OT: Subscription Music Services, which one?

[jkbrwn]

In reference to my earlier post. Big differences.

[fkelly]

I use Amazon Prime (with Ultra HD option) when I'm in range of my wireless network. I can access it from my phone(s) or through my FireTV connection, which in turn hooks up to my stereo system. The selection of songs is comprehensive ... the interface is funky and "not friendly" or intuitive.

I also have a SD card in my phone(s) -- wife's and mine with about 60GB of songs on it. These were downloaded to the SD card from Itunes (formerly I used a IPOD) which in turn was created by burning CD's that I used in my former life. I use the JetAudio app to play songs from the SD card. That way I don't have to incur Verizon streaming charges when I'm not in range of my home network. (Primarily in the car, traveling).

Only concern is that newer phones are leaving out SD card support.

Youtube has a more "intelligent" interface than Amazon Music does but it is killing itself with Ads.

[glepore]

Originally Posted by JMacII

Audiophile and Tidal user here. Interesting to hear what you think of the catalog differences? I’ve yet to find something missing on Tidal. Love the Tidal Grateful Dead catalog.

In fairness, my experience might be dated. I listen primarily to jazz, and alt country (yeah, I know, but some of the modern stuff is really good). The Dead catalog on Prime is better now, all of the vault stuff is up promptly, as is the Jerry Band. Their deal with Neil is pretty good too.
I should probably give Tidal another listen, but I hesitate to pay for another stream.
As an aside, my sister is kind enough to run a DS Audio server, and she uploads her crazy big collection, and I upload my bazillion live shows, which is also very cool. Private streaming.
And then, there's the Archive..

[MikeD]

Amazon Music Unlimited. Only $8/month if you have a Prime account. I also have SiriusXM Select in my car. Sirius is expensive, but the artist channels are nice.

[benb]

I've used quite a few of them..

I would generally strongly disagree about Spotify having the biggest library.

I take guitar lessons and look up lots of stuff.

My guitar teacher uses Spotify. Since I've been taking lessons I've had both Apple and Amazon music subscriptions.

There have been MANY times where the stuff my guitar teacher hunts up is not on Spotify but was on Amazon & Apple. Usually he'd find the stuff on Youtube when Spotify didn't have it. It was pretty frequent a few years ago.. probably near 25% of the time.

Not sure what's going on there. Spotify has just ALWAYS had the best marketing.. from the very very very early days they had people thinking they were cool and desireable. Spotify has been around for a long time compared to most of their modern competitors, I think some of this is they did the style of rollout Google did early on.. only the cool kids got invites to join, and you had to try and hunt down a friend to get an invite... which made everyone jealous and want to be on spotify.

One thing that has changed the last year or so with Amazon is they have a personalized weekly playlist they generate for you that's music you have never listened to. That feature has gotten to be amazing, the selections are fantastic. Much better than Pandora was when I used it.

[Germany_chris]

Apple Music as part of the new roll up

[benb]

Also if I was criticizing Spotify I can offer some things I dislike with Amazon & Apple too..

- Amazon's navigation through albums sucks. They used to show the year the album came out and they got rid of that. No way to sort the albums. Sometimes I think they don't even show them all if they think they're "not popular".

- Amazon will sometimes combine two artists who are the same name but different people into one listing. So you'll have some jazz artist from 70 years ago and you go into their page and there are a handful of albums mixed in from a modern unknown gangsta rapper, and if you "play artist" they can get mixed up.

- Apple Music loves to play random stuff when it connects to your car...

- Google cancels products and rewrites duplicates constantly.. always going one step forward and 2 steps back. Music is getting that treatment right now.

[azrider]

Couldn't live without my Spotify. Been a paying member since 2009

[JMacII]

Originally Posted by glepore

In fairness, my experience might be dated. I listen primarily to jazz, and alt country (yeah, I know, but some of the modern stuff is really good). The Dead catalog on Prime is better now, all of the vault stuff is up promptly, as is the Jerry Band. Their deal with Neil is pretty good too.
I should probably give Tidal another listen, but I hesitate to pay for another stream.
As an aside, my sister is kind enough to run a DS Audio server, and she uploads her crazy big collection, and I upload my bazillion live shows, which is also very cool. Private streaming.
And then, there's the Archive..

Do you think there’s any discernible quality difference between Tidal and Amazon? I’m running a BluOS Node 2i to a Schitt DAC (due for an upgrade), Schiit pre amp to a DIY Pass Aleph J, and Zu speakers. We also run a BluOS Powernode in the kitchen for background music.

[ianbjor]

For now, Apple Music works too well in an all-apple household. We'll see if things change if/when Apple allows better 3rd party streaming service integration.

[C40_guy]

Originally Posted by Tommasini53

Thanks...that's good information. I have not paid close enough attention to the different levels of service. I'm going to test drive their free offers. Looks like Prime membership provides a price break and brings down below Spotify's price.

Spotify is pretty inexpensive if you purchase their five person family service at $15/month...

[Dead Man]

Originally Posted by gone

Spotify and Qobuz. Spotify for rock mostly, Qobuz for classical.

Spotify only understands "songs", it doesn't get that a symphony e.g., is made up of four "songs", Qobuz does.

Most of the time (at home) I use Roon to interface with my own music collection and Qobuz, this works best.

this is really my only complaint w spotify - in addition to the fact it cant seem to figure out that pieces are indifferently divided by track, but since the track titles run off the screen more often then not you literally cannot read the titles to even manually choose the right track. and its always been this way... why dont they fix that?

---

i tried pandora and prime... its been several years, but i hated both. prime was the worst... almost nothing i wanted to listen to, and id constantly get kicked off the app when my ex-wife would open hers. im sure both products have improved in the years since, but aside from frustrations with "classical" its been a really good service and i use it for many many hours every day of my life. its also introduced me to vast swaths of music id never heard before and love

[glepore]

Originally Posted by JMacII

Do you think there’s any discernible quality difference between Tidal and Amazon? I’m running a BluOS Node 2i to a Schitt DAC (due for an upgrade), Schiit pre amp to a DIY Pass Aleph J, and Zu speakers. We also run a BluOS Powernode in the kitchen for background music.

Well, I can't tell any with my setups, which are audiophile but a notch below yours. CJ pre to Cary SLA or Carver TFM25, Ohm 4's. 48/96 is 48/96. Tidal has processed stuff like dolby 360, but its meaningless to me.

And as to the comment on album release year on Amazon, its still there if you open the album, at the end of the tracklisting.

[Dead Man]

Originally Posted by jkbrwn

In reference to my earlier post. Big differences.

that is a big difference, but theres also a big difference in which artists are available on each of these platforms. i suspect those that pay less are easier to get in the door. i listen to a lot of highly independent artists who are available on spotify that arent available on my girlfriend's apple music, for instance. id guess that as an artist catches on and becomes more popular, they may then start to move up to the better paying platforms - but not if they dont get listens on the cheaper platforms first

[jkbrwn]

Originally Posted by Dead Man

that is a big difference, but theres also a big difference in which artists are available on each of these platforms. i suspect those that pay less are easier to get in the door. i listen to a lot of highly independent artists who are available on spotify that arent available on my girlfriend's apple music, for instance. id guess that as an artist catches on and becomes more popular, they may then start to move up to the better paying platforms - but not if they dont get listens on the cheaper platforms first

My big issue, to be honest, is Spotify. I have been a paying subscriber since 2010, so I'm a big fan of the service, but there's just no excuse to pay musicians that little. It's just inexcusable.