Qobuz Feature Requests

[KenG]

Feature Request: include Qobuz official Artist playlists within the Artist section. Have them as a section underneath Albums, EPs & Singles and Live. 
It’s more convenient when browsing an artist page and then having to re-search them and click on the playlist tab. 

[David Craff]

23 hours ago, KenG said:

Feature Request: include Qobuz official Artist playlists within the Artist section. Have them as a section underneath Albums, EPs & Singles and Live. 
It’s more convenient when browsing an artist page and then having to re-search them and click on the playlist tab. 

 

Hi, This is planed. I do not have a date sorry.

 

Regards

[111MilesToGo]

Feature / GUI behavior request for the Qobuz iOS App: Please make all search bars / fields obey the Apple standard. I.e., when looking at a long list, use a short / quick swipe down to let the search bar show up at the top. Then have the scrolling axis right below the search bar.

 

Example: The My Favorites list. It is just a nuisance to scroll up all the way to the top to see the search bar, especially when you are near the end of a long list.

 

Thanks in advance!

[vsrrr]

When using Qobuz via Roon, if I favorite an album, the album shows up in my favorites in Qobuz as well.

However, if I favorite a song inside that album, this does not transfer from Roon to Qobuz. Why?

I also noticed that Roon does not allow me add songs to or modify my Qobuz playlists in any way.

 

This is really frustrating, because it forces me to do redundant work between two different apps.

 

I used to think this was an issue with Roon, but then I recently got an Auralic streamer, and I notice the same favorite songs / playlist issues exist inside their own control app (LightningDS) - which leads me to believe that the issue is actually created by Qobuz itself.

 

Is this an issue Qobuz has acknowledged / are working on?
Does anyone know if there has been any progress on a "Qobuz Connect"

[David Craff]

On 9/2/2023 at 7:46 PM, vsrrr said:

When using Qobuz via Roon, if I favorite an album, the album shows up in my favorites in Qobuz as well.

However, if I favorite a song inside that album, this does not transfer from Roon to Qobuz. Why?

I also noticed that Roon does not allow me add songs to or modify my Qobuz playlists in any way.

 

This is really frustrating, because it forces me to do redundant work between two different apps.

 

I used to think this was an issue with Roon, but then I recently got an Auralic streamer, and I notice the same favorite songs / playlist issues exist inside their own control app (LightningDS) - which leads me to believe that the issue is actually created by Qobuz itself.

 

Is this an issue Qobuz has acknowledged / are working on?
Does anyone know if there has been any progress on a "Qobuz Connect"

 

Sorry, I'm not aware of this issue. If you don't have this issue on our application, this cannot happen on Roon or Auralic. Maybe it's a wrong API usage. I will try to have a look.

 

About Qobuz Connect we will send information and needs to HiFi Partner this month for a beta integration.

 

Regards

[vsrrr]

3 hours ago, David Craff said:

 

Sorry, I'm not aware of this issue. If you don't have this issue on our application, this cannot happen on Roon or Auralic. Maybe it's a wrong API usage. I will try to have a look.

 

About Qobuz Connect we will send information and needs to HiFi Partner this month for a beta integration.

 

Regards

 

Thanks David! It must be an API issue somewhere, but it surprisingly exists for both Roon and LightningDS. This wouldn't be an issue if I could control my streamer with the Qobuz app, but since I need to use Roon or LightningDS, it's a big issue.

 

I can provide screenshots of the favorited songs within a favorited album below. As you can see, the Mark Hollis album is favorited in Roon with three songs in that album favorited as well. However, when I look at Qobuz, only the album is favorited, not the songs.

It's a little harder for me to visually prove the read-only issue with Roon and LightningDS being unable to add to or modify Qobuz playlists. so I hope you'll take my word for it!

 

 

[111MilesToGo]

I‘d like to bring up a long-standing topic; please forgive me if it has been mentioned here or already is on Qobuz‘s to-do list.

 

DYNAMIC RANGE ! It would be great, awesome, an outstanding feature, and a singular feature amongst competitors, if QOBUZ COULD CALCULATE AND SHOW THE DYNAMIC RANGE NUMBERS FOR ALL STREAMABLE CONTENT.

 

Background: I am under the impression that the infamous loudness war is still raging, maybe even more than ever. We get all those fresh remasters which go up in hi-res formats all the time, we get all those deluxe and super-deluxe versions of our good old albums - but it seems their dynamic ranges get compressed more and more with every edition. Uhhh… I think everybody here can contribute examples.

 

Side remark: Roon calculates numbers they call dynamic range for the local library tracks and albums. But as far as I understand their numbers do NOT follow the good old dynamic range definition, but are merely an indicator of overall volume to suit replay gains. Pls correct me if I‘m wrong. The Roon numbers typically are much lower integer figures than those in the web-based DR data base; everybody can calculate the standard DR numbers for himself using e.g. MAAT‘s DR Offline Meter MkII when owning a track/album.

 

Thus, I‘d like Qobuz to consider doing the calculation of standard dynamic range for their streamable contents. It should be done in threefold on per-track, per-disc, and per-album bases (think of those deluxe albums which couple an original studio album with e.g. some live recording). It should be shown with the album in a way similar to the resolution data.

 

I do in fact think that music lovers and audiophiles alike would be more than happy, as dynamic range is one of the good indicators needed to judge a recording / mastering.

 

Thanks for reading and considering this. Sorry again for any potential duplication.

[David Craff]

On 9/7/2023 at 7:17 PM, vsrrr said:

 

Thanks David! It must be an API issue somewhere, but it surprisingly exists for both Roon and LightningDS. This wouldn't be an issue if I could control my streamer with the Qobuz app, but since I need to use Roon or LightningDS, it's a big issue.

 

I can provide screenshots of the favorited songs within a favorited album below. As you can see, the Mark Hollis album is favorited in Roon with three songs in that album favorited as well. However, when I look at Qobuz, only the album is favorited, not the songs.

It's a little harder for me to visually prove the read-only issue with Roon and LightningDS being unable to add to or modify Qobuz playlists. so I hope you'll take my word for it!

 

 

 

Hi,

 

The main problem is that I don't know if the notion of favorites in Roon indicates that it's a Roon favorite or a Qobuz favorite or something else?

I'll check with them directly to get their opinion.

Thanks for the information

 

Regards

[vsrrr]

All I can tell you is that, when I'm in Roon (which I use exclusively to listen to Qobuz), if I favorite an album, it becomes a favorited album in Qobuz. If I favorite a song, it does not become a favorited song in Qobuz.

 

Similarly, when I'm in the Qobuz app, if I favorite an album, it shows up as a favorited Qobuz album in Roon. If I favorite a song, it does not show up as a favorited Qobuz song in Roon.

 

My guess is that for whatever reason, this functionality may not have been built into the API.

The fact that my personal Qobuz playlists are read-only in Roon is also definitely a Qobuz "feature" rather than a Roon bug. 

 

I'm quite confident that both of these issues are down to Qobuz rather than Roon, because the exact same issues occur when I use Qobuz through Auralic's LightningDS control app.

 

 

[Balthazar B]

On 9/11/2023 at 7:53 AM, vsrrr said:

All I can tell you is that, when I'm in Roon (which I use exclusively to listen to Qobuz), if I favorite an album, it becomes a favorited album in Qobuz. If I favorite a song, it does not become a favorited song in Qobuz.

 

Similarly, when I'm in the Qobuz app, if I favorite an album, it shows up as a favorited Qobuz album in Roon. If I favorite a song, it does not show up as a favorited Qobuz song in Roon.

 

My guess is that for whatever reason, this functionality may not have been built into the API.

The fact that my personal Qobuz playlists are read-only in Roon is also definitely a Qobuz "feature" rather than a Roon bug. 

 

I'm quite confident that both of these issues are down to Qobuz rather than Roon, because the exact same issues occur when I use Qobuz through Auralic's LightningDS control app.

 

 

 

Interestingly, in the WiiM Home app (Android), favoriting Qobuz tracks etc. carries through to Qobuz flawlessly, AFAICT. Also, my personal Qobuz playlists are reflected in the WHA, and I can add tracks to those playlists in the app. So if WiiM is using exactly the same API that Roon and Aurilac use, then I suspect the problem is with the latters' implementations.

[vsrrr]

On 9/17/2023 at 1:07 AM, Balthazar B said:

 

Interestingly, in the WiiM Home app (Android), favoriting Qobuz tracks etc. carries through to Qobuz flawlessly, AFAICT. Also, my personal Qobuz playlists are reflected in the WHA, and I can add tracks to those playlists in the app. So if WiiM is using exactly the same API that Roon and Aurilac use, then I suspect the problem is with the latters' implementations.

 

Weird. I would hope that both Roon and Auralic wouldn't mess this up. Just spoke to two different people (one with Taiko, one with Innuos), and they experience the same issue, which leads me to believe it's an API issue.

 

Maybe the difference with the WiiM Home App is that it's actually launching Qobuz inside the app

[Balthazar B]

55 minutes ago, vsrrr said:

 

Weird. I would hope that both Roon and Auralic wouldn't mess this up. Just spoke to two different people (one with Taiko, one with Innuos), and they experience the same issue, which leads me to believe it's an API issue.

 

Maybe the difference with the WiiM Home App is that it's actually launching Qobuz inside the app

 

Now that I don't know. I've never seen its mechanism of action with Qobuz described anywhere, including on the WiiM forums. It's definitely not launching the Qobuz app within an iframe or anything like that. I don't have the instrumentation to do so, but perhaps someone out there with a WiiM device can do a deep analysis of what the WiiM Home app is doing.

 

It's probably worth noting that the web interface to Qobuz also supports adding tracks to playlists, favoriting items, etc., so these functions are probably supported via a REST API or similar interface.

[David Craff]

12 hours ago, Balthazar B said:

 

Now that I don't know. I've never seen its mechanism of action with Qobuz described anywhere, including on the WiiM forums. It's definitely not launching the Qobuz app within an iframe or anything like that. I don't have the instrumentation to do so, but perhaps someone out there with a WiiM device can do a deep analysis of what the WiiM Home app is doing.

 

It's probably worth noting that the web interface to Qobuz also supports adding tracks to playlists, favoriting items, etc., so these functions are probably supported via a REST API or similar interface.

 

All our Partner's and our Applications use the same API. Execp for specifique endpoint dedicated to Qobuz (for editorial) all of them are available for partners. The management of the user library like adding album, artist, tracks to favorite are available there is no restriction. So this is more a integration issue.

[Balthazar B]

Thank you for clarifying that, David. It made the most logical sense to me that there would be only one API for third parties to employ.

 

I have a feature request as well. Can you discuss whether it's feasible, if not in the works to have Qobuz made available as a default music streaming service in the Google Home ecosystem? Thanks!

[davide256]

@David Craff  I saw this today as part of October T&C updates

 

" it is forbidden to use artificial intelligence tools when using Qobuz services."

 

Which seems poorly written or excessive overreach language for any contract ( ie if I'm using AI on a work computer, I can't listen to Qobuz at same time on my phone)

 

Can Qobuz revisit this language and make sure that the language is cleaned up? My assumption would be that Qobuz's intent is to forbid a user interfacing AI with their

running Qobuz application, not to make us all have to figure out which products use AI and shun them every time we use Qobuz.

 

 

 

 

[Jud]

1 hour ago, davide256 said:

@David Craff  I saw this today as part of October T&C updates

 

" it is forbidden to use artificial intelligence tools when using Qobuz services."

 

Which seems poorly written or excessive overreach language for any contract ( ie if I'm using AI on a work computer, I can't listen to Qobuz at same time on my phone)

 

Can Qobuz revisit this language and make sure that the language is cleaned up? My assumption would be that Qobuz's intent is to forbid a user interfacing AI with their

running Qobuz application, not to make us all have to figure out which products use AI and shun them every time we use Qobuz.

 

 

 

 

 

I immediately thought the same. Blind people using screen readers? Translators to understand Italian opera lyrics? The language seems quite vague and overinclusive.

 

What is it that Qobuz doesn't want? AI to reverse engineer or develop competitive products? I would think language regarding prohibited purposes might work better. (I very much do not intend to tell your solicitors their jobs. It's just that this language seemed so broad and opaque that both @davide256 and I, and I'm sure others, noticed it immediately.)

[Balthazar B]

35 minutes ago, Jud said:

 

I immediately thought the same. Blind people using screen readers? Translators to understand Italian opera lyrics? The language seems quite vague and overinclusive.

 

What is it that Qobuz doesn't want? AI to reverse engineer or develop competitive products? I would think language regarding prohibited purposes might work better. (I very much do not intend to tell your solicitors their jobs. It's just that this language seemed so broad and opaque that both @davide256 and I, and I'm sure others, noticed it immediately.)

 

I suppose a clever attorney could argue successfully in court that the embedded smartphone tool that records app usage, correlates it with other data, and analyzes how much battery it consumes could be considered a form of artificial intelligence. The problem is, even if "AI" and "use" are defined very strictly -- which it would be helpful for Qobuz to do to reduce ambiguity that as an unintended consequence could work against them -- practically-speaking it may prove largely unenforceable, depending on whatever it is they're trying to prevent. Unless they decide to silence Qobuz output if there is any chance AI might be listening nearby.

 

Perhaps this change was motivated by reports of Apple and Spotify (and maybe everyone else) leveraging AI functionality to turbocharge the capabilities of their content services, which becomes quite straightforward as AI is becoming commoditized?

[The Computer Audiophile]

31 minutes ago, Balthazar B said:

it may prove largely unenforceable

That was my first, albeit uneducated and inexperienced, thought. 

[Jud]

25 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

That was my first, albeit uneducated and inexperienced, thought. 

 

Don't think individuals. Think competitors, current or potential.

[David Craff]

On 9/19/2023 at 2:33 PM, Balthazar B said:

Thank you for clarifying that, David. It made the most logical sense to me that there would be only one API for third parties to employ.

 

I have a feature request as well. Can you discuss whether it's feasible, if not in the works to have Qobuz made available as a default music streaming service in the Google Home ecosystem? Thanks!

 

Hi, 

I don't know if this is possible or how to do it. We are not the most important choice for users, so I believe Google would not accept this.

 

Regards

[David Craff]

On 9/29/2023 at 5:33 PM, davide256 said:

@David Craff  I saw this today as part of October T&C updates

 

" it is forbidden to use artificial intelligence tools when using Qobuz services."

 

Which seems poorly written or excessive overreach language for any contract ( ie if I'm using AI on a work computer, I can't listen to Qobuz at same time on my phone)

 

Can Qobuz revisit this language and make sure that the language is cleaned up? My assumption would be that Qobuz's intent is to forbid a user interfacing AI with their

running Qobuz application, not to make us all have to figure out which products use AI and shun them every time we use Qobuz.

 

 

 

 

 

Where did you find this sentence ?

[Balthazar B]

1 hour ago, David Craff said:

 

Hi, 

I don't know if this is possible or how to do it. We are not the most important choice for users, so I believe Google would not accept this.

 

Regards

 

I think there are two main items that need to be done:

• Enable account linking such that Google accounts can be associated with Qobuz accounts. Then on the Qobuz end a device registered to a Google account (e.g., a Google Home speaker) can be enabled to play music for an authenticated user because the accounts are linked.
• Google would need to add Qobuz to the list of available music streaming services to be chosen as the default in the Google Home environment. The current list of available services includes Spotify, Deezer, Apple Music, YouTube, Pandora, and iHeartRadio. 
• I realize Qobuz is smaller than these others, but that should be more of a motivator than a constraint, wouldn't you agree? :)

It may end up being moot for me if I convert everything in my home automation managed environment to run via Home Assistant. Right now Qobuz functionality can be cobbled together using LMS, Music Assistant, or other approaches, and it would be even better to be able to do so through a more direct integration with Qobuz, as is possible with Spotify today.

[Jud]

2 hours ago, David Craff said:

 

Where did you find this sentence ?

 

It was contained in a September 29th email to me, @davide256, and I assume all other Qobuz subscribers, that was entitled "Update of Qobuz General Terms and Conditions."

[111MilesToGo]

3 hours ago, Jud said:

 

It was contained in a September 29th email to me, @davide256, and I assume all other Qobuz subscribers, that was entitled "Update of Qobuz General Terms and Conditions."

Same here on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean.

 

That e-mail also announced a renaming and transitioning of the subscription layers, due some time in October.

[111MilesToGo]

For @David Craff: Here‘s the e-mail text, in German - hope the pasting format works:

 

AKTUALISIERUNG VON QOBUZ’ AGB

Guten Tag! Der Service von Qobuz entwickelt sich weiter und wir aktualisieren aus diesem Grund unsere allgemeinen Nutzungs- und Verkaufsbedingungen im Oktober 2023. Es sind keine Handlungen Ihrerseits erforderlich. Die Änderungen: • Klarstellung des Namens der Angebote:Wir haben mehrere Angebote für Streaming-Abonnements eingestellt. Die betroffenen Abonnenten wurden zu einem der Angebote migriert, die derzeit auf unserer Website verfügbar sind.   - Studio Premier ➔ Studio Solo   - Hi-Fi ➔ Studio Solo   - Sublime Hi-Fi ➔ Sublime Solo   - Studio Sublime ➔ Sublime Solo • Verfügbarkeit unseres Services in Kanada und Japan. • Verhinderung von Fälschungen durch künstliche Intelligenz: Es ist verboten, bei der Nutzung der Qobuz-Dienste Tools der künstlichen Intelligenz zu verwenden. • Einführung von Qobuz Coins und dem Qobuz Guthaben: Sie verfügen jetzt in Ihrem Kundenkonto über ein Guthaben. Dieses Guthaben wird in Qobuz Coins umgewandelt, die Sie für Ihre Einkäufe im Qobuz-Shop verwenden können. Sie können hierzu die Nutzungsbedingungen in Artikel 9 der Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen nachlesen. Diese Option ist derzeit in den lateinamerikanischen Ländern und in Portugal nicht verfügbar. • Qobuz-Geschenkkarten: Gültig für 1 Jahr ab Kaufdatum, um unseren Studio Solo-Abonnements oder Einkäufe im Downloadstore zu bezahlen. Sie können alle Nutzungsbedingungen in Artikel 10 der Allgemeinen Geschäftsbedingungen nachlesen. Wir beantworten Ihnen gerne alle Fragen, die Sie haben. Sie können nun die geänderten allgemeinen Nutzungs- und Verkaufsbedingungen aufrufen. Indem Sie unsere Dienste weiterhin nutzen, stimmen Sie der automatischen Aktualisierung der neuen Bedingungen mit Wirkung vom Oktober 2023 zu.