Amazon Music has become the first of the big three streaming services – the others being Spotify and Apple Music – to offer CD-quality audio. 

Amazon Music HD costs $15 a month – $5 more than its standard streaming service, Amazon Music – and will use the lossless 16bit/24bit audio format FLAC to deliver CD quality audio to subscribers. Until now, Amazon only streamed music in compressed formats like MP3 and AAC.

The three major record labels – Universal, Sony and Warner – have all signed up to the move to higher quality audio, once the preserve of audiophiles, but perhaps now gaining mass market appeal. The announcement comes a week before Amazon unveils its latest hardware, which is expected to include a new model of Echo speaker. 

 
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