This week, Amazon introduced that it will open up its complete catalog of streaming music to Prime subscribers as a substitute of the restricted, downsized library they’d beforehand had entry to. The quantity skyrocketed from 2 million songs as much as 100 million. On its face, that feels like nice information. Who wouldn’t need extra songs with out spending something further on prime of their Prime subscription? Usually, you’d must pay individually for Amazon Music Limitless to get the identical huge choice.

However it turns on the market are people who find themselves very offended in regards to the adjustments that Amazon made in the midst of beefing up its catalog for Prime clients. As a complete, lifelong music geek, I can relate to anybody freaking out as a result of a service they had been acquainted with all of the sudden revised the foundations and began working otherwise than it did simply days earlier.

Not everybody’s disenchanted. I’ve many “that is nice” responses throughout social media from those that have a tendency to make use of Amazon Music for background music or informal listening. A ton of individuals ask Alexa to listen to a sure artist on their Echo speaker, usually caring little about no matter track would possibly come up.

Nonetheless, Prime clients are but once more being reminded that they by no means really personal something with streaming providers, and the whole lot can change on a dime. On the flip aspect, Amazon Music is studying the lesson that folks use free providers extra usually than a whole lot of us notice. And as soon as they’re used to one thing, you’d higher have a very good purpose for making adjustments which are this sweeping. Are extra songs value it? For the informal listener, in all probability sure. However there’s positively a vocal contingent that’s sad with the brand new method.

From what I’ve gathered up to now, the primary sticking level is that Prime clients have misplaced the power to listen to precisely what they need when they need. The outdated catalog was smaller, sure, nevertheless it allowed on-demand entry to any track or album that was included. And for those who made a playlist of tracks from the Prime track pool, you possibly can take heed to that and skip wherever you needed.

That’s (nearly) all gone now.

Apparently, with a view to lengthen Amazon Music Limitless’s huge catalog to Prime subscribers, the corporate needed to remove the liberty of taking part in a particular track instantly. Now everyone seems to be caught within the land of shuffle. Moreover, clients are complaining (with a whole lot of vulgarity on this case) that rigorously curated playlists are switching to “related” tracks as a substitute of sticking to their unique operating order. For those who attempt to beat the shuffle system by making new playlists of music you really need to hear, these may even be stuffed with beneficial tracks.

In different phrases, the included-with-Prime model of Amazon Music is now behaving equally to Spotify’s free, ad-supported tier — albeit with out annoying advertisements. The earlier Prime expertise was comparatively distinctive in how a lot flexibility it offered. And now it’s… not almost as versatile.

Amazon’s worth pitch is that bonuses like ad-free listening, offline downloads, and podcast perks make up for the dearth of choosing music on demand. And there are additionally 15 “All-Entry” playlists, a number of of them customized for every person, that do allow deciding on a specific track or skipping round to your coronary heart’s content material. Once more, all of this comes with a Prime membership and doesn’t price something further.

A number of clients are reporting issues and bugs when making an attempt to play their bought and uploaded tracks in ways in which had been beforehand doable. On the very least, they imagine a few of that content material is getting more durable to search out. Amazon Music stopped accepting uploads years in the past, however the firm nonetheless very a lot sells digital music individually from its subscription service. And it continues to reward digital copies to clients who buy choose CDs and vinyl albums from its retailer. None of that ought to be tougher to entry. Whether it is, it is best to in all probability contact the corporate’s customer support.

Bought music stays accessible through your library, artist / album pages on Amazon Music, and thru Alexa. The one asterisk is that in case you have a playlist that mixes owned content material with different tracks, it’s going to play in shuffle mode. Playlists that consist completely of bought music may be streamed on demand. For those who’re seeing completely different conduct, it is doable that Amazon continues to be figuring out some kinks after the large catalog enlargement.

The Verge has reached out to Amazon for remark. Both manner, the corporate isn’t about to double again on this new path; Amazon Music VP Steve Increase laid out all of the reasoning behind the adjustments on Decoder, and a few analyst companies see big potential. Sadly, letting you select between 2 million songs with full management or shuffle mode for 100 million tracks additionally appears slightly impractical. However there’s no manner that Amazon isn’t listening to a few of this suggestions and frustration. Within the meantime, disheartened clients are mulling over whether or not they need to pony up for a full Amazon Music Limitless subscription or head elsewhere for his or her music repair.

I want I had beneficial recommendation to share, however I lead a lifetime of chaos in terms of digital music: other than my Apple Lossless library, I subscribe to Spotify, pay for an annual Amazon Music subscription, and have a whole lot of non-public uploads out there to stream on YouTube Music. I’m fairly positive I get free Apple Music from Verizon, too. If any service ever breaks my coronary heart, at the very least I’ve bought choices. Possibly that’s the takeaway: all the time have a backup plan on this continually evolving period of subscriptions.