Article: Qobuz Tugs on Superman's Cape, Makes Bold Move With Industry's Best Pricing

[Forehaven]

LOL  First thought too Chris.  I've tried everything.  I can log onto the Qobuz webpage perfectly, but not on webplayer nor Roon.  I guess I'll shoot QB an email.

Thanks bud!

Chris

[rickca]

1 minute ago, Forehaven said:

I've tried everything.

I can't remember but you may need to wait for a confirmation email from Qobuz.

[The Computer Audiophile]

5 minutes ago, Forehaven said:

LOL  First thought too Chris.  I've tried everything.  I can log onto the Qobuz webpage perfectly, but not on webplayer nor Roon.  I guess I'll shoot QB an email.

Thanks bud!

Chris

Happy to see you signed up. It’s truly a music lovers dream. 
 

Hope it gets sorted soon. 

[Forehaven]

Thanks guys, let's hope it's as simple as confirm email!

[Enjay]

If there is no parity between US and non-US markets, this may be a bit of an own goal for Qobuz in some areas.

 

I still purchase most of my music on CD, largely because it is usually cheaper than downloads, but I've always had a streaming service for music discovery. I had Qobuz a good while ago but it didn't suit me, not enough choice of what I wanted although I still buy downloads from there occasionally. I tried the new Amazon offering and the music is good but I don't like the interface. So I'm still with Spotify, willing to change, yet resentful of the fact that I would have to pay a premium just because of geography.

 

If the European pricing changes, I'm in, otherwise I'll stick with Spotify.

[Sonicularity]

It is going to be interesting to see how things go with the various streaming services.  Who will be next to provide lossless, is there enough space in this market for all of the available choices, will there be some intriguing mergers?  Will Apple or Google care enough to change?

[bobbmd]

@dmackta like @rickca I haven't received an email about this new pricing system(BRAVO! for it) and I have had Qobuz since it became available and also had a France address/account for years( with an address of Oneida,New France no less-this is what the Northeast USA would have been called if the French had won on the Plains of Abraham!!--always thought this was pretty cheeky of you)

[bobbmd]

@dmackta @rickca @Forehaven never received that email just went to my account and signed up essentially cost me 137$ which is about 11.42$/month so about 46% price reduction from the 25$/month i was paying not bad at all and better than reduction in price i think than the yearly TIDAL offering

great job qobuz

[Abstraction]

On 11/8/2019 at 2:13 PM, Boy Howdy said:

How does Qobuz rate on the musicians' compensation ranking?

  As far as I can tell, like everything else, it works out for the celebrities, and the artists who are picked by the labels to sponsor (instant celebrities), but the people who really keep the art on edge and creating new ideas are left out. There seems to be no clear solution.

[Abstraction]

The offerings at Quobuz, for a person who is interested almost entirely in unpopular music, are frankly poor.  I distrust Amazon as much as anyone, but if they make their product more usable, I will certainly change. With the price cut at Quobuz, I may hold on to my Amazon subscription too.

[photonman]

Definitely got me interested in Qobuz again.  This is the only service where my wife actually noticed a different sound on one of her favorite albums (Ryan Adams live at Carnegie Hall).  I am back on at the monthly $14.99 for now and can once again utilize my mothballed Audirvana license.    A few of my favorite titles are missing (all the Lumineer albums) but there is plenty more to listen to.  At this price I will keep my Spotify for music discovery and their superior playlists for background music.

 

Thank you Amazon!

[miguelito]

I subscribe to Sublime+, paid $299 in Jan 2019. However, I am one to buy music I like, and if available I would generally buy the hi res version. With Sublime+'s discount for hi res, which often means cheaper than even redbook quality, I have effectively saved more money than the subscription price. 

[GrahamH]

On 11/9/2019 at 7:38 PM, Enjay said:

If there is no parity between US and non-US markets, this may be a bit of an own goal for Qobuz in some areas.

 

Yes - as a very happy subscriber to the French and then the UK sites for many years I'm feeling a bit hacked off about this.

 

It would surely have been reasonable to expect Qobuz to advise their long time customers here in Europe about what their plans are for us at the same time as these changes are announced for US subscribers.

 

Maybe I'm being unreasonably impatient, but my loyalty to Qobuz is pretty stretched right now!

[miguelito]

I subscribed to Sublime+ in January 2019 for $299 for 1 year. I just changed my subscription to Sublime+ with the new $249/year pricing and got a refund for the remainder of my higher rate subscription. 
 

I am one to buy the music I really like, in hi res if available. The Sublime+ discount often makes the hi res version even cheaper than the CD quality one. I have saved more than enough money to pay for the subscription in the first place.

[Rt66indierock]

On 11/9/2019 at 11:42 AM, The Computer Audiophile said:

Happy to see you signed up. It’s truly a music lovers dream. 
 

Hope it gets sorted soon. 

 

Well, I hate to say it but 100,000 is still a rounding error in the market today and the price has dropped because high resolution is very hard sell. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

14 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

 

Well, I hate to say it but 100,000 is still a rounding error in the market today and the price has dropped because high resolution is very hard sell. 

Inside every cloud is a black lining huh? 

[Rt66indierock]

32 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Inside every cloud is a black lining huh? 

 

Every silver lining has a touch of grey.

[left channel]

27 minutes ago, Rt66indierock said:

 

Every silver lining has a touch of grey.

 

I resemble that remark.

[yaslam]

The price of Studio Premier in US is attractive.
However, please note that if you move from European account to US account, you may lose some tracks. (Especially classic fans)
When I transferred a classic playlist created with my European account to US account, it only met 90% of tracks in that playlist. (I used Soundiiz for transfer)
There are differences in tracks that can be streamed and purchased with accounts in each country.
You may also encounter this issue when move from US account to another country.
Therefore, I abandoned moving to Studio Premier of US account.

[miguelito]

5 hours ago, yaslam said:

The price of Studio Premier in US is attractive.
However, please note that if you move from European account to US account, you may lose some tracks. (Especially classic fans)
When I transferred a classic playlist created with my European account to US account, it only met 90% of tracks in that playlist. (I used Soundiiz for transfer)
There are differences in tracks that can be streamed and purchased with accounts in each country.
You may also encounter this issue when move from US account to another country.
Therefore, I abandoned moving to Studio Premier of US account.

 

Quite right. The EU version of Qobuz have a deeper catalog, I presume it's Qobuz still negotiating with US-based rights holders (or not getting those rights at all). I still have a download (not streaming) account with Qobuz in the UK and I get emails of new releases that are not available in the US.

 

When I joined Qobuz in Jan 2019 (Sublime+) I intended to get rid of TIDAL. However, I have found the TIDAL catalog in some areas (eg electronic music) to be deeper. I don't know if this will improve on the Qobuz side.

[miguelito]

1 minute ago, miguelito said:

When I joined Qobuz in Jan 2019 (Sublime+) I intended to get rid of TIDAL. However, I have found the TIDAL catalog in some areas (eg electronic music) to be deeper. I don't know if this will improve on the Qobuz side.

 

Are there any articles comparing TIDAL and Qobuz catalogs in various genres/artists/etc? I haven't seen any. To me this is key.

[Masterstroke]

According to todays What Hi-Fi this offer is available to UK users, but no mention of the rest of the EU

 Studio Premier will only be .textClipping

[GrahamH]

4 hours ago, Masterstroke said:

According to todays What Hi-Fi this offer is available to UK users, but no mention of the rest of the EU

  Studio Premier will only be .textClipping 5.54 kB · 25 downloads

Thanks for highlighting this. To be honest, though, I’m not sure where they’re getting this information.

 

It’s interesting that most of the discussion is about the price drop, which may or may not happen here in Europe. But they’re also saying loud and clear that MP3 is no longer fit for purpose. I think they’d have a big problem if these changes don’t apply to other territories because the implication would be that MP3 is not good enough for US subscribers but perfectly good enough for the rest of their customers.

[Mark Dirac]

8 hours ago, Masterstroke said:

According to todays What Hi-Fi this offer is available to UK users, but no mention of the rest of the EU

  Studio Premier will only be .textClipping 5.54 kB · 31 downloads

https://www.whathifi.com/news/qobuz-says-no-to-mp3

[senior.god]

I sent a mail to the german Qobuz support asking if and when that offer will be available in Germany. Qobuz answered that they will offer it after the negotiations with the right holders are finished. Qobuz will also offer a family plan starting next year. 

Sounds very good to me......