[Ableza]

To people arguing about the value of streaming: who cares? What's "worth it" to you will be different than to me or anyone else, and that's true for streaming, what equipment to buy, what coffee to drink and how much you'l pay for a bottle of scotch. In other words, it's personal. I don't care what you or anyone else decides to spend your money on, and I don't think you are in any position to judge anyone else's expenditures. It's not important.

I am signing up for Qobuz using my lifetime ROON subscription just to see if I like it. Or not. And I don'rt care what anyone else thinks about how I choose to spend MY money.

 

[Robert Padgett]

To people arguing about the value of streaming: who cares? What's "worth it" to you will be different than to me or anyone else, and that's true for streaming, what equipment to buy, what coffee to drink and how much you'l pay for a bottle of scotch. In other words, it's personal. I don't care what you or anyone else decides to spend your money on, and I don't think you are in any position to judge anyone else's expenditures. It's not important.

I am signing up for Qobuz using my lifetime ROON subscription just to see if I like it. Or not. And I don'rt care what anyone else thinks about how I choose to spend MY money.

Although you stated you don't care about my opinion, but I share yours. If I can be happy with a one-tube headphone amp with a bizarre looking tube contraption-- I don't need crowd-support to tell me I like the sound.

 

[saddleup]

then there is nothing left to talk about

 

[belgiangenius]

To people arguing about the value of streaming: who cares? What's "worth it" to you will be different than to me or anyone else, and that's true for streaming, what equipment to buy, what coffee to drink and how much you'l pay for a bottle of scotch. In other words, it's personal. I don't care what you or anyone else decides to spend your money on, and I don't think you are in any position to judge anyone else's expenditures. It's not important.

I am signing up for Qobuz using my lifetime ROON subscription just to see if I like it. Or not. And I don'rt care what anyone else thinks about how I choose to spend MY money.

I don't think anyone is assuming that we all value these services the same way. I also don't think anyone is trying to tell you how to spend your money.

The point I'm getting from this discussion is that music streaming is a very personal experience, which everyone views differently. So, I think trying to apply a "one size fits all" pricing scheme to it makes no sense.

Like I've said, I use Tidal on a very limited basis to supplement my library. I've only kept it current because I've been on a very long trial. But, I'd be much happier subscribing on a pay-per-use basis rather than a monthly subscription.

 

[dieslemat]

Here is how it works for me:

Read about new music in Stereophile or TAS.

Go and listen on Spotify.

If I like what I hear, purchase the CD or vinyl on Amazon.

I'm old enough to remember doing basically the same thing when listening to radio.

I like this process. Maybe will give up tidal. Switch to spotify and eventually buy albums that i really like over hdtracks or amazon (cd).

 

[Rattle]

That's what I do, there's only so many good albums IMO. I always buy my favorites wether it's an older CD mastering sacd or a record or Blu Ray audio. I just make my own files.

 

[Ableza]

I'm excited about the possibility of discovering something new or missing from my library on Qobuz and then being able to buy the download from them. Seems easy-peasy.

 

[GumbyDammit223]

The way I view it, once your contract ends with a streaming service, it ends. You have nothing. *snip*

Here is how it works for me:
*edited*
Read about new music in x.
Go and listen on y.
If I like what I hear, purchase the CD or vinyl on Amazon.

I'm old enough to remember doing basically the same thing when listening to radio.

It's been decided for me: I'm canceling Qobuz. Tried it last night at home with the Bifrost / Valhalla 2 / HD700's. Didn't play well with the Bifrost in WASAPI exclusive mode so it's a deal-breaker. The quotes above are spot on. I've followed Mr Rick's philosophy ever since my parent's gave me an allowance all those 40-some years ago. Of course then it was LPs at the record store, but now Amazon for sure. Belgiangenius' quote is right as well. What do you currently have for spending that $20 last month? Nothing. I've experienced it, now it's time to move on. Thanks for the memories!

 

[BagelJoe]

Here is how it works for me:

Read about new music in Stereophile or TAS.

Go and listen on Spotify.

If I like what I hear, purchase the CD or vinyl on Amazon.

I'm old enough to remember doing basically the same thing when listening to radio.

Add in Blues Music Magazine and I'm right there with you @Mr Rick. Something sounds interesting, I listen on Tidal and then purchase in some form if it hits my spot.

It's OK by me to handle streaming however you choose-listen only thru Spotify, download thru Qobuz with streaming, use Tidal, whatever. Keep your Schiit running the way you want.

 

[RCBinTN]

I personally get a lot of great music recommendations from the "What Are You Listening To Right Now" thread here on Head-Fi.
It's easy to ask more questions via PM.
Who knows more about great music than our Head-Fi friends

Cheers,
RCB

 

[earnmyturns]

While Qobuz is not available where I am I've had exactly the same experience with TIDAL and the latest Roon radio. Not with jazz, though. I keep reading that people are exited about Qobuz and ditching TIDAL but I don't seem to see the reasons why Qobuz is better. What's better about it? Somewhere (probably Wikipedia) I saw a comparison of their libraries and TIDAL's library was bigger. Maybe this data is out of date now.

It depends on your music taste, use cases, and budget. I care most for relatively exotic, small label modern jazz and classical, which Qobuz seems better at, and I like the ability to interleave my personal rip library with what the streaming source can supply. After quite a bit of experimentation, I won't use anything but lossless for the systems I listen to at home. Sublime+ costs < 10% of what I spend on new jazz and classical CD and lossless download releases while expanding my library with a lot of exploration possibilities.

 

[earnmyturns]

Music subscription services reinforce my belief that modern society doesn't have a relationship with enough.

My goal is to always listen to new music, new artists, and to support them by buying their work and attending their performances. A good streaming service allows me to learn about artists who I've not learned about through my fan networks, reading materials, or live performances. For example, I'm now listening to French jazz violinist Mathias Lévy in his Remembering Grappelli album via Qobuz. Insanely good, but AFAIK he hasn't toured in my neighborhood. Later, I'll set Roon to recommend a stream based on one of these tracks and hear what else shows up that I don't know.

 

[Oveja Negra]

I personally get a lot of great music recommendations from the "What Are You Listening To Right Now" thread here on Head-Fi.
It's easy to ask more questions via PM.
Who knows more about great music than our Head-Fi friends

Cheers,
RCB

This has been for me by far how I've discovered tons of great artists since I began to surf the Internet . That's one of the reasons why I'm so grateful about the "forum concept". Through it I've learn so much about music and myriad of other subjects (something almost impossible to achieve with any other form of current social media).

Regarding music recommendations, I like to go to Amazon.com, look for an album from an artist that I love and then paying attention below at the section customers also bought these albums. I always find some new gems to add to my music collection

 

[earnmyturns]

So, to me, streaming service is worth A LOT LESS than buying music outright. I just don't see the value proposition in $20/month for streaming.

Depends on how much you spend already on music purchases Two lossless album downloads on Bandcamp ~ $25. Just on Bandcamp, I spend a lot more than that every month, and I get a lot of other stuff on ProStudioMasters, on CDs, etc. So, the cost of 2 albums/month is a great investment in diversifying my musical explorations.

 

[ScubaMan2017]

To people arguing about the value of streaming: who cares? What's "worth it" to you will be different than to me or anyone else, and that's true for streaming, what equipment to buy, what coffee to drink and how much you'l pay for a bottle of scotch. In other words, it's personal. I don't care what you or anyone else decides to spend your money on, and I don't think you are in any position to judge anyone else's expenditures. It's not important.

I am signing up for Qobuz using my lifetime ROON subscription just to see if I like it. Or not. And I don'rt care what anyone else thinks about how I choose to spend MY money.

Although you stated you don't care about my opinion, but I share yours. If I can be happy with a one-tube headphone amp with a bizarre looking tube contraption-- I don't need crowd-support to tell me I like the sound.

Well said, @Ableza and @Robert Padgett . My high speed internet will come crashing down around my ears the moment we start living full-time on the woodlot. That part of Ontario has 2 carriers: Rogers & Bell. I could run a network using a cell phone service (at a dismal 3-5Mbps download [aweful Mbps upload... ping & latency in the seconds?!]). The nearest cell phone tower is at Miller Lake. My neighbours up there have a bad case of NIMBY about towers... so there's a moratorium on the bloody things. I'll end up having a couple of hard-drives full of tunes -- run my own hermit-kingdom or Soviet-Of-Sound (with apologies to @Baldr ).
If you ever are in the neighbourhood of the North Bruce Peninsula... and your radios start squealing... and doing the 'numbers station' or the 'Russian Woodpecker'... that might be me.