The Tides They Are-A Changing - Jay Z #TIDALforALL

Hi Gyus - I got the embed code for the live press conference. I put it in the main article. At 5Pm eastern you can watch it live here on CA.

Wow - almost *every* big name in the business??

Yes, lots of big names, but what a snoozer of a press conference!

I think, critic of everything music industry, Bob Lefsetz may have had a heart attack after that one!

The Press Conference was light on details, but I love the passion!

Yep. Like watching a billion dollars of show biz royalty just stand there awkwardly. But TIDAL is not in the business of producing press conferences, so I can forgive them and see past this one botchy presentation. So long as TIDAL uses the zillions of dollars these big-time Super Stars attract to keep supporting and expanding their catalogue of jazz and classical and other niche genres, I am all for it.

I think this is interesting from a musician point of view. What I fear is that the entire catalog will shift towards a "dynamic range compressed" hip hop pop blah - not that I don't like that kind of music - I just hope the rest of the catalog doesn't get neglected.

Additionally, I can't tell but very much doubt Jay-Z cares about lossless streaming. It would be a great loss to see the platform disintegrate.

Lets be optimistic!

There's essentially a disconnect between the type of service we are looking for as audiophiles and what Tidal has quickly become - an instrument for change in the way the music industry functions. The audiophile aspect was the main selling point at launch and now what we have is essentially the start of a titanic battle for the streaming music space, primarily with Spotify.

Some fine words expressed about artistic freedom at this afternoon's launch, but what about the massive back catalog owned by record companies? Surely that's not something that will change.

At least the 30 day trial has reappeared, so I'll give it another go in the hope that the streaming has improved. That and a desktop offline mode is all I want.

Yes, lots of big names, but what a snoozer of a press conference!

 

I think, critic of everything music industry, Bob Lefsetz may have had a heart attack after that one!

Agreed, just awful.

There's essentially a disconnect between the type of service we are looking for as audiophiles and what Tidal has quickly become - an instrument for change in the way the music industry functions. The audiophile aspect was the main selling point at launch and now what we have is essentially the start of a titanic battle for the streaming music space, primarily with Spotify.

Why is there a disconnect? I heard artists in the video talking about the quality of the music container. It seems to me if audiophiles care about music we should also care about the musicians. This is not about the artist on the stage but how a fairer, more just model helps all artists.

If audiophiles don't care about how artists are compensated, I'm not one.

There's essentially a disconnect between the type of service we are looking for as audiophiles and what Tidal has quickly become - an instrument for change in the way the music industry functions. The audiophile aspect was the main selling point at launch and now what we have is essentially the start of a titanic battle for the streaming music space, primarily with Spotify.

 

Some fine words expressed about artistic freedom at this afternoon's launch, but what about the massive back catalog owned by record companies? Surely that's not something that will change.

 

At least the 30 day trial has reappeared, so I'll give it another go in the hope that the streaming has improved. That and a desktop offline mode is all I want.

I don't get it. What has Tidal become that has changed the service for audiophiles already using it? My lossless streams are still lossless and I may get more content now. I think we can still have our lossless as the music industry figures it's stuff out.

I don't get it. What has Tidal become that has changed the service for audiophiles already using it? My lossless streams are still lossless and I may get more content now. I think we can still have our lossless as the music industry figures it's stuff out.

It's really a question of how the service is marketed. Qobuz is squarely aimed at the audiophile and there's the feeling that its catalog and sound quality is the most important aspect. To me Tidal is a more general service that just happens to offer lossless music streaming. I'm quite happy to be proved wrong, but that's how it seems to me.

It's really a question of how the service is marketed. Qobuz is squarely aimed at the audiophile and there's the feeling that its catalog and sound quality is the most important aspect. To me Tidal is a more general service that just happens to offer lossless music streaming. I'm quite happy to be proved wrong, but that's how it seems to me.

Well bring on Qobuz to the states !!

I'm not doing a vpn . Love to see what they offer .

I know I tried out there iPhone app about 6 months ago and thought it was awful.

Have the dropout issues been resolved with TIDAL? Is this still common?

The number who dislike CD quality is a tiny but vocal minority.

This is why this forum and website are excellent; IMO or course. It is run by someone who speaks the truth. Bravo, Chris! Here's hoping I never read a review of a cable on this site!

Have the dropout issues been resolved with TIDAL? Is this still common?

As far as I know the major upgrade to Tidal fixed the issues.

It's really a question of how the service is marketed. Qobuz is squarely aimed at the audiophile and there's the feeling that its catalog and sound quality is the most important aspect. To me Tidal is a more general service that just happens to offer lossless music streaming. I'm quite happy to be proved wrong, but that's how it seems to me.

Catalysis, I see your point. I guess there's the pessimist (or realist) way of looking at the situation like you. Or I'd prefer to use the optimistic way of thinking that the lossless audiophile market maybe too small to be sustainable for Qobuz. With the big names coming to TIDAL, the average fans will subscribe to the cheaper 320kbps version but they'll wonder over time what the deal is with the lossless version and start upgrading. I think that'll probably be a more sustainable model and it may result in an expansionary vision for audiophile. At least that's what I'm hoping (or possibly dreaming) for.

Catalysis, I see your point. I guess there's the pessimist (or realist) way of looking at the situation like you. Or I'd prefer to use the optimistic way of thinking that the lossless audiophile market maybe too small to be sustainable for Qobuz. With the big names coming to TIDAL, the average fans will subscribe to the cheaper 320kbps version but they'll wonder over time what the deal is with the lossless version and start upgrading. I think that'll probably be a more sustainable model and it may result in an expansionary vision for audiophile. At least that's what I'm hoping (or possibly dreaming) for.

+1

This is exactly what will happen.

This is why this forum and website are excellent; IMO or course. It is run by someone who speaks the truth. Bravo, Chris! Here's hoping I never read a review of a cable on this site!

Thanks for the kind words JR.

I have been trying out TIDAL for a week now and I wasn't that impressed with the sound on my computer. It seemed pretty good going from my iOs devices. I just realized I didn't have it set on Lossless or that you have to use google chrome as your browser to get losses quality which is a major pain I can't believe that they require that. I downloaded Chrome and got it working it full quality the few things I played sounded good. So I went searching for some music and now I'm finding that a bunchy of it won't play in high quality. I went to play some music by Giacinto Scelsi and each time I tried to play different albums it would say unfortunately lossless streaming failed. I just tried a bunch of other linked or recommended albums to my search and same thing only maybe 1 out of the 10 would play they others said lossless failed. Makes me think they don't have those titles stored in lossless. This is complete crap. I am happy and willing to pay 20 a month to get this but not if it doesn't work. I have also experienced a lot of annoying log in issues and just an overall un user friendly website so far. I do like the idea and think it's great if it actually works

Catalysis, I see your point. I guess there's the pessimist (or realist) way of looking at the situation like you. Or I'd prefer to use the optimistic way of thinking that the lossless audiophile market maybe too small to be sustainable for Qobuz. With the big names coming to TIDAL, the average fans will subscribe to the cheaper 320kbps version but they'll wonder over time what the deal is with the lossless version and start upgrading. I think that'll probably be a more sustainable model and it may result in an expansionary vision for audiophile. At least that's what I'm hoping (or possibly dreaming) for.

Some very fair observations there. Right now it comes down to brand preference for me. I guess Qobuz positions itself more firmly in the audiophile camp and I certainly like its repertoire too. To date it has been the best sounding option too - plus the offline desktop mode. Tidal just doesn't feel like an audiophile product - more a mass market site that happens to do FLAC. To be more specific where are the output options with it? No ASIO?, no apparent ability to use the JRiver driver? just a one size fits all solution of their own that, to my knowledge at least, they haven't discussed publicly at all (I would be pleased to be corrected on this).

Look, no one knows how the streaming space will ultimately develop, so all I'm doing is expressing some disappointment that it hasn't panned out as I expected - though I absolutely concede I have minority tastes. I can certainly accept that from today Tidal becomes a quite significant player in this field, simply because of the publicity that will now inevitably follow it.

They have a lot of work to do, however, as Spotify has a tremendous head start and a vast repertoire. We can probably expect to see something of a migration of Tidal shareholder material from the other services and, as much as the aims might be apparently commendable, is the streaming consumer going to consider this a bullying tactic to drive one service ahead of all others?

I heard Tidal for the first time on Friday night at a friend's house. It was played through a Sooloos system. I was amazed at the sound quality and how good the Sooloos interface is.

After the bashing on Twitter yesterday The Daily Beast posted this more reasonable take: Jay Z

"There's another big incentive for stars considering bringing their music to Tidal: Money. TechCrunch says that Tidal has been offering to pay artists as much as double the payouts offered by Spotify for every play of their songs. Tidal charges a far higher price than other streaming sites, costing as much as $20 a month for its high-resolution music. That money could be going toward persuading artists to sign up through generous deals."

 

Read more: Jay Z Tidal music streaming press conference in New York - Business Insider

Is it really "high-resolution" or is it just HiFi? I know it has been discussed many times on here, but is CD quality high-resolution?

As for Tidal, I am all for it. CD quality is a great option over 320kbps.

Plus, I do like the fact that the artists will get paid more for streaming. As long as it is ALL of the artists and not just the big names in the presentation.

My use of the 'Net for music began, and to a large degree remains radio and other means of getting new and curated "stations". Seems that Tidal has yet to do what Pandora and others offer in this arena. Yet that's in many ways how new artists get "discovered" by listeners. If Jay-Z and his cohorts really wish to help the music writer/performer community it would seem paramount that they offer up a variety of showcase streams, curated by the artistic community he so badly seeks to help. Or am I missing something?

well the times may be a changin ,but the streaming glitches still are there using Amarra SQ.

Amarra SQ works well with every music service but TIdal.