Amazon introduces Prime Music streaming service

Amazon has officially launched Prime Music in the US, bringing unlimited ad-free music streaming to its Amazon Prime customers for the first time. Rumoured for months, the new service should help customers justify an annual Prime subscription and create yet another rival for Spotify.

According to the Prime Music homepage, the service launches with over one million songs, along with hundreds of curated playlists, which are available without adverts through a PC web browser, Amazon's own Kindle Fire tablet range , and iOS or Android smartphones or tablets. Each app will reportedly support unlimited offline playback, but they have yet to arrive in the iTunes or Google Play stores.

According to The New York Times , Prime Music will arrive without any artists under the Universal Music group and won't include new releases, meaning it may struggle to gain traction with existing Spotify customers. However, by bundling it with other Prime incentives, Amazon is making its annual subscription service even more attractive to customers. It already includes unlimited Prime Instant Video streaming, free one-day delivery on Amazon orders and access to the Kindle eBook lending library, so music seems to be yet another string in the company's bow.

To coincide with the new launch, Amazon has rebranded its existing music services, Cloud Player and Amazon MP3 store, to simply Amazon Music.

Existing Prime subscribers will get automatic access to Prime Music, while new users can sign up for a 30 day free Amazon Prime trial which includes the new music service - although only if you live in the US. It's currently unclear whether Prime Music will be coming to the UK, as there's currently no mention of it on Amazon's British homepage.