Amazon Prime services are used by millions of people every day, whether for discounted products, faster shipping, Prime Day deals, or streaming movies.  With so many customers, Amazon continues to provide benefits to being a Prime member.   

On Nov. 1, Amazon upgraded their Prime Music service to include their full catalog of songs.  Amazon expanded their music library to allow Prime members to listen to more than 100 million songs, which is 98 million more than what was originally offered to Prime members.  All the songs on the platform are of higher quality, and can now be listened to ad-free.  They can also be downloaded for offline listening.  There are even new “All-Access” Playlists that allow listeners to pick and play any song on-demand without skipping limits.  This update includes access to new exclusive Amazon-Only podcasts and all other podcasts without advertisements.  Additionally, the upgrade consists of a new Podcast Preview section which delivers curated clips that introduce new and existing listeners to podcasts, helping them find their next favorite shows.  

“When it comes to music streaming services, most people that I know have Apple Music or Spotify, but with this new and improved change from Amazon Prime Music, I think many people will begin to switch services.  I personally love Spotify, but I can also see myself switching sides in the near future,” said senior Emily Bersin.  

Despite the fact that the music library has been vastly expanded, many people are unhappy with the update.  The update brought a wider selection of songs, but it also took away a feature many Prime music users used daily.  The update limited the ability to pick a specific song you wanted to listen to.  Originally, listeners were able to select a song and immediately listen to it.  Now, they have to listen to songs in a shuffle-play style and wait for the selected song to play.  This type of service is similar to Spotify’s shuffle play in that it plays a mixture of curated music in a playlist shuffle-style for those who use the free version.  

“It’s unfortunate that you can no longer pick a certain song from the music library.  I really enjoyed that feature,” said sophomore Dylan Miglio. 

Nevertheless, the service still allows you to pick a particular song and lets you skip it in the All-Access playlists, but you’re still unable to pick the type of song you want to listen to whenever you want.  By upgrading the service in the manner in which they did, Amazon displayed their belief that users should be able to listen to the music they want while streaming it. 

“Music is such an important part of my life, there is nothing like finding a new song that you really love.  In the past few years, I feel like there have been a bunch of new movies and streaming services, but the services for music have pretty much stayed constant.  I think this new version of Amazon Music will inspire more music services, giving us more ways to listen,” said senior Carly Fanous. 

Amazon Music expanding their library of songs has been a large update, since it allows Prime members to listen to 98 million more songs.  However, there is a mixed consensus around the update, and many are questioning whether a subscription is worth it.