Tidal’s subscription is getting simpler and cheaper — yes, you read that right
High-res audio and Atmos won’t cost extra anymore.
I really wanted to like tidal, but honestly it's not really good. The search sucks, no offline mode on desktop, no official Linux client, an incomplete catalog...
It's not worth it, even if they are the least bad for paying artists.
The limited library was their biggest problem in my opinion. It's acceptable if you want mainstream, well known artists centered on appealing to North America but there were so many international and independent groups that weren't on the service. Higher quality streaming is only worth it if you can listen to what you like.
Yeah. The number one reason I won't subscribe is that if their library is missing a song, you can't even add it yourself. Both Spotify and Apple Music allow adding your own MP3s, how does Tidal not have that feature?!
no official Linux client
https://github.com/Mastermindzh/tidal-hifi does almost everything well. Unfortunately it cannot stream to other devices via Tidal Connect.
honestly it’s not really good
*for you it isn't
the search sucks
what's wrong with it? works fine for me
no offline mode on desktop
why would you need it? it's supported on phones, just listen via phone?
no official Linux client
Neither does apple music. Tidal are open sourcing their SDK though
an incomplete catalog
*for you. for me there isn't
It’s not worth it, even if they are the least bad for paying artists
Again, for you. On paper, tidal is the better option and I rather support artists than some questionable monopolistic corporation
Damn, you're shilling hard!
I don't want to use my phone for basic features like the offline mode, I'm not always connected to the internet on my laptop, that's it.
I don't care about Apple music, and almost every streaming platform provides some kind of SDK. It doesn't change the fact that I don't have a Linux client, and probably never will (or at least feature-complete) because they partly use Dolby Atmos, which is a closed-source licensed format.
And no, even on paper, tidal's not the better option to support artists. Buy tracks on Bandcamp, buy merch and vinyl directly from artists...
I like Tidal because its interface isn't downright crap. What Spotify did to playlists and to the heart/cross button is so damn annoying.
I love the change. I have many playlists and it has made my life so much easier organising everything.
How does it work better for you? To me it's annoying, I cannot easily move folders around anymore, nor move playlists into folders if I'm not using the desktop app.
Also, the + (former ♥️ button) is the worst offender to me. I used to use the button to add a music to my big "liked" default list, the one that is more permanent, and the three dots to add it to a playlist, which are more fluid. So playlists come and go, and not every song on a playlist is the one i want on my definitive pool of "always wanted" songs.
Then someone at Spotify decided to say "fuck you users", and merged the + and three dots, making it harder to know if a song is already in my main "liked" list.
Say I have a playlist I created, the + button is now a ✅ button. It tells me the song is saved somewhere. I have to tap it to see where, which 1. is completely unintuitive, because tapping a check button would create me the expectation of uncheking it, but it instead shows me a list of playlists! What in the freaking hell? This is decades of UI convention thrown out the windows for a really bad concept.
And 2, being checked doesn't mean it's my favorite song, just that it is saved on some playlist. It's a mistery, which is only solved by tapping the schizophrenic +/✅ button, instead of simply saying to me "yep, you liked this song".
So... Yeah. I hate Spotify.
Hope this is rolled out to other countries and not just the US.
I got the email in Canada, so yes? It's not uncommon for us to not get things when they do across the border.
UK here, also got the email.
Oh nice! Knowing corporations though I'm just trying to figure out how they are going to screw us on this.
It should be rolled out globally according to Tidal's support article:
We're updating our pricing for TIDAL globally
Not for Thailand yet, but the Thai price is anyway cheaper
Tidal also pays artists significantly more than Spotify/ Apple Music. So they're good-shittifying in both directions 🙂
A rare instance of... unshittification?
Yeah, like, when services are actually trying to compete for your business. It's so nice when it (rarely) happens!
Don’t forget that Apple Music also pays significantly more than Spotify. Just not as much as Tidal.
Oh yeah Spotify is definitely the worst in comparison
I've been using Deezer for a while, but I've been looking to move to something else after they absolutely mutilated their UI and actively insulted any paying customer that complained.
Tidal seems like a good choice. I just dread the day they, too, get caught up in current trend chasing and redesign their app to look like a bubbly toy to hook the kids.
Been using tidal ever since Spotify's Joe Rogan debacle. Main reason? They actually pay the artist. But the sound quality is a nice bonus as well! No regrets...other than people trying to share music with me by sending a spotify link!
Qobuz has the most beautiful and serious-looking UI I've tried, I really love it. But I had to stop using it because there is no lyrics integration and some of my favorite (admittedly obscure) music was not there. But the UI is spectacular, especially on desktop.
Tidal's interface is simply good, nothing more and nothing less, and it's a more mature product overall with more features
I just ended up installing Deemix and moving my library to offline storage.
I really liked Deezer a few years ago, I thought about trying it again but saw the new UI and was like wtf
Deezer is still great because you can upload personal music to your account and I find they have alot more music available than every other service Ive tried.
Not to mention they pay the artists better and hifi is automatically included too so. I went from Spotify > YT Music > Deezer and I am very happy. The UI is not as bad as everyone makes it, imo the icons are just a little uglier in some places thats it.
I read the email from Tidal four times and still didn't believe they weren't trying to fuck me over. Well, I'll be damned.
As far as I can tell, I'm actually in the vast minority in that I use the service on a family plan and with my DJ gear. Streaming for DJs is being removed from family plans and it now requires me to pay for an individual plan + $9 a month in addition to what I'm already paying for the wife and kids, so I'm thinking about canning it.
The headline sounded good but the article lists a lot of negatives too. They're removing discounts for veterans/first responders, they recently laid off 10% of staff, and their price now matches Amazon and Apple. So don't mistake this for good intention; this is just a business' survival instincts taking over.
their price now matches Amazon and Apple
That's a negative?
So don't mistake this for good intention; this is just a business' survival instincts taking over.
A business made a business decision, yes. Your point?
Any variation of "yep, you read that right" makes me instantly not care, idk
It does sound clickbait-y and I guess that's why there are butthurt people in the comments. I guess its meaning is "literally everyone is raising prices, while Tidal is lowering them". TBF I also had to read the title again because it's pretty strange to see prices decrease
I mean good on tidal for doing that, no hate towards them.
I wish it was getting cheaper....I've been @ $6.35/month for their CD FLAC quality middle tier, with my veteran discount for a few years.
Has been perfect for my budget HiFi setup.
Now it's nearly doubling in cost, and they won't have the discount anymore....
Good news for the seven people who use tidal!
Tidal may not be the best streamer. It certainly does have its faults. But so do the others mentioned in these comments. For a subscription service to halve their rate is really unheard of. I appreciate it. This is really the type of pricing movement we need after so many years of out of control inflation. I wish Amazon, Disney, and Netflix would do something similar rather than endless cost increases without any improvement in services.
I worry because like every streaming service they've slowly been reducing the amount they pay artists. How can they halve customer fees and not pay artists less?
My guess is that they've realized that nobody subscribed to the highest tier, so they've incorporated its features into the normal tier, hoping to make it up in volume (I.e. new people subscribing because it's cheap and it offers more than Spotify). So perhaps they are going to be able to pay artists the same rates
As far as I can tell, I'm actually in the vast minority in that I use the service on a family plan and with my DJ gear. Streaming for DJs is being removed from family plans and it now requires me to pay for an individual plan + $9 a month in addition to what I'm already paying for the wife and kids, so I'm thinking about canning it.
That's a pretty good price, if YT music ever takes away my $8 a month early sign up pricing I'll probably look at swapping over.
Just do it now. Give your money to a company that actually supports artists in a consumer friendly way.
I still regret giving up this plan
I signed up back when it was “Google Play Music” and was locked into that deal as well. I didn’t want to lose it, but I wanted to upgrade to a family plan. Customer support promised me that if I upgraded, my family plan price would continue to be honored for just as long as the individual plan price.
Spoiler: they lied.
I had my account using a unique-per-service card with a monthly cap and it started rejected their billing attempts when, about a year ago, they abruptly increased my plan price to nearly double what I had been paying.
I had already been using uBlock Origin and Tidal via Plex (even though I don’t actually use Plex, but when I signed up I hadn’t yet decided to use Jellyfin), since I despise the YT Music UI, so for me there wasn’t much of a change.
That said, if you like YT Music / YT Premium then by all means stick with it. The creators of the videos you watch get comped better when you watch them than when a free user does - that was the main reason I kept my subscription for as long as I did.
Who uses YT music when there are so many free clients?
I guess people who also like YT premium
Spotify vs Tidal vs Apple Music vs Youtube Music which one is better?
Tidal is the most popular option for audiophiles. What I also like about it is the fact that they pay artists much more fairly than other platforms. According to this, they payout $0.013 per stream on average (which means $1 per 77 streams). Because I listen to a lot of unknown artists it is important to me to be on a platform where I can support those artists much more directly.
AFAIK Spotify only pays the overall most listened to artists like Taylor Swift etc. I canceled my Spotify subscription when Neil Young quit Spotify.
EDIT: because this is becoming a bit popular, for anyone looking to migrate from Spotify to Tidal, I recommend this simple to use python script to migrate your playlists. And because we have a lot of Linux users here, check out tidal-hifi.
I'm thinking of switching to Tidal. I've had YouTube music for awhile and I like it, but I just learned they fired a huge chunk of their staff after they unionized and that pissed me off. Anybody know how their rock and jazz selection is, especially with smaller lesser known artists?
I mainly listen to punk and it's extremely hard to find bands that are not on Tidal. When I migrated my playlists to Tidal from Spotify, there was only 1 Band which didn't exist on Tidal. But because it was only 1 song that was part of one of my playlists, I simply didn't care. I don't even remember which one it was. Aha, they're called Valentiine (3 piece all-girl garage rock band from Melbourne, Australia) and they're still not on Tidal. Still don't care.
Can't speak for Jazz though.
Tidal also laid off 10% of their staff in December. Probably not union busting, at least.
If you care about sound quality, Tidal and Qobuz are the best. The rest comes down to preference, IMHO. I like Tidal's recommendations, but I've also heard good things about Spotify's and Apple's
Qobuz
EDIT: this is when you have audio quality preferences and currating like Tidal does. But in the end it's a matter of taste. Platform A has sometimes songs and albums that platform B does not have and vice versa.
But for your decision making, you can't go wrong with Tidal. If you have a good dac/hifi installation, you may want to opt for hifi plus. But the lossless plain hifi subscription is perfect if you are not super sound picky and not having a above decent installation.
EDIT EDIT:
They are merging hifi and hifi plus to a 10.99 offering. That is actually very good value if you don't care about the DJ part. I am even considering this to ditch my Qobuz sub.
Haha ignore this post
Tidal's electronic selection isn't great, it's why I left the platform. But if you're into pop music, and especially hip hop, it's got you covered.
A few years ago I did listening comparisons of Amazon Music, Spotify, Deezer, Tidal and Quobuzz. At least for my ears, Tidal was way better, with engaging dynamic range and clarity. Quobuzz was just a little better, while listening to Spotify and Amazon Music was like FM radio in comparison, loud and compressed.
Pricewise, they're all somewhat similar. I went with Tidal because it has good quality, a good catalogue, and pays the artists better.
I spent a few months with each of them recently.
For me, Apple Music recommendations are by far the best. Tidal was decent but the UI was a pain and the integrations didn’t work well. Spotify had great integrations and easy device switching, but the recommendations were terrible, for me. YouTube music is the worst of the batch. Bad UI, bad recommendations, and just not a music lovers platform.
So, I use Apple Music. For me, it is the best since the GOAT Google Play Music was retired.
Does this mean we're stuck with MQA? Or can we still forcibly use FLAC. I was on the lower tier purely to avoid MQA.
No, there is what Tidal calls "HiRes FLAC", which is 24-bit, 192 kHz. Their website does not even mention MQA anymore. They've moved away from MQA since early 2023, when the MQA company went bankrupt
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Tidal seems to have decided that there just aren’t enough people willing to pay upward of $20 per month for the highest-possible audio fidelity.
At a high level, it sounds like this new, much simpler subscription model will still include all the perks — high-res FLACs, Dolby Atmos mixes, etc.
Now Tidal is caving and throwing in its large catalog of high-res tracks without demanding extra money on top.
With this move, Tidal could be trying to head off an eventual rollout of the rumored “Supremium” Spotify plan and avoid potential subscriber losses.
Either way, it’s an attempt to remain competitive in the streaming music landscape — or at least to stay relevant.
Tidal laid off 10 percent of its staff in December amid other cuts at parent company Block.
The original article contains 428 words, the summary contains 130 words. Saved 70%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
Actually this is a good deal. Curation on tidal is good, meaning they have cool playlists handpicked by people. In the past when I used it it was with questionable MQA encoding, which had a lot of controversy. But 24/192khz flac, If you care about audio quality is a better offer than Qobuz.
Can't go wrong for the price. But I think the main driver should be audio quality. Because FLAC files (esp 24/192khz) can be very data hungry, for those who use it mobile only. So you need to be careful with that. You can use lower sample rates and higher bitrate mp3 as well if my memory serves well. But that defeats a bit the purpose of what Tidal stands for
But 24-bit audio is useless for playback. The difference is literally inaudible. In fact, the application of dynamic range compression during the mixing/mastering process has a far greater impact on perceptible audio quality than sample rate or bitrate does (the placebo effect notwithstanding).
If you care about audio quality, seek out album masters and music that is well-recorded and not dynamically crushed to oblivion. The bitrate isn't really all that important, in the greater scheme of things.
I partially agree with you. Yes mixing and mastering is far more important than bitrate. However if I let my gf listen to a identical song both in normal 16/44khz and 24 bit version, she can hear difference. Now is it night and day ? Not always, but subtle Improvement can matter when enjoying music.
That writeup from Xiph is excellent. The comparison with adding ultraviolet and infrared to video makes so much sense. But you're dealing with audiophiles who seriously consider getting hi-end power and ethernet cables. I read somewhere that there was a listening test with speakers connected with hanger wire - and audiophiles couldn't tell.
In the end, it's all physics. I could never hear a quality improvement beyond normal 16bit, 320kbps, no matter how demanding the music.
Anyone who has ever heard a 128kbps mp3 side-by-side with a 320kbps (or really anything above 192kbps in my experience) version can tell you that bitrate definitely matters. The better audio equipment you play it through, the more noticeable it is.
It definitely becomes inaudible at a certain point, but back in my CD ripping days, I'd scoff at anything below 192kbps
Tidal is still around? I'm impressed
Not surprised, I was fed up with the cost so setup a new account with a Nigerian VPN, only a few pound per month with that method.
Might switch back to a UK account if they make the price more reasonable here.
I did the same (Nigeria) a few months ago for a family account. They have still to charge me anything for it. And the account is actually working anyway. I don't know why. I also emailed them about this and they replied that everything is fine on their end... Well, thank you for the free account, Mr. Tidal.
Spotify really beats everyone at cricket noises when responding to competitors.
As a stand alone service I don't think it is great, but feeding into Plex + Plexamp makes it awesome.
Tidal integrates with Plex local libraries seamlessly. Itslike having your own collections without having to rip or download anything.
Still not available in my country. Sadge.
