Spotify Lossless?

[miguelito]

Does Spotify still have a lot of content with audible watermarking?

I was not aware of this. Can you explain?

[miguelito]

So far Spotify has been very tight to keep their own client as only front-end to the service. This is one of the major differences to Tidal and possibly one of the reasons why Tidal has succeeded as well as it has.

There's Sonos...

[miguelito]

Spotify can maintain their user interface control easier when access is via closed systems like Sonos.

Access over Sonos is quite barebones, there's really nothing remaining from the Spotify interface in it (I use it). I don't think it has anything to do with hardware per-se other that those implementations are simple and require very little maintenance. I think the line gets blurred with software implementations that can get enriched and change dramatically very quickly and make Spotify's "edge" in interface more diluted.

[miguelito]

But now that Spotify Connect can be used with Sonos it makes it a more compelling option. Also,now that Roon can be used with Sonos it makes it a better product also.

Ah, very true. I suppose the only reason would be their control of the experience. Additionally I have always wondered about their tracking of users habits, playlists, etc. For example, if they allowed a Roon interface they wouldn't get data such as songs started but skipped, browsing habits without playing, etc etc. I would bet this is all data they collect.

[miguelito]

That's a really great point...I've never thought of that!

The Spotify Connect solution is actually brilliant I think. By allowing you to control a renderer via a common interface, collecting the data in a common format should be much easier. Again only speculating (but something I would definitely do).