Interesting take. I have been happy with Amazon HD but it appears Qobuz is gaining momentum. I can see myself giving it a try in the near future. Thanks for sharing.
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I should have put in a disclaimer somewhere that the opinions offered up were personal to me and that YMMV. Music and how it is heard is largely unique per individual.
Also, I was and could be still, be extremely happy with Amazon HD if it were not for the fact that I decided to centralize my local music library to a “Server” and get into streaming from that server to any endpoint of my choosing. I would not have explored Qobuz if I was able to stream AmazonHD to a RPI (Raspbery pi) or microRendu etc. etc., based streamer. As it stands now there are a few "comercial boxes that are roon endpoints and also have the ability to stream Amazon HD, but they are 2-3x the cost of an RPI + audio HAT and, don’t sound as good (IMO).
Again, these were choices I made and not something that everyone should, or wants to do. If you run Amazon HD, Spotify, whatever, and you are happy with it, Right On keep doing what you do because in the end enjoying your music your way - is the best way.
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out of all the streaming services, who has the biggest selection? largest catalog?
I wanna say Spotify…
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I mean technically it’s YouTube music because they have all of their music videos available to stream.
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Hmm, you can think what you want about Apple, but for HiFi lovers and streaming users, it is currently a huge advantage that Apple has such market power.
Today, after Amazon, TIDAL has halved its high res prices.
Amazon? I would even pay more for another service rather than giving Bezos more money…
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Racking my brain where I heard it, but it was a YouTube conversation with folks from the streaming music industry.
These famous 70 million tracks that the streaming services never shut up about, well about four million of them have never been played and another four million of them have been played only once.
Got a good laugh out of it.
That’s a surprisingly small number of unplayed/once-played tracks, IMO.
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Not sure if this is completely the right thread, but Neil Young just pulled his music from Spotify due to a dispute over the Joe Rogan podcast where he basically said “him or me” (if the news article i read was correct).
This really shows the problem with various streaming services, artists can disappear in an instance, and you are left with nothing (compared to putting that monthly fee into buying the music you enjoy.
I use spotify a lot, and its a great way of having music available everywhere, but i have always been aware of the potential problem with streaming, but there is just not much the users can influence on such matter.
so… whats it like over at Tidal? 
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Still with AMHD. Still lovin it. I never imagined I would embrace streaming the way that I have, but the technology has come a long way and now it is the primary way I get my music. Having said that, I have recently rediscovered my CD collection and have enjoyed going local source again.
If not for Amazon, I would probably give Qobuz a go. Screw Tidal.
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Apple music, it fits my needs.
Ownership matters. I use streaming to supplement and explore but I’m still primarily a CD guy. My own rips and scans are not subject to disputes between artists, labels and streaming services.
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i do have a CD collection, and i do buy digital lossless music, but every day listening has mostly been taken over by spotify, as it is so simple to get to listen to new music and discover more of artists you already have some albums from. And for most part availability has not been an issue for me, even though i have noticed some songs have disappeared. But you still have a nagging feeling that it might all go away one day
I read about it. dislike it when musicians let their personal politics move them to do stupid things like this because someone has a different opinion. Why pollute your legacy behind personal bias? But whatever, it’s his music so he can do what he wants, I suppose. Bye-Bye, Niel! Won’t miss ya if that’s the way it’s gonna be. Anyway…
This, however, it does bring a point about how things can change without notice or control of the situation. That is why ownership matters. Matters for Young, and it matters for us. And as I write this, I am listening to a CD. If streaming went away tomorrow (and it won’t), I’d be upset but I’d be just fine. It’s nice to have multiple sources!
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Check Qobuz.
One, it sounds better than Tidal or Amazon Music HD (I have not tried Apple Music since it went high-res). Two, you have the option to buy high-res FLAC files from Qobuz that are yours forever. Three, Qobuz has a lot of cool extras, like detailed liner notes, recording studio and engineer notes and information for albums, feature stories, etc.
If you’re a real musichead and audiophile, Qobuz is a great service.
How does Neil’s decision pollute his legacy? He’s standing up for a principle in which he believes. That’s admirable. Plus he’s also wise enough to know he won’t lose much money over the stance because Spotify’s payments per stream are pitiful. Neil makes more money from ONE live show than he does from Spotify in a year.
Plus it’s Neil’s music. He can do with it as he pleases. His music is available on other services or by purchasing physical product - the “other sources” you identify. Neil doesn’t owe us anything.
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Exactly. And I don’t owe him anything. I don’t care about his politics. Why should we get caught in that crossfire? That is all I’m saying. But I agree and I have said as much, it’s his music and he can do what he wants. So bye-bye, Niel. I’m not going to lose any sleep over it.
Oh, and he will be known as the guy who got punked by Spotify!
Unless I’m mistaken, which I very well could be, I think he sold the rights to all of his music some years back. So it isn’t even his to be making that kind of threat over anymore.
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I have both Qobuz and Tidal accounts along with Roon. None of those services offer the complete liner notes of CDs. (A handful of albums on Qobuz have a PDF of the booklet but those are few and far between).