Putting Tidal in Perspective

[Brinkman Ship]

One of my neighbors is a 22 year old female college student. She is a music lover (mostly top 40 pop) and she

also plays piano and violin,. She and her boyfriend share a family plan subscription to Apple Music.

 

She LOVES it. She also has been on Spotify

 

I asked her how Apple Music compared to Tidal.

 

Answer: "Tidal? Never heard of it..."

 

I mentioned Jay-Z as part owner..still no familiarity.

 

So a little perspective. I think Tidal in the end is a VERY small player in streaming.

 

 

[Brinkman Ship]

3 minutes ago, firedog said:

Very true. We often forget what a small world the audiophile world is. Spotify adds more users each year than the total at Tidal. And just another reason to think “MQA is vapor ware”.

Yes, but what makes it a bit puzzling is that Tidal also offers a lossy tier of service..and still not traction.

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18 minutes ago, firedog said:

No free tier to attract initial.users may have something to do with it, as does their inferior user interface.

true.but there was a 30 day free trial and still may be.

 

..for sure that can't compete with Apple's 90 days free.

 

Sprint was offering 6 months free to new customers.

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2 minutes ago, Sonicularity said:

I have to admit that one of Tidal's best attributes is the MQA library that forgoes the annoying watermarks from Universal's catalog.  The military discount that I enjoy as a veteran at $11.99 USD per month is a nice deal as well.  

 

Without Roon, the Tidal desktop and web application simply do not work for me.  I'm not a playlist fan.  I want a complete library of albums like a personal record store where I can shuffle the entire contents.  I also want the ability to add my own music to seamlessly fill in any gaps with music that would embed itself into the entire ecosystem from streaming holdouts; though, perhaps maybe not Taylor Swift's latest recordings.

 

If Qobuz launches in the US and works with Roon, as is the current rumor, and the watermarks are not present, I would drop Tidal immediately.

 

The interface is so important to me that I would rather go back to mp3 and Google music if Tidal sees any detrimental changes rather than look for a lossless solution without the features I enjoy.  If Roon and Google played nicely together, I'd take that too.

Interesting perspective. Thanks. Do you happen to remember where you first heard of Tidal?

 

For some reason I don't recall..it may have been from a Rolling Stone article.

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5 minutes ago, TubeLover said:

Playing piano and violin may help to balance it out, but I'm not entirely sure that someone into top 40 pop qualifies as a "music" lover. Any more than someone who enjoys cartoons is an art lover!

 

JC

I know that what your saying sounds good, but honestly, it plays into the stereotype of audiophiles as judgemental grumpy old men..I never judge musical taste. Period. The only stuff I have no tolerance for is people who bring over audiophile demo crap...that is..music recorded strictly to be played on hifi systems so their owners can hear good "sound"...

 

There are tons of audiophools who don't get an iota of enjoyment from their expensive systems, and if they do, it is way less than a 20 something listening to a Katie Perry song they like on Apple Music.

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5 hours ago, PeterSt said:

 

So with this thread you disregard Sound Quality. OK.

What about MQA ?

Hi. You lost me. Where do I disregard sound quality?

 

and what about MQA?

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11 minutes ago, PeterSt said:

Comparing Tidal with Spotify or Apple Music is as apples and oranges. Unless it is about the numbers and SQ is disregarded.

And if you so that, you just as well can use MQA. 

The purpose of this thread was strictly just to offer anecdotal info on brand recognition.  That is it. Apple Music and Spotify are massive Blue Whales and Tidal is not even a microbe. 

[Brinkman Ship]

yes, but Qobuz was limited to French citizens, and possibly a few other European countries, until very recently.

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1 hour ago, rodrigaj said:

Anecdotal:

My wife comes from a family of 8 siblings with an equally procreative bent as her mother and father. Consequently, once a year we get together with this brood of nieces and nephews. I have over the years asked them if they knew what Tidal was.

 

Not one of them has ever heard of it. They "kind of" heard about JayZ and his music streaming, but nothing about Tidal. LOL -at least two thought JayZ was with Apple music. 

 

They all use Spotify, some have Spotify Premium, but most go with the free tier.

 

FWIW, I unsubscribed to Tidal several months ago after years of subscribership and have signed on with Spotify Premium while waiting for Qobuz in the USA.

thanks, interesting. without widespread recognition among consumers under 30 I don't know how Tidal can survive.

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7 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

IMO a free tier means people will always take the free route.

agree. but Apple Music is not free...

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8 hours ago, TubeLover said:

It's a great deal like fast food. The masses are constantly exposed to it, eat it regularly and feel that it represents actual, enjoyable food.

 

JC 

Based on your posts above, and this one, I think there one MASSIVE point you are missing, and to be fair, is easy to overlook.

 

ALL Apple Music subscribers stream the music via APPLE devices..iPhones, iPads, Laptops etc...or probably even sending the audio bluetooth speakers.

 

Lossless quality is of ZERO consequence.

 

And as poster Ajax smartly pointed out, there is a strong social media aspect.

 

I think it is important to stop thinking like an audiophile when examining the marketplace.

 

 

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2 hours ago, Ajax said:

I have two Auralic Minis, which I control via the Lighting DS software. One at home serving a Devialet 200 via USB and one at my beach house (which I own half with my brother in law) serving a Marantz PM 5005 via coaxial. The Mini in my opinion is underrated and a true HiFi bargain.

 

There have 3 sources of music on both Minis -

1. Internal SSD with ALAC files of ripped CDs and some "Hi res"

2. Tidal

3. Spotify Connect (premium)

 

From a sound quality perspective I don't notice a lot of different between the locally ripped CDs and Tidal - both IMO sound excellent. The Spotify Connect, however, is a distant third. 

 

My son (an accomplished musician), my wife, my brother and law and his 3 teenage kids have all shown absolutely no interest in either Tidal or the music stored on the local SSD. They all think the Auralic Mini is brilliant, as they can stream easily from their phones, but only use Spotify Connect because, as far as I can tell, they like - 

1. the interface and ease of use

2. the social aspect - the ability to follow their friends' playlists

3. the playlist feature that offers you "like" songs based on those already in the playlist

4. The huge range of available music 

5. They already have a "great" music streamer/player so why both learning another one and confuse their source of music

 

Therefore my experience with my family has been that "usability" and social interaction is more important to younger people, and those our age not afflicted by an obsessive personality, than sound quality. 

 

I also agree with the previous poster that Spotify was the "first" decent streamer / player and 320kbs is simply "good enough" to the layman.

Eye opening, and very instructive post..you make points many are missing.