Amazon Prime members can now listen to much more music without any ads — as long as they do so in shuffle mode. They’ll have access to Amazon Music’s full catalog of more than 100 million songs (50 times more than before) without ads. Prime users can also check out on-demand All-Access playlists that are personalized for their tastes. It’s possible to download these for offline listening.
It’s not quite as positive a step forward as full ad-free listening, but it’s still a change for the better. Amazon still needs to keep some features locked behind an Amazon Music Unlimited subscription, after all. Those include on-demand access to the full catalog, more than 100 million songs in HD quality and an expanding selection of music in the Ultra HD fidelity and spatial audio lineups.
Elsewhere, the Amazon Music app is getting a redesign and a new feature called “podcast previews.” You’ll be able to listen to curated clips from podcast episodes. These could help you figure out if a show might be for you before listening to a full episode. Amazon offers some podcasts ad-free, including its exclusives, shows that premiere on its servicesbefore they’re available elsewhere and other third-party shows, such as ones from The New York Times, ESPN and NPR.