Deezer vs Amazon Music
Streaming services have completely changed how we listen to music. Even die-hard fans of physical formats have to admit that it’s tough to ignore the convenience of online platforms, especially as streaming quality improves. In this article, I’ll be comparing two popular music streaming services, Amazon Music and Deezer, and looking at the pros and cons of each.
Amazon Music offers a massive catalog of 100 million songs, while Deezer has over 90 million. I’ve used Amazon Music for a while, mostly because I own an Alexa and it was easy to link my Amazon account. But lately, I’ve been considering switching, especially since I rely on the app often when traveling. I’ve noticed that the Amazon Music app can be quite slow. The VoiceOver feature, which I rely on, often drops to a barely audible volume, and the only fix is asking Alexa to play a song. Even after that, navigating through the app feels sluggish.
I also tried Spotify. While the app worked well and sounded good on Alexa, I wasn’t impressed with the audio quality, especially when using my Apple AirPods Pro, Bose headphones, or soundbar. Like Amazon Music, I could ask Alexa to play any song, but the sound didn’t meet my expectations on other devices.
That’s when I decided to give Deezer a try. I signed up for Deezer Premium’s one-month free trial to see how it performs without ads and with high-quality audio. While Deezer costs €11.99 per month, it becomes cheaper if you pay for a year upfront—around €9 per month, which is actually less than Amazon Music. Just a heads-up: if you’re signing up, do it through the Deezer website, not an iOS device, as it’s more expensive if you go through Apple. Deezer also offers a family plan for €18.99 a month, with up to six premium accounts.
One feature I love about Deezer is the ability to transfer up to 500 songs from other services, like Amazon Music or Spotify. This was a huge plus for me since I didn’t have to rebuild my entire library. Transferring my playlists was quick and easy. The Deezer app itself is very responsive—no sluggishness at all. The music quality, especially in its high-quality or uncompressed formats, really blew me away. It was louder, clearer, and much more immersive than what I was used to, to the point where I had to lower the volume on my headphones and speakers. Creating and editing playlists is simple, and searching for artists or songs is quick and accessible. Deezer also has a podcast section, but I haven’t explored that yet, as I use another app for podcasts. Both Deezer and Amazon Music let you download tracks for offline listening, which is a must when traveling without reliable internet.
Just remember that downloading high-quality music can eat up a lot of storage space on your device. To avoid big data bills, I suggest adjusting the audio quality settings in the Deezer app depending on whether you’re on Wi-Fi or mobile data. Deezer offers four streaming quality levels: Basic (64 kbps), Standard (128 kbps), High Quality (320 kbps), and High Fidelity (1411 kbps, which is FLAC). If you’re short on data, I’d recommend sticking with Standard. I personally use High Quality on mobile data and High Fidelity when I’m on Wi-Fi because my internet can handle the higher bandwidth.
The main downside of Deezer is its limited compatibility with smart speakers like Alexa and Google Nest. The Deezer skill isn’t supported on Google Nest in Ireland, and although it works with Alexa, it’s not perfect. You can ask Alexa to play a song or artist, but when you ask for an entire album, it doesn’t always work. Also, unlike with Amazon Music, you can’t ask Alexa to add a song to your favorites in Deezer, which is a bit frustrating.
Despite these drawbacks, I’ve decided to stick with Deezer. The app is more responsive and user-friendly than Amazon Music, and the sound quality is hard to beat once you’ve experienced high-resolution, uncompressed audio. It’s also cheaper than Amazon Music if you pay annually. However, if Alexa integration is crucial for you, Amazon Music or Spotify might be better options.