I thought the same thing, that Tidal was too expensive and Spotify was easier to use. Both are still true, but since subscribing to Tidal on a free 3 month trial at first I didn't listen to it much, because Roon Tidal integration was not great. Then Roon upgraded Tidal integration and I took a few minutes to get accustomed to the Tidal app, and now I find it adequate for my needs. And almost everything I want to hear is on there.
So I listen to Tidal a lot more now, at home and in the car on my phone. I quickly got used to the lossless SQ and I'm no longer willing to accept listening to mp3 on Spotify. I still subscribe to Spotify family plan because our family of 5 all listen to music and only I care about SQ. When the 3 months is up, I will likely allow the Tidal subscription to continue. Which is good, because I heard they just keep billing you anyway when you try to cancel...
I look forward to there being more competition in the high res streaming market. I think the investors propping up Tidal are interested in bringing hirez music to the mainstream, once current Tidal owners finally drive it into the ground and have to bail out. But the current owners are in a corner and can't afford any competition and can't afford to lower prices, so until they're gone, the status quo will remain and all the other streaming services will stick with mp3.
If Tidal mgmt understood economics and offered a real advantage in the marketplace like "same price as Spotify but hirez for free," they would have been much more successful in the only metric that matters: the number of subscribers. Then they would not have needed Sprint's money and not be in their current death spiral. But now it's too late, VC has them by the balls and just letting the blood drip out. Couldn't happen to nicer people, imo, although I do like Jason Aldean.
