Qobuz Feature Requests

[vsrrr]

Hello @David Craff! Curious if it's possible to transfer my playlists to Qobuz without using a service like Tune My Music or Soundiiz.

 

My playlists are currently saved in CSV format with the following schema: title;artist;album;isrc

[Balthazar B]

On 10/4/2023 at 1:19 PM, vsrrr said:

Hello @David Craff! Curious if it's possible to transfer my playlists to Qobuz without using a service like Tune My Music or Soundiiz.

 

My playlists are currently saved in CSV format with the following schema: title;artist;album;isrc

 

I'm curious about that as well, but AFAIK you'll need to use a service that leverages non-public APIs to populate libraries/playlists in Qobuz. As you're probably aware, most if not all of those services can import a CSV and use that data to generate the content in Qobuz.

[vsrrr]

18 minutes ago, Balthazar B said:

 

I'm curious about that as well, but AFAIK you'll need to use a service that leverages non-public APIs to populate libraries/playlists in Qobuz. As you're probably aware, most if not all of those services can import a CSV and use that data to generate the content in Qobuz.

 

Yes!

Reason I ask is because I use Qobuz with Roon. But annoyingly, Roon will only allow you to create playlists that stay in Roon, rather than create or modify Qobuz playlists.
So, I've exported the Roon playlists (which are all Qobuz songs to begin with) into CSV's, and then I've tried TuneMyMusic and Soundiiz to create the Qobuz playlist.

To my great surprise, both transfer services make a lot of errors. Pretty odd when every artist-album-song in the CSV is based on something available on Qobuz in the first place.

I figure that these transfer services do not search for an exact artist-album-song match, they just search for the first result that matches the artist-song.... which means that they get the album wrong a lot.

ie: even if the original artist-album-song is: Roxy Music - Avalon - Avalon

the transferred artist-album-song will end up being Roxy Music - The Best of Roxy Music - Avalon 

 

Fingers crossed Qobuz Connect arrives some time soon!

[Balthazar B]

4 hours ago, vsrrr said:

I figure that these transfer services do not search for an exact artist-album-song match, they just search for the first result that matches the artist-song.... which means that they get the album wrong a lot.

ie: even if the original artist-album-song is: Roxy Music - Avalon - Avalon

the transferred artist-album-song will end up being Roxy Music - The Best of Roxy Music - Avalon 

 

I can't confirm it right now, but I think the same thing happens with Spotify and Apple Music. If song records are transferred between services -- usually as components of playlists -- it's only title and artist. I know I've had some studio songs that became live or rerecorded versions on the receiving service, using various transfer apps. And sometimes a few don't carry over at all, even though I know the same release and track exists on both services. So clearly the APIs and/or methods are maybe universally crude.

[vsrrr]

Any idea why the qobuz API doesn’t allow partner services to sort by artist, album, and date added? I see this feature requested over and over again in the Auralic, Aurender, etc. forums.

[David Craff]

On 10/4/2023 at 10:19 PM, vsrrr said:

Hello @David Craff! Curious if it's possible to transfer my playlists to Qobuz without using a service like Tune My Music or Soundiiz.

 

My playlists are currently saved in CSV format with the following schema: title;artist;album;isrc

 

Hi

 

Sorry, we haven't implemented this feature. I'll let the team know.

[David Craff]

On 10/3/2023 at 11:05 PM, 111MilesToGo said:

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.

 

Hi,

 

I got the answer from the legal team: "The sole aim is to protect the intellectual property of artists, by ensuring that files are not altered or modified for any use other than that for which Qobuz was designed: listening to music, or downloading it."

[Jud]

2 hours ago, David Craff said:

 

Hi,

 

I got the answer from the legal team: "The sole aim is to protect the intellectual property of artists, by ensuring that files are not altered or modified for any use other than that for which Qobuz was designed: listening to music, or downloading it."

Thank you David for obtaining this response from the legal team.
 

It would certainly make me and perhaps other users more comfortable if the terms and conditions would simply and straightforwardly say something similar to what you have said, rather than the very broad and ambiguous prohibition of the use of AI. I gave two examples of things customers might commonly do that would violate the new express terms, but not what I think Qobuz’ intent is: The use of AI to read the screen by customers who are blind or otherwise visually impaired; and the use of AI to translate the words of an opera written in a language the customer doesn’t speak. Any chance at all the legal team might consider narrower, more precise language?

[David Craff]

On 10/17/2023 at 6:38 PM, Jud said:

Any chance at all the legal team might consider narrower, more precise language?

 

I've discussed it with them, but there won't be any change, sorry.

[Jud]

4 hours ago, David Craff said:

 

I've discussed it with them, but there won't be any change, sorry.

It’s OK, I was a lawyer before I retired, I know how they are. 😉

[vsrrr]

Reading a bunch of chatter on other forums that Qobuz demonstrated its 'Connect' feature at the Munich audio show. Is this true?

Is there any update on the ETA for release?

[David Craff]

19 hours ago, vsrrr said:

Reading a bunch of chatter on other forums that Qobuz demonstrated its 'Connect' feature at the Munich audio show. Is this true?

Is there any update on the ETA for release?

 

Yes, I did it during High End at Munich.

 

ETA is: from now to the end of the year; Technical validation with HiFi partners (beta phase)

Beginning of 2024, gradual roll-out in line with the capacity of our dedicated servers and the availability of HiFi partners

 

Regards

[jaaptina]

Playlist for albums: a playlist that contains only albums as album and not as separate tracs. That way I could make f.e. a Jazz playlist that contains al my favorite jazz albums without me having to scroll through hundreds of tracs. This would be a killer feature in my book. Until than I create my Jazz albums playlist by filling it with first tracs of said favourite albums. But that's a hassle. Saving the tracks and going from track selection to album selection to play an album. 

[111MilesToGo]

1 hour ago, jaaptina said:

Playlist for albums: a playlist that contains only albums as album and not as separate tracs. That way I could make f.e. a Jazz playlist that contains al my favorite jazz albums without me having to scroll through hundreds of tracs. This would be a killer feature in my book. Until than I create my Jazz albums playlist by filling it with first tracs of said favourite albums. But that's a hassle. Saving the tracks and going from track selection to album selection to play an album. 

Yes, I can see what you are addressing. And I could appreciate that regarding a different detail.

 

Folks here discussed that up to now it is impossible to sort the Favorites List - favorited albums that is - in a manual way. I.e. sorting the favorited albums in just the very personal way one would sort physical albums on a shelf. No real way or a workaround to do that.

 

Now, the tracks in a Playlist can be sorted manually.

 

Combining these two: If there were Playlists of albums, and if we could sort albums therein manually, that would be a workaround for the inability to sort Favorite albums.

 

But of course, enabling a manual sorting of Favorite Albums List is the route to strive for. And moreover, if we could have any number of Favorite Albums Lists … - that would be the maximum user friendliness. Let‘s say, if we could have Favorite Albums lists named e.g. ”Bach, Johann Sebastian“ and ”Jarrett, Keith“, and if we could sort the albums in each list by hand, then - at least my, maybe others‘ - desires for creating a really personal order of one’s favorite albums would be satisfied.

 

We may dream …

[Balthazar B]

Feature request

 

In the event Qobuz releases a Radio feature on their mobile apps, it would be very helpful to include a one-button Download function to be used with the selection of tracks assembled for that on-the-fly playlist. "Why?", you may ask.

• I'd like to take that playlist with me, either using Android Auto, or playing on earbuds while I'm walking around, and not be dependent on a mobile data connection, both for cost and reliability reasons. Other streaming services provide this capability.
• It makes it easier to go back and explore or favorite some of the tracks that come up. And depending on what the UI provides, it could make it easier to save the on-the-fly playlist as a static playlist afterwards.

To clarify "Radio feature", it's just the ability to select an artist, album or track and build an on-the-fly playlist, which could utilize a number of factors (including "mood", "style", "era", "associated artists", etc.) as elements of the tracks selected for the playlist. In one form or other, Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer, and other services have a feature like this, though the overall quality of execution varies considerably between providers.

[jacobacci]

I know it has been discussed forever that BBC Radio 3 is streamed in the UK @320kbps and outside the UK @96kbps. I can very well understand the reasons why the BBC is imposing this limitation. It’s servers would implode if suddenly the whole world would stream the proms at 320kbps.

Now what if Qobuz were to offer a 48kHz (derived from the original 320kbps AAC BBC stream) live stream of BBC Radio 3 to its customers?
With a Qobuz stream, the situation would be completely different. BBC would have one link to Qobuz, providing the live signal. Whether that one link is 320kbps or 96kbps makes no difference server capacity (or cost) wise to BBC.
Qobuz could really stand out from the crowd if it negotiated a deal with the BBC allowing it to redistribute the 320kbps original signal to its (paying) customers outside the UK.
The fact that the 320kbps signal is available in DVB-C MPEG2 via cable networks outside the UK (Switzerland in my case) proves that this is possible. BBC does enter into agreements like this.

[Madman26]

Any movement on adding atmos?  I've been trying it out with my Apple Music and its pretty cool when its done well by a recording artist (and pointless when its not).

[David Craff]

13 hours ago, Madman26 said:

Any movement on adding atmos?  I've been trying it out with my Apple Music and its pretty cool when its done well by a recording artist (and pointless when its not).

 

Hi

 

Not at the moment, but that's not off the table either. We have other priorities, such as Qobuz Connect.

Regards

[Uncoy]

On 10/28/2023 at 1:02 AM, 111MilesToGo said:

Playlist for albums: a playlist that contains only albums as album and not as separate tracs. That way I could make f.e. a Jazz playlist that contains al my favorite jazz albums without me having to scroll through hundreds of tracs. This would be a killer feature in my book.

 

Not sure about this. When I had to put an LP or cassette on in the old days, I would listen to the whole album, grincing my teeth through the two or three tracks I disliked.

 

Normal playlists where one can dump a whole album in and then remove the less liked or disliked tracks seems more useful to me. Not sure how easy it is to add a whole album to an existing playlist.

 

Quote

Any movement on adding atmos?  I've been trying it out with my Apple Music and its pretty cool when its done well by a recording artist (and pointless when its not).

 

Personally, after trying them on both Apple Music and Tidal, I've been unimpressed with all these gimmicks to make people pay more for the same music, just passed through gimmicky filters. Every once in a while an artist does something interesting with one or two tracks but not often enough to bother with.

 

What made me suspend my Qobuz subscription (loved the sound quality, liked the layout) was the inadequate recommendation engine. License the engine from Pandora, create one yourselves, but do something. The most important part missing (and it's now mostly missing in Spotify too) is a dislike button. If I dislike a track or artist, I don't want to ever see or hear that track or artist again. In the right algorithm, dislikes could play a very useful role in creating first-rate recommendations.

 

Add a dislike button and better recommendation system and I'd restart my subscription in a heartbeat.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, Uncoy said:

Personally, after trying them on both Apple Music and Tidal, I've been unimpressed with all these gimmicks to make people pay more for the same music, just passed through gimmicky filters. Every once in a while an artist does something interesting with one or two tracks but not often enough to bother with.

Tell us you don’t know much about Atmos without telling us you don’t know much about Atmos :~)

 

Atmos doesn’t cost anything extra on Apple Music or Amazon music. 
I have no clue what a gimmicky filter is, and I’ve actually listened to thousands of hours of Atmos and talked to people creating it. 
What do you mean by an artist doing something interesting?

[Uncoy]

5 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I have no clue what a gimmicky filter is, and I’ve actually listened to thousands of hours of Atmos and talked to people creating it. 

 

Ultimately all of these spatial remixes are basically a giant DSP filter, with various knobs and buttons to twist and turn. There's very little real multichannel recording going on. When a label goes to the trouble to record multichannel with purpose, the effect can be interesting. I own some of the classics like Pink Floyd, but there's so little real multichannel music out there, the trouble of creating a high calibre multichannel listening system is far greater than the music available.

 

Multichannel amps are awful (I have high end Marantz and Pioneer receivers so a sample of Class-B and Class-D amplification, to my surprise the Pioneer Class-D is significantly better. The Marantz is adequate for casual listening after calibration with its microphone). For my money (and space), better to focus on stereo with a dedicated stereo amps and adequate reproduction, i.e. modern speakers with additional subwoofers. True giant classic tower speakers would be lovely, perhaps one of these years. Even stereo done well is a lot of trouble – I'm on mono stereo amps now, biwired, and the separation improves both treble and bass, adding additional clarity, less mud.

 

There's no win in arguing with the owner and founder of a site. If Atmos floats your boat, Chris, keep on sailing. Thank you for your hard work creating this site and community, it's an amazing achievement and a wonderful place for audiophiles to intersect.

 

My opinion

I've tried lots and lots of "beyond stereo" and spatial audio nonsense over the years and none of it has done much for me, except waste my time and occasionally empty my pocket book. Please give me the music as originally recorded, with high dynamic range, no compressed mixes please (which excludes almost all modern pop or rock and much indie, sadly).

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, Uncoy said:

There's no win in arguing with the owner and founder of a site. If Atomos floats your boat, Chris, keep on sailing. Thank you for your hard work creating this site and community, it's an amazing achievement and a wonderful place for audiophiles to intersect.

 

My opinion

I've tried lots and lots of "beyond stereo" and spatial audio nonsense over the years and none of it has done much for me, except waste my time and occasionally empty my pocket book. Please give me the music as originally recorded, with high dynamic range, no compressed mixes please (which excludes almost all modern pop or rock and much indie, sadly).

 

Thanks for the kind words and your reply. 

 

I'm never out to "win" and always enjoy reasoned discussion. I have no problems if Atmos doesn't do it for you or even if you think it's worse than terrible. No worries. As long as we have choices, all is right in the world. 

 

I only take issue with your language stating there are gimmicky filters, because this just isn't the case. There are some plugins that can take a stereo mix and turn it into Atmos, but these are actually far from gimmicky. They suck, but aren't near anything I'd call gimmicky. Fortunately, Apple takes these Atmos mixes down when caught. 

 

I too am a fan of playing music as originally recorded. Given that most music was never recorded live to two-track (stereo), this is really tough to do. 

[Madman26]

30 minutes ago, Uncoy said:

 

Ultimately all of these spatial remixes are basically a giant DSP filter, with various knobs and buttons to twist and turn. There's very little real multichannel recording going on. When a label goes to the trouble to record multichannel with purpose, the effect can be interesting. I own some of the classics like Pink Floyd, but there's so little real multichannel music out there, the trouble of creating a high calibre multichannel listening system is far greater than the music available.

 

Multichannel amps are awful (I have high end Marantz and Pioneer receivers so a sample of Class-B and Class-D amplification, to my surprise the Pioneer Class-D is significantly better. The Marantz is adequate for casual listening after calibration with its microphone). For my money (and space), better to focus on stereo with a dedicated stereo amps and adequate reproduction, i.e. modern speakers with additional subwoofers. True giant classic tower speakers would be lovely, perhaps one of these years. Even stereo done well is a lot of trouble – I'm on mono stereo amps now, biwired, and the separation improves both treble and bass, adding additional clarity, less mud.

 

There's no win in arguing with the owner and founder of a site. If Atmos floats your boat, Chris, keep on sailing. Thank you for your hard work creating this site and community, it's an amazing achievement and a wonderful place for audiophiles to intersect.

 

My opinion

I've tried lots and lots of "beyond stereo" and spatial audio nonsense over the years and none of it has done much for me, except waste my time and occasionally empty my pocket book. Please give me the music as originally recorded, with high dynamic range, no compressed mixes please (which excludes almost all modern pop or rock and much indie, sadly).

Much of the time I agree with you.  But there is the occasional release where it’s really cool.  For example Dark Side of the Moon was done with a lot of thought and it’s very enjoyable.   But much or even most of the time it could be underwhelming and a distraction for me.

[Jud]

1 hour ago, Uncoy said:

Please give me the music as originally recorded, with high dynamic range, no compressed mixes please (which excludes almost all modern pop or rock and much indie, sadly).

 

Chris has noted several instances in which the multichannel version had quite a bit better dynamic range than the stereo version.

 

Even if you don't see a multichannel system in your future, it might be worth watching out for the occasional special recording in this category with the thought of doing a mixdown.

[jacobacci]

Not really feature request but a question. I noticed that some albums and tracks on Qobuz have a small E symbol in a circle. What does this symbol mean?

Searching for E has not really yielded anything.