to store in my apartment anymore, ahem). I’m already Amazon Prime, so there’s hope I could consolidate and save a few bucks. I would have to rebuild my favorites, however.

 

[jhwalker]

Has anyone tested Amazon’s classical catalogue? I have Qobuz and Tidal, which seems to cover a lot (plus over 1000 ripped CDs which I don’t have to store in my apartment anymore, ahem). I’m already Amazon Prime, so there’s hope I could consolidate and save a few bucks. I would have to rebuild my favorites, however.

From what I can tell, it's at least as extensive as Tidal, but perhaps not so deep as Qobuz.

Neither Tidal nor Amazon puts any emphasis on discovery (at least for classical albums), so it's kind of hard to tell without just querying a bunch of albums and seeing if they show up.

I'm thinking seriously about giving up Tidal in favor of Amazon, as I typically use Tidal just for pop / rock, while Qobuz covers classical. I suspect Amazon has ALL the pop catalog Tidal does (or at least that I would want).

 

[samshaver]

Some info here.
http://productionadvice.co.uk/amazon-music-loudness-normalization/

The more people who leave this on (I assume it's tracked by the services) the more the industry will learn to back away from the loudness war.

All good points. Some loudness normalization (and mastering techniques) do work that way. Others (https://tech.ebu.ch/docs/tech/tech3342.pdf) don't, but have tricks of their own to avoid having very loud and very soft passages skew loudness.

Interesting. So, do we know for sure whether this is just a volume adjuster or actually changing the EQ?!?

 

[Soniclife]

Interesting. So, do we know for sure whether this is just a volume adjuster or actually changing the EQ?!?

It will just be changing the volume.

The following explains how Roon does it, I use it's auto mode with my ripped collection and Tidal, it's far from a perfect solution but it does stop the jarring change going to a loudness war casualty.
https://kb.roonlabs.com/Volume_Leveling

 

[GrimSurfer]

It will just be changing the volume.

The following explains how Roon does it, I use it's auto mode with my ripped collection and Tidal, it's far from a perfect solution but it does stop the jarring change going to a loudness war casualty.
https://kb.roonlabs.com/Volume_Leveling

Roon's approach is very clever. I can see where volume levelling on an album basis would be massively useful to classical listeners the most, where a broad dynamic range and compositions can change mood through volume.

The good thing is also that Roon publishes its volume levelling standard. Not all do and, in the early days of iTunes, Apple was EQing in conjunction with volume levelling in "Mastered for iTunes" tracks.

 

[amirm]

Does this happen a lot?

I lost a lot of CDs when I left Microsoft.

Hi,
Thank you for your message.
We are still not able to support Amazon Music while Amazon is not releasing an API:
https://support.soundiiz.com/hc/en-us/articles/360009509314-Why-Amazon-Music-is-not-fully-supported-
Thomas, CoFounder
Soundiiz.com

That's really bad news for us if they don't offer the API. They offer embedded (appliance) playback so I don't know why they are not doing that on open platforms.

 

[Daverz]

Depending how they have implemented it fidelity may be higher with it on, as there could be less inter sample overs.

From what I can tell, it's at least as extensive as Tidal, but perhaps not so deep as Qobuz.

Neither Tidal nor Amazon puts any emphasis on discovery (at least for classical albums), so it's kind of hard to tell without just querying a bunch of albums and seeing if they show up.

Amazon search includes more metadata than Tidal. It will pull up things by label, for example.

 

[g29]

I lost a lot of CDs when I left Microsoft.

Are you referring to the 50,000 MSDN CD install packs ?

 

[wadec22]

hopefully this thing runs a lot smoother as a dedicated hd sub service. regular amazon music service through pc web browser uses a crushing amount of cpu for no good reason (or it did when I tried it).

 

[g29]

Amazon search includes more metadata than Tidal. It will pull up things by label, for example.

Can you search by "ULTRA HIGH DEF" for "24/192" ?

 

[BillG]

That's really bad news for us if they don't offer the API. They offer embedded (appliance) playback so I don't know why they are not doing that on open platforms.

Someone could probably reverse engineer it; I don't suspect it would be that difficult with the right tools. However, Amazon might not be too happy about it, but they can hardly stop it once it gets released...

 

[GrimSurfer]

That's really bad news for us if they don't offer the API. They offer embedded (appliance) playback so I don't know why they are not doing that on open platforms.

If Amazon is making a power play for control of the music market, releasing the application programming interface freely to the digital commons would make sense. If music streaming is simply another profit vehicle, they probably won't because they stand to make money on licensing the API.

It all depends on how online streaming is seen by Bezos & coy... a means to an end ($) or end onto itself ($$?).

 

[audimus]

I suspect labels who own copyrights may have some ideas on how hi res music (at least beyond CD quality) can be distributed to have some level of control against widespread piracy. While nothing is perfect, just opening the doors so anyone can download and share as opposed to a few filelocker releasers will destroy the business model. Any open APIs would have to be secure, based on trackable permissions with the ability to revoke. Any streaming services with subscription model will also share that need from self-interest.

All these details are probably still being worked out with conflicting goals. The MP3 and CD barn door was not shut before the horses bolted. Not sure they want to make the same mistake for online lossless music.

 

[Soniclife]

I lost a lot of CDs when I left Microsoft.

That's really bad news for us if they don't offer the API. They offer embedded (appliance) playback so I don't know why they are not doing that on open platforms.

This API is around metadata, not music data, and the current limitation hinders people moving to Amazon, not away so it probably will get added.

 

[rmo]

If Amazon is making a power play for control of the music market, releasing the application programming interface freely to the digital commons would make sense. If music streaming is simply another profit vehicle, they probably won't because they stand to make money on licensing the API.

It all depends on how online streaming is seen by Bezos & coy... a means to an end ($) or end onto itself ($$?).

Well said. I do think they will release an interface. What do you think?

 

[ZeDestructor]

I suspect labels who own copyrights may have some ideas on how hi res music (at least beyond CD quality) can be distributed to have some level of control against widespread piracy. While nothing is perfect, just opening the doors so anyone can download and share as opposed to a few filelocker releasers will destroy the business model. Any open APIs would have to be secure, based on trackable permissions with the ability to revoke. Any streaming services with subscription model will also share that need from self-interest.

All these details are probably still being worked out with conflicting goals. The MP3 and CD barn door was not shut before the horses bolted. Not sure they want to make the same mistake for online lossless music.

You can already rip lossless streams from Tidal and Qobuz, and the vast majority of music gets a simultaneous CD release as well, so you get to take your pick as a pirate.

Really, much like videogames, the actual solution is to make it as easy as possible to buy and use the thing as a legitimate customer, with some very light DRM (like a CD key or simple license check at launch) to discourage the absolute lowest hanging fruit.

 

[GrimSurfer]

Well said. I do think they will release an interface. What do you think?

It's difficult to say. So much depends on the success they've had with record companies and rights holders.

If the discussion was easy, they'd interpret this as a sign of weakness and, perhaps, release the API as a means of gaining more control.

If they had to pay dearly for access (ie. via high royalty payments), they may react much more cautiously and try to recoup costs through API licensing.

There's a bit of game theory playing out here... and it all depends on who is seen to have the power. Is it the rights holders, or the distributors? The answer to this question was very clear during the vinyl era (distributors had clear control because they had the exclusive means to get products to the customer on an international scale) but technology can have a disruptive influence on established markets.

 

[Soniclife]

Really, much like videogames, the actual solution is to make it as easy as possible to buy and use the thing as a legitimate customer, with some very light DRM (like a CD key or simple license check at launch) to discourage the absolute lowest hanging fruit.

Yep, the organised pirates will already have ways of dumping the data perfectly, but why bother with pirate copies when the legal way is simple and low cost.