Streaming Service Summary

[pseudoid]

Weird that! So, I am hearing you say that the Shenanigans are all over, and DRM is not a big issue anymore... in the streaming era/
I don't stream. I am up to my eyeballs with music content in a 2TB NAS, that is in addition to SiriusXM and Cable Music.
I guess it would be foolish for those who keep their content close to heart, to subscribe to a streaming service JUST to rip content.

 

[MRC01]

Weird that! So, I am hearing you say that the Shenanigans are all over, and DRM is not a big issue anymore... in the streaming era/
I don't stream. I am up to my eyeballs with music content in a 2TB NAS, that is in addition to SiriusXM and Cable Music.
...

I don't know if all the DRM crap is all over, to me MQA looks like an attempt to bring it back. Yet I was pleasantly surprised to see that Qobuz keep it simple, stream lossless FLAC, no hassles.
Another neat part of Qobuz is if you do want to buy/download an album you streamed, you can do that through their service.

 

[Siwel]

If they had good functionality in the Windows and mobile apps and a decent playlist track limit (currently 999) I would agree with you.

You may be right but as I only stream Qobuz at home through a dedicated streamer or Audirvana, I wouldn't know and from a strictly selfish point of view, don't care. I find my own way on all the streaming services except Pandora and don't find QB's system any more or less difficult to navigate than anybody else's. As for rating somebody else's playlists or being limited to just 999 in any one list, neither are serious issues for me but that's a matter of use case I suppose.

 

[pseudoid]

I use a FREE web-based 'streaming service'.
What are we listening to right now..
You are welcome to think of it as a university radio station, w/an electic mix of GREAT recommendations.

 

[BN1]

I use a FREE web-based 'streaming service'.
What are we listening to right now..
You are welcome to think of it as a university radio station, w/an electic mix of GREAT recommendations.

Me too. Started with Pandora and moved to Spotify (both free). After a brief learning curve with Spotify I really like their UI and recommendations. Spotify's ads are a bit more intrusive than Pandora's and I'm considering moving to a paid service but want the best value which seems to be Amazon right now. I'm not a Apple user so they are out. Spotify is very late to the fight with lossless CD (waiting ...) but integrate better in my distributed audio (Yamaha MusicCast) than Amazon. I'm going to try streaming audio from AMU via a Firestick and see how it goes, maybe I can get by with their $4/mo single device service, now that would be cool. I doubt that I'll be able to tell the difference beyond 320 kbps or CD but it's got to be a big improvement over the free levels.

 

[sarumbear]

Me too. Started with Pandora and moved to Spotify (both free). After a brief learning curve with Spotify I really like their UI and recommendations. Spotify's ads are a bit more intrusive than Pandora's and I'm considering moving to a paid service but want the best value which seems to be Amazon right now. I'm not a Apple user so they are out. Spotify is very late to the fight with lossless CD (waiting ...) but integrate better in my distributed audio (Yamaha MusicCast) than Amazon. I'm going to try streaming audio from AMU via a Firestick and see how it goes, maybe I can get by with their $4/mo single device service, now that would be cool. I doubt that I'll be able to tell the difference beyond 320 kbps or CD but it's got to be a big improvement over the free levels.

$4 x 12 = $48 equals to around buying four CDs a year of the past. Why would anyone who cares about audio doesn’t seem to care about artists?

 

[BN1]

Likely opening a can of worms here but technology has changed a lot of jobs, obviously music business as well. Adapt and survive.

 

[sarumbear]

Likely opening a can of worms here but technology has changed a lot of jobs, obviously music business as well. Adapt and survive.

You do realise that the music business is bigger than ever before and it is growing. I will say the same thing to you: Adapt and survive…

 

[pseudoid]

Why would anyone who cares about audio doesn’t seem to care about artists?

Can some of us get big "senior discounts" because in all reality we can be considered those who have allowed the 'industry' to to get where it is today? I paid my dues... don't steal anyone's content but refuse to line the pockets of... well... you should know by now...
Oh, amount of 'discount' should be based on how much we have spent/contributed; and not just content but also hardware outlays.
Jeez, I would have to sit down a bit, to compute what kind of a total 6 figure amount my 'endowment' would be. [don't wanna know, don't care]

 

[Phorize]

Qobuz has a terrific classical library, and I enjoy the lack of MQA gimmicks. However, there is a bug in Roon integration where it de-authorizes tracks (I believe it has to do with balancing rights in US vs other countries). There’s an authorized track somewhere, but Roon ends up pointing to the non-authorized one and it won’t play. Drives me up the wall. They’ve been telling me they “are aware of the problem” for two years now.

I was about to subscribe to roon to get proper integration of qobuz into my set up. This may have killed that idea for me. Does it happen often?

 

[ahofer]

I was about to subscribe to roon to get proper integration of qobuz into my set up. This may have killed that idea for me. Does it happen often?

Every few weeks, in my listening.

 

[Phorize]

Every few weeks, in my listening.

Oh dear. I tried the new volumio yesterday to see if qobuz integration still sucked, it did. The closest to integration ATM between the iOS app and my system is mconnect to moode audio nodes. That’s the only way I can do things like add favourites to qobuz from outside of the app. I may stick with moode/mconnect for now.

 

[ahofer]

Oh dear. I tried the new volumio yesterday to see if qobuz integration still sucked, it did. The closest to integration ATM between the iOS app and my system is mconnect to moode audio nodes. That’s the only way I can do things like add favourites to qobuz from outside of the app. I may stick with moode/mconnect for now.

Looks like you are in the UK. I’m going to bet you won’t have as many issues with this, as Qobuz seems to focus more on the European markets for streaming rights (I have no idea if Brexit complicates that). You might want to check with a UK user.

 

[Phorize]

Looks like you are in the UK. I’m going to bet you won’t have as many issues with this, as Qobuz seems to focus more on the European markets for streaming rights (I have no idea if Brexit complicates that). You might want to check with a UK user.

Qobuz seems to have been unaffected by Brexit, I’m not sure of the implications for online services generally. I have only seen the odd track or two listed but not available due to the copyright holder. Maybe it’s not a problem. I’m currently using a pi with moode/mconnect on my I phone on my main system. In the house I have a couple of listening points, usually streaming from my phone, but I’ve just bought a pi zero 2 w for the D50s/a50s stack on my desk. I like the look of roon for the meta data and recommendations engine-I think they call it valence, but only have about 400 ripped cds and otherwise it’s qobuz and a bit of web radio. I have an Lenovo m90 that I could run roon server from. In your experience do you find it worthwhile?

 

[RadioBuddha]

So, technically, can a subscriber copy/record the selection being played? Would that recording quality be any good?
I guess what I am trying to ask is how the content is protected from being illegally duped?
NOTE: I have zero interest in doing so but DRM [?] is not going to protect against nefarious netizens. IMHO

Yes you can record all the songs and albums you want with Audio Hijack, usually gives you 128 kbps and above sound quality (actually it records whatever Spotify is outputting), the sound quality difference is neglible between a recorded song and an Itunes 256 kbps downloaded song. I don't think the streaming companies care because I can't imagine many people taking the time to record music when they can just illegally download music via torrents.

Think of people recording music via the radio years ago, nothing FM radio could do to stop it.

Also if you want free Spotify without ads, just use Adblock or Adblock Plus.

 

[pseudoid]

Think of people recording music via the radio years ago, nothing FM radio could do to stop it.

I take offense to that statement!
I was one of those 'people' but that was like 4 or 5 decades ago... when the only watering-hole for finding new music was via FM Radio (NYC radio station WNEW-FM for rock).
There was no such thing as "streaming" or any other means to audition new music.
I had two hi-end cassette decks, which were expressively used just for this purpose. Those 90-minute compilation cassettes made our road-trips and party times much more enjoyable.

 

[BinkieHuckerback]

Anyone use the Neil Young Archives streaming service?