How To Cope If Tidal Does Go Under?

[Brinkman Ship]

buy music...instead of renting it?

 

i would never allow others to control my content...

[Brinkman Ship]

3 hours ago, Indydan said:

 

I gather you don't have a Netflix account?

I watch movies once..why in the world would I want to own it?

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1 minute ago, Ralf11 said:

 

the best art will repay multiple viewings - nonetheless, I still use the library for those

 

Maybe the key to music streaming is in videos?  If you think about Roon it is kinda close - you get visual input while listening...

Some movies..and if they are that important, the DVD or Blu Ray may warrant a purchase.

 

Not to mention the video streaming service actually produced high quality exclusive content. Daredevil on Netflix rocks.

 

Not sure what you mean by visuals and Roon...?

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2 minutes ago, Blake said:

 

How does Tidal control your content?

 

Streaming is here to stay.  The old ways are out.  Most people I know use YouTube as their free music streaming source.

 

It is up to the record labels, musicians and streaming services to come up with financially viable solutions, not consumers. 

 

i absolutely love Tidal and I will be seriously bummed out if they go under, but I think discussion on them going out of business is way premature at this point.

 

I did not mean that Tidal or any streaming service controls your content, but if they disappear, or change the terms, or exclude certain artists, your library disappears or is severely impacted. Not for me.

 

The major labels should be streaming their own content and not going through third parties. They really Effed up in this regard.

[Brinkman Ship]

2 minutes ago, mansr said:

I disagree. What they should do is offer worldwide streaming licences at a fair rate with no exclusives or other bullshit. Nobody wants a fragmented market. 

But why use a middle man? Why not deal directly with consumers and actually rebuild the business?

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7 minutes ago, left channel said:

 

So it has. "A free tier called YouTube Music and a $10-per-month tier dubbed YouTube Music Premium, and it’s scheduled to debut on May 22 in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico, and South Korea."

 

Lyor Cohen, YouTube’s global head of music says: “There’s a lot more people in our funnel that we can frustrate and seduce to become subscribers.”

 

https://gizmodo.com/is-youtube-music-already-doomed-1826103455

Both tiers are lossy it appears.

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3 minutes ago, diecaster said:

 

Certainly not as happy. If Tidal went out of business, Roon would be forced to partner with another service. Roon is way more than just a front end to Tidal....

yes it is.... you are correct.... how about a front end to terabytes of locally stored files for many of us..i am not sure why some are linking Roon to Tidal...

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4 minutes ago, lesanderson said:

Random thoughts.

 

Deezer is available in the US now and they offer a lossless tier. I don't believe I have seen them mentioned as an option. Apologies if it has.

 

For me Tidal does 2 things.

 

1. It provides access to lossless music. 

2. It integrates with Roon

 

Roon integration is the more important of the two for me as I have a multi zoned, dsp'd, room corrected system throughout my house that runs on Roon. I also admit that I have a very hard time hearing the difference between 320kbps and lossless no matter how much resolving power the system has. At least in short term A/B.

 

What I would say for those of you who have not used Spotify recently is that you will likely be blown away by how good of an experience it offers. The search functionality blows both pure Tidal and Roon away. Discovery blows both away. Radio blows both away. 

 

I worry more about the impact losing Tidal has on Roon than anything else. 

i just don’t understand linking the Roon experience to Tidal...

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3 minutes ago, Ron Scubadiver said:

Is tidal on the brink of failing?  Too bad.

no..i think reports of their demise are...well.. you know,

 

they are not folding, if that happens it will be well down the road..

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6 minutes ago, lesanderson said:

Because I own a relatively small library and am a believer in streaming not owning. Music discovery is where my enjoyment comes from, so being tied to a local library doesn't work for me. I use Roon for incorporating different technologies into a single house wide system. I use Roon for parametric eq in 2 zones which make these systems much more enjoyable, I use Roon for dsp and src in several zones, both for downsamping to an ATV and to support s dsd only dac. I use Roon to screw around with hqplayer and try crazy shit.

 

I don't use Roon for metadata and to organize a huge local library. I like Roon because it can do it all. Without Tidal, it becomes an island that is closed off to tens of millions of songs

. 

 

 

I will be honest with you, Tidal appeals MOST to those who have not invested in a digital library. 

 

I get the impression that many saw Tidal as a way to get into computer audio on the cheap..but like all things too good to be true...

 

I cannot imagine a large, carefully curated local library. But that is just me.  Tidal and similar are like water..and water can evaporate when conditions change.

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1 minute ago, Rt66indierock said:

 

Police investigations in Norway, audits in Denmark, violating contracts with labels, not paying bills and no cash. Sounds like blueprint for Tidal to close up shop to me.

I'm not convinced.....Tesla stays on open and it has had more misteps than three legged gymnast.

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Just now, Rt66indierock said:

 

As of March 31, 2018 they had over $3 billion in the bank. But they will probably need to raise $10 billion to fund operations.

interesting....

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7 hours ago, BigAlMc said:

 

Because people pay the substantial premium for Roon (compared to the plethora of free or almost free players) for the excellent Roon user experience. 

 

A big part of that experience is the music magazine feel and the ability to browse related artists and other albums. Take Tidal out of the equation and the Roon experience is pretty limited for myself and many others. 

 

I guess if Tidal does fold that it's only a matter of time before someone else offers CD quality streaming (and MQA hopefully just for you @Brinkman Ship ) and integrates fully with Roon.

 

But the gap in between will be long dark days for many Roon-Tidal fans like myself. 

 

Oh FWIW my non-audiophile mates think I'm nuts paying £20 per month for Tidal when I could stream Spotify or suchlike for free. The better SQ argument just does not compute with them. And sadly that's indicative of why Tidal may well be in trouble. 

 

Cheers, 

Alan 

 

Just to be clear, I have no issues with Tidal (aside from MQA of course). It is a legitimate service, and it great for those I identified as not invested in local libraries, or who want to seek out new music. All good. I had it for almost a year.

 

But it is a false narrative that the main function of Roon is to be a front end to Tidal. It was designed as a better audio networking protocol  and as an improvement/replacement of DLNA.

 

 

[Brinkman Ship]

Just now, mansr said:

Roon is a lot of things. That said, the Tidal integration seems to be one of their main selling points.

I just don't get it.. and I don't think it is a main selling point, at all.....I know a least 12-15 Roon users diehard without tidal accounts.

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10 minutes ago, mansr said:

Roon wouldn't be anywhere with 12-15 users.

Yes, but that is just who I know..I cannot imagine the majority of Roon users paid $500 just for Tidal integration. Maybe I am wrong.

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3 hours ago, BigAlMc said:

 

I'll break it down further. 

 

Roon is great. No argument. 

 

Roon DSP - personally, meh! But I suspect that's system dependent. 

 

Roon magazine feel - bravo! This is what I pay for. 

 

Roon Tidal - bravo! This is also a big part of what I pay for. The ability to discover music based on your current catalogue. Music you may not have found otherwise. That's terrific in my book and has greatly added to my collection. 

 

Is Roon worthless without Tidal? Of course not. But it's diminished in mine and many other users eyes. 

 

 

I hear ya. It obvious that Roon and Tidal work great together. My point is Roon has tremendous value as a playback and management application for locally stored files. as well.

BTW, as much as I like Roon, it is not perfect, and the price is def. keeping many on the side lines.

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38 minutes ago, exdmd said:

Why obsess about a potential problem that may not occur? There is always Deezer and Quobuz.

Because when you buy into a rental economy, and your content has been given to you for an unsustainable price, it can be a bummer if that goes away. Not investing in a local digital library buy ripping purchased CDs and not buying downloads is a mistake I think many made. 

[Brinkman Ship]

This situation really reminds me of when I was growing up I had friends who did not purchase much music because it was the glory days of FM radio and they had one or two favorite stations that played what they liked 24/7. As usual, there were stations that were bought out, and shifted direction and these guys were left without any source of music...they started buying records and tapes....

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3 minutes ago, left channel said:

 

Ah yes, I can still hear Alison Steele, the Nightbird, flying until dawn on WNEW-FM. These days, for all my tinkering with Tidal and Qobuz on LMS, UAPP, and other initials, I mostly listen to (and support!) the Radio Paradise internet radio stream, and sometimes SomaFM. Also the KCSM stream. If we lost all the big streaming services, I'd probably do more of that before buying music.

Oh, man same here...WNEW..Scott Muni...and WLIR...i was REALLY bummed when they folded. They were my Tidal of the day.

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10 minutes ago, psjug said:

I can't see it as a mistake.  You can always buy any music that you lose access to.  Anyway it's hard to imagine all the services going away.  And  $10/mo or $20/mo doesn't really register in my family budget - health insurance is $1700/mo - and that's for a crummy bronze plan!

..you can always buy the music..as long as it is available...but I hear you...

[Brinkman Ship]

48 minutes ago, bobbmd said:

@Brinkman Ship@left channel Ah yes and pete fornatale and vin scelsa denis elsas etc

FYI you can still listen to them(pete and vin) on Fordham University's NPR station WFMU   under archives for 'idiots delight' and 'mixed bag' and you can listen to the nightbird at the paley center for media in nyc and probably all the other WNEW dj's also and there are a lot uTube selections including fornatale's obituary/funeral and vin's farewell party- do you two think there is ANYPLACE that saved whole show recordings of vin/pete/alison other than what I mentioned above especially the later 'idiots delight' from sirius xm?

As far as TIDAL goes I would miss it terribly and what would happen to ROON? BUT... I still have Qobuz and A+3 and I just don't think TIDAL will pass on-OMG all my hundreds of playlists where would they go??

Wow, those were all my favorite DJs. Icons.  Thanks for the tip. I remember when WFUV started streaming live on the internet, at a low bit rate, I thought that was amazing at the time.