Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion MQA - Related technology, products and music Tidal bait and switch

Part of me realizes that Tidal is at the mercy of the record labels when it comes to what they can and cannot stream (including where), but what really irks is when an album is available to stream for some period, and then is withdrawn. Last nights frustration was the Beatles Sgt. Peppers album (MQA version) that I "imported" to our Sooloos library about a year ago when it was released. Now I get the error message that it is no longer available to be streamed (either through our Sooloos system or just now using the website access and my desktop). Makes me question the whole concept of streaming music services versus full ownership of the digital file. Of course there is limited MQA material you can actually own at present. Sigh. CD quality is so 20th century...

Thanks for letting me vent.

John

PS: the album is still listed on the MQA spreadsheet despite the twice-weekly updating.

I enjoyed streaming the music soundtrack from guardians of the galaxy 1 and now it’s gone. I actually have to get off my butt and put the disc in the tray!

I suspect that the rumoured forthcoming Amazon "hi-res" music streaming service is going to exacerbate the issue, as availability of content fragments amongst ever more streaming services. Same on the video front, and every provider is going to want as much exclusive content as they can muster.

Cheers

George

Like the break-up of Sky’s monopoly of Premier League rights, the result of this fragmentation has actually been to the consumer’s detriment, who has to pay more to multiple provides for the same content coverage.

I have found similar problems.

Have an album in my Sooloos library, and unable to stream it.

More often than not, If I re-browse for the same album, I am able to play it....sometimes not though.

This is the frustrating part to streaming, you are in the hands of others regarding what you have access to and when.

I've noticed MQA albums in Tidal reverting to standard res, which is unfortunate. I wish more of them were available to actually buy and own - MQA really need to look into this.

Have also noticed titles I've been listening to suddenly disappearing, or tracks therein. This is also very annoying. Once again, not so much of an issue if the material is available to buy.

The lesson for me is, as good as streaming services of any kind are, there's nothing like owning the material you love.

+1

The problem with albums disappearing on Tidal has been happening to me for at least the last 2 or 3 years. I subscribe to both Tidal and Napster. While Napster does the same thing, it doesn't seem to do it that often. I was about to drop Tidal because my hearing has been degrading as I aged, though I can still tell the difference between a CD and a MP3. At $20 a month, the extra quality wasn't justifiable as I'm more interested in the music. I discovered that Tidal offered a military discount in the US that reduced the cost significantly so I continued my subscription despite the "Not available for streaming" messages.

With hearing loss, I consider quality even more important, but that’s my view... am I wrong?

If you're using hearing to determine your view then you probably are wrong!!

Not sure whether your idea is right or wrong. If it was food I wouldn't spend more on food that I couldn't taste, but I do have a high def screen on my phone!

No you are not wrong. Every improvement prolongs the enjoyment in the age advancement process, until you decide there is no advantage to be heard.
Should the title of this thread be "Tidal Lure and Switch" as per so called sport fishing techniques.
Hector

With a shrinking range of frequencies being able to be heard, the losses due to compression start to become less of an issue. To swing this back on topic, comparing Tidal to Napster, Tidal seems to have more turnover in their licensing deals. Not only in whole albums, but in tracks within the album. My original attraction to Tidal was to have access to good quality music without having to have another CD stored in my closet. Now I'm filling the holes left by Tidal with albums from Napster.