Tidal vs Amazon Music Unlimited: Which One is Worth It?

By Miley Swift Updated on 2025-01-13 / Update for Tidal Tips

In today's competitive music streaming market, Tidal and Amazon Music stand out as two prominent platforms. Both offer extensive music libraries, high-quality audio, and unique features, but which one is the better choice for you? In this article, we'll dive into a detailed comparison of Amazon Music and Tidal. Since Tidal is only for premium now, we mainly focus on Tidal vs Amazon Music Unlimited, covering pricing, audio quality, catalog size, and standout features.

tidal vs amazon music unlimited

Part 1. Overview of Tidal and Amazon Music

First, let's have a look at what is Amazon Music Unlimited and what is TIDAL (the name of Tidal's plan). We will specially list their benefits and downsides.

🔵 What Is Amazon Music

Amazon Music Unlimited is a premium music plan of Amazon Music. It allows you to explore 100 million songs and most of them are in Amazon Music HD/Ultra HD quality. Beyond this, it provides a growing catalog of tracks with spatial content such as Dolby Atmos. Amazon Music can seamlessly integrate with other Amazon services, such as Alexa and Prime Video, enhancing the user experience.

See also: How to Link Amazon Music on Alexa

Also, there are four different services within the Amazon Music Unlimited subscription: Individual plan, Family plan, Single Device plan, and Student plan. You have a free period before renewal and a discount for students. However, please note that the Single Device plan does not offer spatial sound, Amazon Music HD, and Ultra HD quality.

Now, let us talk about the benefits and downsides of Amazon Music Unlimited below.

👍 Pros 👎 Cons
  • You can easily access over 100 million ad-free and high-bitrate songs in Amazon Music HD/Ultra HD quality
  • It endows you with thousands of expert-curated playlists and stations
  • Support playing Amazon Music songs on supported devices and Alexa-enabled players whenever and wherever you like
  • Enable you to download tracks from Amazon Music for offline playback
  • Offer expert-programmed and exclusive playlists based on your listening habits
  • Features may vary by region
  • Without video content
  • 🔵 What Is TIDAL

    TIDAL is the combination of the previous Tidal HiFi and Tidal HiFi Plus. It features HiFi and Max quality music, Dolby Atmos effect, and DJ extension. Similar to Amazon Music Unlimited, TIDAL offers three plans: Individual plan, Family plan, and Student plan. It also comes with a Tidal free trial before renewal. Additionally, TIDAL provides students with over a 50% discount. The discount for military and first responders has been canceled.

    Here are the pros and cons of TIDAL.

    👍 Pros 👎 Cons
  • Offer you stunning sound quality, Hi-Res audio, and over 110 million of ad-free songs
  • Comes with exclusive artist streams, live concerts, thousands of playlists and videos content
  • Offer unique DJ extension
  • Curated playlists based on music tastes
  • Less official integration with other services
  • Only support downloading music on mobiles
  • Now, you already have a general idea about Tidal vs Amazon Music. See the detailed comparison of the main aspects below.

    Part 2. Amazon Music vs Tidal Sound Quality

    Sound quality has to be the paramount aspect whenever you decide to go for a music streaming service. When talking about Amazon Music vs Tidal sound quality, you should never miss this part. A comparison table displays Amazon Music HD & Ultra HD vs Tidal HiFi & Max.

    Bit Rate Format Dolby Atmos
    Amazon Music HD 850 Kbps FLAC
    Amazon Music Ultra HD 3,730 Kbps FLAC
    Tidal HiFi 1411 Kbps FLAC
    Tidal Max 2,304 - 9,216 Kbps HiRes FLAC

    See also: How to Download Tidal HiRes FLAC Music

    ✨Verdict: Tidal wins on account that it provides much higher music quality.

    Part 3. Amazon Music Unlimited vs Tidal: Subscription Plans and Cost

    When talking about the price plans of Amazon Music and Tidal, the stand-out aspect about both of these streaming platforms is the generosity to offer discounts for students. Both of them give subscribers a 30-day free trial and over a 50% discount for students. But their subscription prices are different for different detailed plans. Here is a clear table to see which is more customer-friendly.

    Plan Free Plan Individual Student Family Single Device
    Amazon Music Unlimited $10.99/month
    Amazon Prime: $9.99/month
    $5.99/month $16.99/month $ 4.99/month
    TIDAL $10.99/month
    DJ extension: $9.00/month
    $5.49/month
    DJ extension: $9.00/month
    $16.99/month

    From the chart above, it indicates that the price of Tidal and Amazon Music is similar, while Tidal doesn't provide a free plan.

    See also: Best DJ Apps that Work with Tidal [Online/Free]

    ✨Verdict: Amazon Music provides more plans and discounts while Tidal offers the unique add-on DJ extension.

    Part 4. Tidal vs Amazon Music: Availability and Compatibility

    As for the availability and compatibility of Amazon Music Unlimited vs Tidal, both are compatible with web, mobile, and desktop devices. They both allow you to listen to downloaded music in their respective apps due to copyright protection.

    It would be a wise decision to use a smart speaker if you're opting for Amazon Music Unlimited. Connecting with smart speakers like Echo Studio will greatly enhance your sound quality. Moreover, you also can opt for Google devices to listen to Amazon Music HD and Ultra HD quality audio, but you'll get pretty limited features going in this route.

    On the other hand, you can cast Tidal music to Google devices, Nest, Sonos, and Echo via Tidal Connect. Tidal partners with many popular devices and players, including Amazon Alexa. If you want to check if your device supports playing Tidal music, please visit this web page: https://tidal.com/supported-devices.

    ✨Verdict: Amazon Music wins since it supports downloading music on both mobiles and computers.

    Note: If you want to download Tidal music on your desktop device, you can use AudFree Tidal Music Converter. It is a tool for Tidal subscribers to convert and download Tidal music on computers. This converter allows you to convert Tidal audio format to MP3, FLAC, AAC, WAV, M4A, and M4B for offline use anywhere. And it can save the lossless quality of Tidal songs after conversion. Most importantly, with this AudFree tool, you can play Tidal music on all devices and platforms bypass the copyright limitation even though you cancel Tidal subscriptions.


    Part 5. Amazon Music Unlimited vs Tidal: Music Library

    The music library size of Tidal subscribers and Amazon Music Unlimited users is also a significant factor when comparing these two platforms.

    Amazon Music Unlimited covers over 100 million songs in HD/Ultra HD quality. You can easily find curated playlists, podcast, top stations and Audible audiobooks. Distinct from Tidal, Amazon Music lacks music videos and synced lyrics for its subscribers.

    See also: How to Listen to Amazon Music Audiobooks

    Tidal includes over 110M ad-free tracks. Besides, you can access 650K+ exclusive music videos, including documentaries, concert streams, music videos, and more.

    ✨Verdict: Tidal wins because it provides more music resources and curated videos.

    Part 6. Tidal vs Amazon Music: User Experiences

    Amazon Music Unlimited and Tidal offer distinct user experiences tailored to different preferences.

    Amazon Music Unlimited provides a user-friendly interface with seamless integration into the broader Amazon ecosystem. It also supports downloading music on the desktop app, which Tidal cannot do. Tidal emphasizes high-fidelity sound, offering lossless audio and high-resolution options that appeal to audiophiles. Tidal's shared link feature allows users to share music links with friends and family across different streaming services, including Amazon Music and Spotify.

    FYI: Tidal: Sharing music links across streaming platforms

    Verdict: /

    Part 7. Amazon Music Unlimited vs Tidal: Offline Download

    When comparing Amazon Music Unlimited and Tidal in terms of offline download capabilities, here are the key differences and similarities:

    Amazon Music Unlimited: Offline Download

    The download function of Amazon Music Unlimited is supported on mobile devices (iOS and Android), tablets and desktop through the Amazon Music app. It supports downloads in high-quality formats up to HD (CD-quality) and Ultra HD (better-than-CD-quality) for eligible tracks. And downloads can only be played within the Amazon Music app due to copyright protection. If the subscription expires, offline content becomes inaccessible.

    amazon music download audio quality

    💡 You can convert Amazon Music to MP3 via AudFree Amazon Music Converter. After that, offline Amazon Music MP3 files are saved on your computer locally and you can transfer and play them on all devices as you like.

    Tidal: Offline Download

    Tidal's download function is only available on the Tidal mobile app. Tidal supports downloading music in three quality levels: Low, High, and Max. Like Amazon Music, Tidal downloads are copyright-protected and playable only within the Tidal app. Offline content becomes inaccessible if the subscription ends.

    tidal downloads audio quality

    Fortunately, there are some ways to keep Tidal music forever. If you are using a Tidal subscription, you can get help from AudFree Tidal Music Downloader. This tool endows you with the ability to download and convert Tidal music as local files instead of cache files so that you can listen to them permanently.

    Verdict: Amazon Music wins for its desktop download option.

    Part 8. Comparison Table: Amazon Music vs Tidal

    Tidal or Amazon Music? Here is a concise table for comparing them.

    Tidal Amazon Music
    Free Trial
    Subscription Plans Individual, Family and Student Plan; Add-on DJ extension Individual, Family, Student and Single Device Plan
    Audio Quality Maximum in Max option of 9,216 Kbps Maximum in Ultra HD of 3,730 Kbps
    Music Library 110M+ tracks; 650K music videos 100M+ tracks
    Downloading Music Only for mobile Mobile and desktop
    Partners Less More

    Part 9. Bottom Line

    Tidal vs Amazon Music Unlimited, which one is worth it? It is hard to decide as both provide extraordinary services. However, if you've got Amazon's Prime membership, you can take priority to the Amazon Music Unlimited option. But, if you're an audiophile and looking to enjoy music with extraordinary sound quality, you can give a shot to Tidal.

    These platforms come with 30 days of the free trial version, don't forget to explore their features for free. We're hopeful that this review will help you make a better decision.

    Miley Swift

    Miley Swift

    Staff Editor

    (Click to rate this post)
    Miley Swift is a professional content creator in the field of music entertainment and tech. Passionate about Tidal streaming technology, she is adept in offering and updating relevant tech skills and tools of Tidal music.