TIDAL IS HERE

Kenneth Patchen · « **Reply #20 on:** 29 Oct 2014, 06:57 pm »

Thanks very much for sending this , CX; this is exactly what I've been waiting for.

Slightly off-topic, I googled Tidal and landed on the Tidal Audio site intead. Please see the Tidal Audio eye candy at the link below, scroll down to the section titled "Tidal Nautical Edition". Such a shame, I don't think that veneer would match the wood in my 47-meter yacht at all. (Who does that boat belong to... Batman?)

http://www.tidal-audio.de/english/news.htm

Cheers,
KP

Charles Xavier · « **Reply #21 on:** 29 Oct 2014, 08:34 pm »

Quote from: mnilan on 29 Oct 2014, 06:50 pm

Charles:
Would you
please look again. I can get Qobuz to list ECM content but when you try to play it, it won't play…
Thanks,
Mike

Yes you are right. I just hit play on my phone and it says not available for streaming. I dont have a wifi sig right now but maybe it can be downloaded.

Charles Xavier · « **Reply #22 on:** 29 Oct 2014, 08:36 pm »

Imean not available for playback so no download. I just tried

JEaton · « **Reply #23 on:** 29 Oct 2014, 09:19 pm »

$20 is too much to pay for a music service, IMO. The lossless/lossy quality is secondary to programming and reliability.

I own nearly 4000 CDs, all of them ripped to FLAC to be streamed to players around my home. These are CDs that, for the most part, I really love and have taken 25+ years to collect. This library will always make up the bulk of my dedicated listening time.

Now, I'm not one of those crusty buggers who says "there's no good music being produced today". Far from it. I think there's more than ever, to the point that it's difficult to discover what's out there. And that's where I feel streaming music services come in - those with good curated playlists or algorithms for playing related music are fantastic for discovering new music. But that listening is done exclusively in background mode, not comfy listening chair, lights down, fridge off, glass of wine, listening mode. Lossless or lossy makes zero difference to me.

mnilan · « **Reply #24 on:** 30 Oct 2014, 02:17 pm »

Charles:
Thanks,
Mike

sts9fan · « **Reply #25 on:** 30 Oct 2014, 02:21 pm »

I will check this out for sure. I would pay more then $20 for CD quality and a library as large as Spotify. I tried out Qobuz and it sounded great. Unfortunately the music selection sucked unless you are into French smooth jazz and EDM.

mdconnelly · « **Reply #26 on:** 30 Oct 2014, 04:06 pm »

I've been using Tidal now for 2 days on their free trial. I can get to it from my computer, my iPhone, my iPad, etc.... The sound quality is excellent and streaming lossless (they call it HiFi) has not been a problem at all. The Tidal app is very good and seemingly bugfree. Their library of music seems quite vast and hopefully continuing to grow. It even allows me to download music so that I can listen to it when it can't be streamed (car, airplane, etc...) But no, I cannot copy those downloads as far as I can tell. Just part of the service.

So why am I reluctant to spend $20/month? Maybe it's just the dinosaur in me is roaring, but when it comes to music, I far prefer the ownership model than the service model. I easily spend $240 a year on music - probably a good bit more. But then I own it and/or gift it. So while $20/month isn't going to break the bank, I'm still hesitant. Am I afraid that I'll start ignoring my own coveted library - ouch, I've spent most of my life (62 yo) building that. Or am I just fighting inevitable change?

I've tried MOG, Spotify and various other serivces and apps. They are clearly getting better and better and based on the last 2 days, I'd say Tidal is the probably the best so far - certainly the best audio quality. So what would it take for me to get over my bad self and embrace this new way of listening to lossless music? Anybody else wrestling with this?

roscoeiii · « **Reply #27 on:** 30 Oct 2014, 04:11 pm »

Oh, I am not wrestling with $20/month for lossless music at all. A Spotify with higher rez files? Yes please.

mdconnelly · « **Reply #28 on:** 30 Oct 2014, 04:29 pm »

Quote from: roscoeiii on 30 Oct 2014, 04:11 pm

Oh, I am not wrestling with $20/month for lossless music at all. A Spotify with higher rez files? Yes please.

Is it simply the price ($20/month vs $10/month) or is there something else about Spotify you prefer? I don't know how Spotify compares to Tidal with regard to the size of its music library. Spotify may, in fact, have a much bigger library. Of course, if Tidal is at all successful, I can easily imagine Spotify following with their own lossless streaming.

Pneumonic · « **Reply #29 on:** 30 Oct 2014, 04:37 pm »

Great service and badly needed for us audiophiles.

I have not used it yet but its price is a small coffee a day. Not at all unreasonable for me ... especially so when I have been complaining for years about the crappy sound of lossy services. As such, it is well worth supporting IMHO.

Tyson · « **Reply #30 on:** 30 Oct 2014, 04:38 pm »

I have tons of hirez already ripped and streaming in my home. But the files are too damn big to put on my portable devices, so that is where I see a service like Tidal being useful.

JohnR · « **Reply #31 on:** 31 Oct 2014, 01:43 pm »

Quote from: sts9fan on 30 Oct 2014, 02:21 pm

I tried out Qobuz and it sounded great. Unfortunately the music selection sucked unless you are into French smooth jazz and EDM.

Don't know what you were looking for but my Qobuz playlist has no French smooth jazz or EDM in it

I'm happy as a pig in mud, in fact. While I do have to use the "download to local FLAC storage" option because my network is too flaky, slow, or both, to stream at 16/44, that's OK, I just have to remember to keep queueing up albums. I don't know if Tidal will be better or not, I'm not sure where the bottleneck is, I guess I'll find out sooner or later.

To the person querying about ECM, that's the label making the restriction that they don't want their content streamed (losslessly). Channel Islands is another such label.

Phil A · « **Reply #32 on:** 31 Oct 2014, 03:42 pm »

Quote from: Tyson on 30 Oct 2014, 04:38 pm

I have tons of hirez already ripped and streaming in my home. But the files are too damn big to put on my portable devices, so that is where I see a service like Tidal being useful.

I may try one of the Filo players (X1, X3, X5 - http://www.amazon.com/Fiio-X1-FiiO/dp/B00NS3MRKC/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1414769871&sr=8-1&keywords=fiio+x1), iBasso (I've heard this personally and it sounded good) or the new Sony Walkman at some point. I don't spent tons of time in the car so for now the iPod is fine. Yes the files are large. I guess if the Ipod no longer worked and I did not feel like using an old iPhone as an iPod, it would be good incentive to try one of the portable units.

randytsuch · « **Reply #33 on:** 31 Oct 2014, 03:47 pm »

So I was using MOG to find new music and new artists. When I found stuff I liked, I would go buy the CD, and rip it.

Now that MOG is gone, I miss that. I had tried Spotify, but liked MOG better.

So I will probably try Spotify again, and was looking for other similar services. I also plan to try hoopla, but I need to go to my library and get a card. Hoopla is a service offered through some public libraries.

For some reason, $10/month is OK, but $20/mo seems too expensive to me. So I don't have qobuz either.

Randy

robcentola · « **Reply #34 on:** 3 Nov 2014, 04:52 pm »

I love it.

JohnLL · « **Reply #35 on:** 9 Nov 2014, 05:26 pm »

One of the great things about MOG and now Google music is that they automatically organize playlists or albums alphabetically. I have a very large classical library on Google organized by era and often by geographical region. Each album name begins with a letter and sometimes a number, and then the composer name. So B for German Baroque, B1 For French Baroque, C For classical era, R for romantic, and T for 20th century (T.....T6). Their software then sorts by composer alphabetically. This is much too difficult to do manually.

Does Tidal sort alphabetically ? Thanks! John

Thorton · « **Reply #36 on:** 11 Nov 2014, 02:22 am »

Quote from: randytsuch on 31 Oct 2014, 03:47 pm

So I was using MOG to find new music and new artists. When I found stuff I liked, I would go buy the CD, and rip it.

Now that MOG is gone, I miss that. I had tried Spotify, but liked MOG better.

So I will probably try Spotify again, and was looking for other similar services. I also plan to try hoopla, but I need to go to my library and get a card. Hoopla is a service offered through some public libraries.

For some reason, $10/month is OK, but $20/mo seems too expensive to me. So I don't have qobuz either.

Randy

I've had the same experience and feel the same way. I really liked MOG and $20 just seems too much. $10 for this a month, $20 dollars for that a month. It all adds up.

lextek · « **Reply #37 on:** 22 Nov 2014, 05:01 pm »

Been using Tidal for a couple of weeks and really, enjoy it. But like most $20/month seems on the high side. Still deciding. Sounds great. Wish there was a way to browse in a genre by artist.

Charles Xavier · « **Reply #38 on:** 22 Nov 2014, 05:18 pm »

Deezer Elit offers 10 a month if you pay for 12 months in advance but it is only offered to Sonos customers. Tidal should follow suit. I think the interface will get better in time seeing they are taking advice from the Audiophile community

yyz67 · « **Reply #39 on:** 29 Nov 2014, 03:29 am »

Definitely an audible step up from Spotify quality. However it seems at least half (maybe 2/3?) of the songs in my playlists don't exist in TIDAL.