I have got to admit I canned Spotify subs years ago - but how are they managing to grow their subscriber base whn it is now going to be £11.99 in the UK? That is way, way too high for what it offers…

https://www.gbnews.com/tech/spotify-price-rise

  • addie@feddit.uk
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    22 hours ago

    Just saying; cancelling Spotify and changing to Qobuz takes five minutes. Sound quality is amazingly better, the curated recommendations are done by human beings that love music, and ‘just works’ with everything that Spotify does. (For us, anyway.) It’s French, rather than Norwegian-American like Tidal is, if you’re trying to stop spending money on everything US at the moment, too.

    • Meron35@lemmy.world
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      8 hours ago

      As much I despise Spotify, I’m trying out Qobuz and it’s just not really it.

      No folder organisation for playlists or albums.

      No Linux application.

      No lyrics.

      No support for smart speakers.

      No information linking to artist tours and merch.

      No dedicated classical music app.

      Generally lacking when it comes to non western artists.

      Prides itself on providing high quality music, yet still only has lower quality masters for some artists compared to Apple Music, Tidal, and even Spotify.

      I want to love it, like the way it loves and respects the music industry, with it’s special magazine etc, but it’s just not it.

    • elvis_depresley@sh.itjust.works
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      20 hours ago

      I also just switched to Qobuz. I like to listen to albums and playlists. The UI is more minimal than Spotify which I enjoy. I like the fact it’s not constantly trying to push new things like podcasts, concerts etc. on me. I just want to listen to music and pay the artists for it!

    • Nighed@feddit.uk
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      22 hours ago

      They don’t have any other recommendations apart from those human made ones though? Couldn’t find what I wanted.

      The UI is awful and their artist pages are normally blank for indy artists.

      The migration is pretty seamless though, and they apparently pay their artists way better.

      • addie@feddit.uk
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        20 hours ago

        They have the human made ones, they have the “artist radio” function that plays songs similar to a band you like, they have a weekly top 30 based on stuff you’ve been listening to. The headline ‘albums of the week’ are based on what they like, which I don’t think is unfair - I’ve really enjoyed some of them.

        I listen to a lot of metal and electronic, and I’ve always found the descriptions excellent - usually several paragraphs even for the most obscure of bands. Was well impressed that they had Lambrini Girls as one of their ‘albums of the week’, and their album at studio quality. Not that that’s essential for punk. Admittedly I don’t listen to a lot of indy, but they’ve always had what I’ve wanted to listen to.

        My main complaint about the UX is that it’s nearly identical to Spotify, but I suppose there’s not much else you can do. Something particular about it that you dislike?

        • Nighed@feddit.uk
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          2 hours ago

          Thanks for the long reply.

          Did not know the radio function existed. On mobile at least I can’t find it on the artists page? I have to go into the … Menu on a track in a playlist?

          I listen to a lot of instrumental stuff while working, so I may be going too indy? Someone like soundcriters should should have something on their page?

          https://open.qobuz.com/artist/5003476

          I dislike that you have to go to a playlists page to play it in shuffle, you can’t do it from the playlists menu.

          Double clicking should play a track but doesn’t.

    • FireWire400@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      I’m on Tidal right now and currently considering the switch to Qobuz. There’s no official (or unofficial) Linux client which is kind of a bummer. Tidal at least has a half-decent unofficial one…

      Yeah, I could just use the web player or strawberry but I just prefer having a dedicated app.

      • addie@feddit.uk
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        20 hours ago

        Yeah, the web client works just fine on Linux. A good native client would be better, of course, but I’d rather use the web one than a half-assed native one.

    • Übercomplicated@lemmy.ml
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      14 hours ago

      For those using spofity connect: tidal has “tidal connect” as well, which is identical and exactly as supported. Qobuz unfortunately lacks this feature, to my knowledge. Correction: Qobuz has released “Qobuz connect”! I don’t know how widely supported it is vs. Tidal connect, though; iFi and Cambridge audio most notably seem to be missing, according to this list.

      I personally also prefer the tidal algo to Spotify and qobuz, but that is a matter of preference.

      It’s quite easy to download Tidal content on any device w/o the app as well—for educational purposes, of course.

      For some, Tidal may be a better alternative. I’ve been quite happy with it. Others may prefer Qobuz.

    • poutinewharf@lemmy.ca
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      17 hours ago

      I’m glad to hear this! I’ve just cancelled our Spotify this past week and my partner is looking for a new service (I only listen to the same albums on repeat so I’m going to survive).

    • Phegan@lemmy.world
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      21 hours ago

      Do they have an API? I use a lot of third party recommendation services, to avoid Spotifys and would love to make sure I can create playlists into it