Amazon Music Connect Function coming to BlueSound??
Answered
Hi there,
I love the BlueSound Node and have been using the BluOS app to connect to my Amazon Music account. Are there any plans to work with Amazon to get them to add a Connect function right to their app similar to Tidal, Spotify etc? The BluOS is ok but I do find it a little clunky and would prefer to connect directly from the Amazon App.
Any updates here?
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Official comment
Hi Clark
That is a question for Amazon Music. Currently, their API supports deep integration (in App use) and does not allow for end-point solutions such as Spotify Connect or Apple Music to broadcast or redirect streams using the services' third-party own native App.
If and when they make the change to their API and documentation to allow for that, I am sure we would be looking to implement it.
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Then how does the WiiM mini support it?
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Are you suggesting that amazon agreed with this function and made the api exclusively available to WiiM but not Bluesound.
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No idea if it suitable for bluesound hardware/OS as that is proprietary info that has not been released. So only the people at Bluesound would know the answer.
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WiiM Mini now supports it
Bluesound need to catchup
Amazon Music UHD is one of the biggest services on the planet.
Using Amazon inside BluOS is ghastly - the UI is like going back to UI of the year 2000
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Come on Bluesound I have four systems and Duo account Qobuz. WiiM is passing you by and their system costs $100 and go to their website where they are constantly updating their UI and features based user requests. Further they are announcing what is upcoming. If you want maintain your business you need to start listening to requests like this one and fix some things or lower your price. There are frequent updates that fix little things but never things allow better access, streaming service compatibility, multiple users or home device control.
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Linkplay have implemented AlexaCast for the WiiM Mini and upcoming WiiM Pro by using the Amazon MRM (multi room music) stack as mentioned by Naim’s software director in this link https://community.naimaudio.com/t/amazon-hd-streaming-issues/16537?page=7
I guess Linkplay have exploited their long relationship as a systems integrator with Amazon and I acknowledge that other manufacturers (like Naim and Linn in the U.K., inter alia) find it extremely difficult to get information and support from Amazon for them to progress with their implementation.
In the meantime, you could always pick up a WiiM Mini, sometimes as cheaply as $79, and feed that bit perfect into your Bluesound Node or amp if its toslink input supports up to 24/192 ;)2 -
As an aside, it’s surprising that Amazon haven’t updated their own hardware, like the now 3yr old Echo Link, to fully exploit their own lossless music service. Even a lower priced echo with a suitable digital output should be possible given what the WiiM mini can do at its price point. Amazon normally hold an annual Devices event around the end of September, so who knows, maybe they will finally release something this year…
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Completely agree, I love my Node, but the lack of a cast function from Amazon Music HD is a major bummer. The Amazon function within Blue OS is lame. I understand that might not be your fault if Amazon provides the software, but if WiiM can achieve this why can't Bluesound? Saying we should tell Amazon what we want is not good advice. Bluesound is the one with a large scale account relationship with Amazon. We tell you and you tell them is how it should work. If not now there is a viable option on the market that is a 1/6th of the cost. Sit back and do nothing and you will lose sales to WiiM.
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From what Bluesound say above, it sounds as if they’re not aware of the other, more preferable (and perhaps newer) method of developing an Amazon Music interface, the Alexa MRM stack as I mentioned above referring to the Naïm audio community link I also provided. One would hope despite marking this thread as answered that Bluesound technical staff might come back and read the updates…
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I really do think that Bluesound needs to take this on for the consumers of their product. Amazon HD music is a key player in streaming lossless quality music. That is why we have all bought the Node so that we can hear difference in quality. Having an inferior app and telling the consumer to deal directly with Amazon to get a connect function is on their app is not great service.
I would like to ask Bluesound to work with Amazon on this so that we can enjoy this functionality. As I agree with the others, it may get to the point where it does make more sense to go with the WiiM.
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I get that contacting Amazon is a bit of a hassle, but refusing to engage with Amazon etc because Bluesound should do it is self defeating. Obviously they have NOT found the leverage you wish they had, or they would not bother to encourage folks to pressure Amazon.
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If you read the thread, it’s clear that Bluesound were not aware of the MRM route as mentioned in the Naim link above although one would hope by now that they are.
It really doesn’t matter that Bluesound users contact Amazon: Bluesound themselves as a company need to enter into an agreement with Amazon to obtain that new API and the later accreditation of their implementation.
Plus have you ever tried dealing with Amazon first line support and getting them to deal with a third party interface? Almost 100 times out of 100 they’ll either not understand what you’re on about or tell you to contact the third party. The ball is entirely in Bluesound’s court…2 -
I'm a little tired of Bluesound, based on these conversations over the three years that I've owned their products. Back in 2020 I chose Tidal over Amazon purely because of the lack of BluOS integration - Bluesound were aware of it, but today it remains the same. What I don't like is the silence from Bluesound. People have asked for Bandcamp integration too... at least update your customers! I refuse to believe the general sentiment of pushing the problem back to the customer and Amazon. That's not good enough. TIdal is fantastic, but in past years I bought most of my music from Amazon, and I'd be saving some cash switching to them now.
To be really honest, would I have bought my Powernode 2i and Pulse Flex knowing what I know now about the lack of Bluesound support? Not sure. The app isn't great, the Flex is overpriced for what it is, and the Powernode has already failed once - I should have bought the Node and separate amp.
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Agreed with everyone in this thread, the lack of Amazon support is unacceptable, especially a tiny device like Wiim can pull it off.
I just bought a NAD M10 running BlueOS and knowing that after 3 years of people asking for this function, but Bluesound still hasn't implemented it, is depressing. I guess chances of me ever getting Amazon HD to play directly on NAD M10 is low.
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@Tony W, Volumio just announced today they are working with Amazon now to bring “direct integration.”
BluOS is being cornered by the cheaper WiiM devices that already have direct Amazon integration and the more expensive Volumio devices which will have it soon.
Please, is the BlueSound team working on Amazon direct connect? Amazon has been slowly overtaking Tidal and Apple as the hi-res platform of choice so I really hope BluOS will bring ”AlexaCast“ support too.
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Team BLU, any update on this? Sorry to complain, but running Amazon music through your app is horrible...
Listeners can't look up albums, nor play similar artists and music. The Amazon music app independently on headphones syncs very similar tracks and continues play while the bluos repeatedly plays the same track...
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I'm not understanding all the complaints about Amazon Music HD integration. No, it's not as cool as the native app, but still light years beyond other streamers including Cambridge that cost far more. Bluesound will allow you to play your saved tracks, albums & likes. It's all there.
It doesn't allow internal app navigation or search/play, but there are ways around that.
For a 3rd party interface, I think it's pretty good.
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I agree. There is nothing inherently wrong with the interface with Amazon. I think the complaints arise from the fact that some other platforms (such as wiim) support casting so you can play directly from the app (and have access to all those other functions) or that the UI is limited,... like not displaying bitdepth/sample/bitrate and simply labeling the stream as "HD".
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While the Bluesound interface may well years beyond other implementations, I’d argue by not being implemented using the newer MRM stack (as eloquently explained in the Naim link I provided above), it’s potentially well behind other implementations like WiiM that do use the MRM stack. The official comment from Bluesound above is rather introverted and shortsighted and needs to be revised as it appears ignorant of the MRM stack.
My experience of Amazon Music integration before WiiM was largely thru Heos which is implemented in a similar to Bluesound. When I abandoned it for WiiM, it was because it didn’t support lossless casting from the amazon music app nor thru Alexa, being CD quality at best if not indeed just lossy audio. Nor could I include it in an Alexa multi room group with the echos my wider family use. I couldn’t access the playlists I had created over the years in Amazon Music, nor access the tracks I had uploaded to Amazon Music when they offered that service. Plus the Heos app was, well, less than optimal.
I’d also say that the existence of casting mechanisms like Spotify Connect, Tidal Connect, Amazon AlexaCast and hopefully soon Qobuz Connect where users can retain the full feature set offered by streaming services rather than the diminished access thru the APIs offered to third parties is the way ahead. Suppliers like Bluesound need to support all of these (at full lossless resolution) to stay in the game. Equally, I don’t deny that there’s a role for “integrators” that can bring those services into one app, albeit with less features than the bespoke apps.
In conclusion, the topics I raise above may not be pertinent to your use, but the other comments above suggest there are indeed Bluesound users to whom they are.
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Very well written @Versaveau
Anybody that thinks the UI for Amazon Music inside BluOS is acceptable...
Yes all the music is there, but the user experience is like doing time travel to the late 90's.
WiiM Pro has as casting of Amazon Music UHD and even Chromecast 24bit/96kHz
If that hasn't sent a message to Bluesound (after the rest of us have been asking Bluesound for years now), well...
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Thanks for taking the time to write and for your feedback. Unfortunately, as per my official comment, in speaking with our Product Development Team, they, in turn in speaking with Amazon; it is completely Amazon's implementation in the provided API documentation. When Amazon is ready to make that change, we will be happy to proceed.
If you want a better implementation of your favorite Music Service, it is the Music Service you need to speak with to improve the API we receive, regardless of who that service is.
Thanks for understanding, and for #LivingHiFi
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@Tony W. - Product Support Manager
I suggest someone in R&D at Bluesound buy a WiiM Pro
And read about how they have managed to do bit-perfect casting from Amazon Music app, and Chromecast 24/96kHz support.
It feels like you are copying and pasting responses from 3 years ago, without knowing what is actually out in the wild right now in 2023
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@Tony W. - Product Support Manager
Thanks for taking the time to write and for your feedback. Unfortunately, as per my official comment, in speaking with our Product Development Team, they, in turn in speaking with Amazon; it is completely Amazon's implementation in the provided API documentation. When Amazon is ready to make that change, we will be happy to proceed.
If you want a better implementation of your favorite Music Service, it is the Music Service you need to speak with to improve the API we receive, regardless of who that service is.
Thanks for understanding, and for #LivingHiFi
Thank you for responding. So am to understand that Amazon gave Wiim a different set of API's to use than it did Bluesound?
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@Invenio I’d refer you to the Naim link. If Bluesound have been asking Amazon if there’s an enhanced version of the Amazon Music API, then I’d guess they’d be told no, they’ve already got all that there is.
If they have asked for access to the MRM stack API which seems to be the key to AlexaCast and better integration with lossless Amazon Music and for some perverse reason Amazon have refused to give them access, then that’s another matter. As Naim’s software director stated “However, Amazon have been very slow to release code that supports Amazon HD to third parties using this method. Also certification is really tough”.
Linkplay/Wiim, perhaps through their long term role as an Alexa service integrator (viz. https://www.linkplay.com/amazon-alexa et al) and their USA HQ being in close proximity to an Amazon Music development center helped them get the necessary access.
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Yes it is clear Bluesound are asking the wrong questions.
Just buy a WiiM Pro people, until Bluesound finally work it out.
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In order to stay open to the possibilities of all voice systems, and to avoid placing microphones directly in our products and thus allow for backward compatibility, Bluesound and BluOS made the decision to stay open to multiple voice options.
As a result, BluOS offered our consumers Alexa Skills, rather than direct Alexa Integration. This allowed them to make the decision to also use Actions on Google as an alternative, not to mention Siri integration via Apple AirPlay.
What does Voice have to do with Amazon... everything actually as the Link Play model is part of Alexa and not a true end-point connected model. Given the current state of both Amazon and Google voice control offerings, we will not be deviating from this strategy in the foreseeable future.
Also, keep in mind many services and devices are offering end-point options, but unlike Spotify Connect or TIDAL Connect, they are not true redirection, they are broadcasting via AirPlay, Bluetooth or Chromecast.
If you do choose to use the Amazon App, you can, but given most telephone codec capabilities, you're likely going to want to use a PC and Bluetooth to your Bluesound via AptX HD codecs. Here's how; www.bluesound.com/bluetooth.1 -
From my point of view, AlexaCast is Amazon Music’s “end-point casting” method like Spotify and Tidal: it redirects the stream to your device (you can turn off your phone and it’ll keep playing); it does not use Airplay, Bluetooth nor ChromeCast; it doesn’t require a microphone in the streaming product, nor use of an Alexa voice enabled device to operate.
However, your reply does rather make it clear that BlueSound prefer not to implement Amazon Music HD support thru the MRM route, but prefer to wait till Amazon enhances its original Amazon Music API to provide a similar level of functionality. That’s a pity…
Thanks however for engaging and providing your responses. Cheers.
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Correct me if I am wrong, I think BlueSound is missing the boat on AlexaCast because of some supposed old Alexa API “openness” that may or may not be improved in the future? While competitors like WiiM and Volumio have leap-frogged ahead.
Why not just add AlexaCast in addition to Alexa? Why did they have to be mutually exclusive?
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Was disappointing to find I couldn't cast Amazon Music to the N130 after enjoying Tidal for many moons and more recently Spotify. Great product, love it to bits, but using Amazon via the Bluesound app is a shocker.
Interesting that Tidal is ditching MQA, which has hit the skids. Tidal pioneered hi rez streaming, however I've always had my doubts about the audible benefits of MQA and I guess bandwidth is no longer such an issue. MQA is still available on Radio Paradise for free, but my DAC doesn't decode it. Nevertheless the Node performs the first unfold. Must say I enjoy Radio Paradise at times.
Definitely a bump in SQ shifting from Spotify to Amazon Music, however I thought Spotify was great. As usual the recording matters far more than the container.
Guess I'll cast Amazon Music to the TV and feed the signal to the Node via HDMI or to the DAC directly via optical.
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