Tidal Music

[Alex_UK]

So the plans changed last month, and individual membership is down to £10.99 per month including hifi/hifi plus as was (hi-res files). I cancelled my subscription 3 years ago, but at the new price (I think it was £19.99 for hifi plus?) I’ve started it up again - really didn’t think I noticed much difference between Spotify (320 kbps) and CD quality and above, but clear to hear even on my modest study speakers.

[Macca]

Do you struggle to choose something to play?

Just asking since that's one of my problems with streaming. I go round to someone's place to hear their new speakers (or whatever) and they hand me an iPad and say 'Put something on.' And my mind goes blank.

I'm the same going into record shops. I know there's at least maybe half a dozen albums I've made a mental note to get but once I walk in I can't think what any of them are.

In the record shop at least I can browse the shelves until I spy something. Same thing at home. I want some music on but have nothing specific in mind. So I browse until something takes my fancy.

You can't really do that on a screen. I know it gives you suggestions based on previous selections, but I don't really want to be 'guided' like that. Although I accept others find that a great feature.

[Alex_UK]

Do you struggle to choose something to play?

Not so far, there are a couple of new albums I wanted to hear, and I saw some others of interest - I guess time will tell, and can cancel at any time.

[Pigmy Pony]

Do you struggle to choose something to play?

Just asking since that's one of my problems with streaming. I go round to someone's place to hear their new speakers (or whatever) and they hand me an iPad and say 'Put something on.' And my mind goes blank.

I'm the same going into record shops. I know there's at least maybe half a dozen albums I've made a mental note to get but once I walk in I can't think what any of them are.

In the record shop at least I can browse the shelves until I spy something. Same thing at home. I want some music on but have nothing specific in mind. So I browse until something takes my fancy.

You can't really do that on a screen. I know it gives you suggestions based on previous selections, but I don't really want to be 'guided' like that. Although I accept others find that a great feature.

Completely agree with all of this, and is exactly why I haven't gone down the streaming route. Well that, and also the whole paying for permission to play someone else's tunes thing.

But at £9.99 it's certainly tempting, if only to use it for 'discovery'. At the moment I just use an Echo Dot connected to my second system, and it's ok, just. Trouble is, that dopey Alexa bint doesn't do northern accents The other day I was trying my damnedest to get her to play songs by Texan indie singer songwriter Lera Lynn, and all I could get was "White Cliffs of Dover"

[Macca]

Completely agree with all of this, and is exactly why I haven't gone down the streaming route. Well that, and also the whole paying for permission to play someone else's tunes thing.

But at £9.99 it's certainly tempting, if only to use it for 'discovery'. At the moment I just use an Echo Dot connected to my second system, and it's ok, just. Trouble is, that dopey Alexa bint doesn't do northern accents The other day I was trying my damnedest to get her to play songs by Texan indie singer songwriter Lera Lynn, and all I could get was "White Cliffs of Dover"

I use Youtube for discovery, costs nothing, never searched for something and its not been available on there. And if I like it I order the CD.

Then I'll forget I ordered it, get back from work a couple of days later, find a jiffy bag in the porch and think 'What the hell's this?'

[Pigmy Pony]

I use Youtube for discovery, costs nothing, never searched for something and its not been available on there. And if I like it I order the CD.

Then I'll forget I ordered it, get back from work a couple of days later, find a jiffy bag in the porch and think 'What the hell's this?'

It can also work the other way round for me - the other day I wanted to play "Fuse" by Everything But The Girl as I remember liking it. But then I couldn't find it anywhere. I searched the shelves and eventually went into my Ebay purchase history. Turns out I've never bought it

[Barry]

According to my Amazon history, I bought a copy of Bat for Lashes 'The Hunted Man'. I don't remember ordering it, but according to my bank statement I did and paid for it.

I couldn't find it because I didn't look hard enough. It was where it should be, filed under "B". But because the packaging is one of those slim 'digipaks', it is difficult to read the spine from a distance. Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it!

[Sherwood]

Surely the problems being described here are with the users and not the streaming services per se. I have never understood why an extensive choice of music is a bad thing. Personally, I have never had a problem in deciding what to play whether I was using traditional physical media or streaming services. In fact, I typically found that having played one piece of music another suggested itself. As to the fact that streaming services can suggest playlists based on previous listening history, I would have thought that this was ideal for someone needing guidance in listening.

As to the merits of Tidal I have found its SQ to be notably higher than Spotify. The problem for Tidal is that even after its recent price reduction it loses out to Spotify on several fronts. First, users of this forum aside, most people are happy with 320k streaming. I say this not just for those people who listen on phones or through mediocre hifi systems, but also many people with decent systems. Few people today listen to music in the way that many of us did in the 60s and 70s. Back then, an extensive record collection would be numbered in the range of 30 to 50 discs if that. Those who could buy a new album each week were, I suggest, few in number so that maximum value was squeezed from each new acquisition. Repeated listen and forensic scrutiny of liner notes were the order of the day. Personally, I do not miss those times. I would number in a small minority the albums I bought where every one of the 10-12 tracks were listenable let alone excellent, and many of those were “best of” compilation albums.

Whilst I am very irritated by Spotify with its repeated failure to deliver on its promise of uncompressed streaming, 320k is listenable. It also scores on its curated playlists and ever growing range of podcasts. A friend of mine uses Spotify on an Amazon Echo to listen to The Archers. A recent bonus is the addition of “free” audiobooks (up to 15 hours a month I think, which is about 2 books on average). Some of the books on my playlist are very recent (e,g, Ian Dunt’s How Westminster Works …).

For some time, I used streaming services as a discovery tool to find new music and new (to me) performers, after which I would typically buy the cd (if enough of the tracks merited it). Frankly, I rarely buy physical media any more, maybe 1 every few months, though that will probably end too.

If streaming is not for you then don’t use it, though I would miss the universe of new music I have discovered over the last 15 years or so.

[Macca]

It's a question of habits I suppose. I always listen to full albums. I had about 50 albums when I went to university in 1987, pretty much all of which I still listen to. Plus the 600 or so others I've accumulated since then.

I don't have any desire to constantly be listening to new stuff, a few new albums per month is enough. At University I would buy one a week and that carried on for some years afterwards. That was plenty in terms of new content to mix with the albums I already owned.

I don't see music as disposable. Like a good film a good record can be appreciated hundreds of times over a lifetime. Provided it isn't played to death - I've seen 'Jaws' about twenty times, if it came on TV tomorrow night I'd probably watch it. But I wouldn't watch it again then for a while.

[Ali Tait]

Do you struggle to choose something to play?

Just asking since that's one of my problems with streaming. I go round to someone's place to hear their new speakers (or whatever) and they hand me an iPad and say 'Put something on.' And my mind goes blank.

I'm the same going into record shops. I know there's at least maybe half a dozen albums I've made a mental note to get but once I walk in I can't think what any of them are.

In the record shop at least I can browse the shelves until I spy something. Same thing at home. I want some music on but have nothing specific in mind. So I browse until something takes my fancy.

You can't really do that on a screen. I know it gives you suggestions based on previous selections, but I don't really want to be 'guided' like that. Although I accept others find that a great feature.

Yup, I'm the same. It's why I have my vinyl and CD's randomly stored, so I can browse them and decide what to listen to.