Under Windows, you can access many songs with Ultra HD Audio with track quality up to 24 bit / 44.1 kHz encoded with FLAC. Even with a high bitrate, I can definitely hear the difference between lossy and lossless. The upshot is that while Amazon Music Unlimited offers HD (lossless) and Ultra HD (also lossless but with a higher sample rate), Linux users have to settle for Standard Definition with a bitrate up to 320 kbps. That’s right, you can forget HD or Ultra HD playback. When we click the SD symbol we see: Click image for full sizeĪs the image highlights, using the streaming service with a web browser means you have to settle with SD playback. You’ll notice the SD symbol showing right at the bottom of the window. The second elephant in the room is staring at us. But we’re out of luck with Amazon Music Unlimited under Linux. And many dedicated Linux music clients support gapless playback. Gapless audio was the norm for vinyl records and CDs. Many albums are best enjoyed uninterrupted by breaks. Sadly gapless playback is not available with web playback. To be fair, had Amazon developed an Electron-based Linux client, things would probably be very similar from an interface perspective. The web interface is perfectly serviceable. Instead, Linux users have to settle accessing the streaming service with a DRM-capable web browser such as Firefox or Chrome.
In fact, there’s nothing to suggest a dedicated client will ever be forthcoming. But Amazon hasn’t committed to releasing a Linux client for Amazon Music Unlimited. For example, their cloud computing division, Amazon Web Services produces Amazon Linux, a distribution of Linux using Fedora as the upstream with a commitment to release major versions every two years with each major release having 5 years of long term support. That’s correct, Amazon doesn’t offer a Linux client.Īmazon is not Linux-phobic. If you’re hoping there’s a Linux client lurking in the Mac & PC section, you’ll be very dispirited.
Click image for full sizeĪs the image above shows, Amazon Music Unlimited is compatible with smartphones and tablets via its Android and iOS apps PCs and Macs via either its web player or desktop app Fire tablets and Fire TVs some in-car entertainment systems Sonos multi-room wireless speakers Bluesound and NAD BluOS devices. Let’s get the first elephant in the room out of the way.
0 kommentar(er)
