[Mike Walker]

I have used Rhapsody for more than a decade. And although I have tried alternative services, I always come back to Rhapsody. Especially since they increased streaming and downloading to 320 kilobits per second, the audio quality is truly excellent.

 

[markm1]

I have used Rhapsody for more than a decade. And although I have tried alternative services, I always come back to Rhapsody. Especially since they increased streaming and downloading to 320 kilobits per second, the audio quality is truly excellent.

Is that across the board? Seems like some recordings sound much less compressed than others...

 

[Mike Walker]

Under settings in Rhapsody, you can turn streaming, and downloads all the way up to 320 kilobits per second. And this will be across everything you listen to. As for things sounding more or less compressed, I'm not quite sure what you mean. If you mean more compression artifacts, such as swishy highs, that will vary, of course, according to how the file was made. But remember, lossy data compression, which reduces file size, is not the same as dynamic range compression, which reduces differences between soft, and loud. One is totally unrelated to the other. I find that songs on Rhapsody now sound pretty darn close to the original CD. I am pretty sure that most people, under blind conditions, couldn't tell the difference.

 

[Daniel4IEM]

After getting the majority of my CDs stolen I've been using Pandora. About to invest in some decent open Sennheisers (maybe HD-598 / HD-600 / HD-650) but wonder if the audio quality from Pandora or Spotify is a waste of an amazing headphone. Thoughts?

 

[Steve W]

Under settings in Rhapsody, you can turn streaming, and downloads all the way up to 320 kilobits per second. And this will be across everything you listen to. As for things sounding more or less compressed, I'm not quite sure what you mean. If you mean more compression artifacts, such as swishy highs, that will vary, of course, according to how the file was made. But remember, lossy data compression, which reduces file size, is not the same as dynamic range compression, which reduces differences between soft, and loud. One is totally unrelated to the other. I find that songs on Rhapsody now sound pretty darn close to the original CD. I am pretty sure that most people, under blind conditions, couldn't tell the difference.

That's great to know!  Do you happen to know whether that is true for Rhapsody's PC app as well as their mobile apps?

 

[Valyria]

Apparently nobody mentioned Pandora? I guess it is more of an online radio so not perfectly comparable to Spotify, Rhapsody and so on but for discovering new music it is by far my favorite. Plus the ads in the free version are not as annoying as in the free version of Spotify and the monthly subscription of Pandora is very cheap (4 bugs).
 
Only problem for me is that there is no offline mode to Pandora. As this is important for me I found a workaround using a software called Audials Tunebite. With this I can simply record pandora songs while playing them and save them to my hard drive. It is working quite well and I have linked it to my cloud so I can listen to stuff on the go easy. Quality of the recorded songs is good as well. Plus the downloaded files are free to use with any device. So I can even use it with my mp3 player what was not possible with e.g. Spotify.
 
So these are my experiences 

 

[WickedChicken]

Up until recently I have boycotted all the streaming services simply because the royalty payouts are crap and they care more about the shareholders than the artists. But with the recent introduction of TidalHiFi I have finally found a streaming service I can support.  There is no add-supported free subscription and at $20/month it is pricier than the other "premium" subscriptions but for that you get losses audio (FLAC) and, if I'm not mistaken, peace of mind in that their royalties are higher.

 

[Daniel4IEM]

Up until recently I have boycotted all the streaming services simply because the royalty payouts are crap and they care more about the shareholders than the artists. But with the recent introduction of TidalHiFi I have finally found a streaming service I can support.  There is no add-supported free subscription and at $20/month it is pricier than the other "premium" subscriptions but for that you get losses audio (FLAC) and, if I'm not mistaken, peace of mind in that their royalties are higher.

How do you feel about their music selection?

 

[Krutsch]

  Up until recently I have boycotted all the streaming services simply because the royalty payouts are crap and they care more about the shareholders than the artists. But with the recent introduction of TidalHiFi I have finally found a streaming service I can support.  There is no add-supported free subscription and at $20/month it is pricier than the other "premium" subscriptions but for that you get losses audio (FLAC) and, if I'm not mistaken, peace of mind in that their royalties are higher.

Well, I will offer an alternate viewpoint on that... for me, I love streaming services for curated playlists and their ability to help me discover new music. I've been a paid subscriber of Pandora for years and recently drank the Spotify Kool-Aid.
 
IMO, Tidal's lack of an ad-supported, free model for users is Tidal's greatest weakness and Spotify's greatest strength. I played around with Tidal for a month - loved the app and the catalog was decent.
 
But Spotify has a much larger, and more diverse, playlist catalog which is curated by listeners, implicitly rated by the number of accumulated followers. Tidal is attempting to offset this with paid contributors who are responsible for curation of playlists and editorial content, but it will never come close to keeping up with Spotify in this regard. Think: Wikipedia versus Encyclopedia Britannica.
 
I pay for Spotify and for my use in discovering music and surfing playlists MP3/320 is equivalent to lossless FLAC.
 
Just my $0.02 ... I'm not compensated by any audio company.

 

[WickedChicken]

Well, I will offer an alternate viewpoint on that... for me, I love streaming services for curated playlists and their ability to help me discover new music. I've been a paid subscriber of Pandora for years and recently drank the Spotify Kool-Aid.

IMO, Tidal's lack of an ad-supported, free model for users is Tidal's greatest weakness and Spotify's greatest strength. I played around with Tidal for a month - loved the app and the catalog was decent.

But Spotify has a much larger, and more diverse, playlist catalog which is curated by listeners, implicitly rated by the number of accumulated followers. Tidal is attempting to offset this with paid contributors who are responsible for curation of playlists and editorial content, but it will never come close to keeping up with Spotify in this regard. Think: Wikipedia versus Encyclopedia Britannica.

I pay for Spotify and for my use in discovering music and surfing playlists MP3/320 is equivalent to lossless FLAC.

Just my $0.02 ... I'm not compensated by any audio company.

From a usability perspective I will agree with you 100% about the spotify's functionality, From the end user perspective they do indeed provide a great service. I just don't agree with their business model in regards to artist rights/payouts and so I choose not to support them just like I don't support Wal-Madt or Chic-fil-a due to their business practices. I understandd the appeal and dk t begrudge people who do take advantage of their offererings I just prefer not to.

 

[WickedChicken]

How do you feel about their music selection?

Personally I think their selection is awesome. as already mentioned, their playlist selection isn't nearly as exhaustive as spotify's but From an album perspective I have no complaints. I still like listening to full albums and I expect their playlist seldection will get better as time goes on.

 

[Krutsch]

From a usability perspective I will agree with you 100% about the spotify's functionality, From the end user perspective they do indeed provide a great service. I just don't agree with their business model in regards to artist rights/payouts and so I choose not to support them just like I don't support Wal-Madt or Chic-fil-a due to their business practices. I understandd the appeal and dk t begrudge people who do take advantage of their offererings I just prefer not to.

Point taken: I avoid shopping at Wal-Mart, as well.
 
But don't be too quick to dismiss the sales effect streaming services have; almost all of my recent CD (or iTunes/HDTracks) purchases have come from Pandora (and lately, Spotify). Streaming services are the new radio, in this regard, not necessarily a replacement for CD or concert revenues. I am sure I buy more music because of this...

 

[Steve W]

  That's great to know!  Do you happen to know whether that is true for Rhapsody's PC app as well as their mobile apps?

I'll answer my own question.  Just got the most recent update to Rhapsody's PC app.  It now allows you to choose from 3 levels for streaming.  The top level, at least for the tracks I've tried so far, is AAC 320 kb/s.

 

[ggeinec]

Those of you using Rhapsody, especially the PC desktop version, I assume you are using Rhapsody 6?
 
Are you happy with it?
 
Are you still able to download songs to your DAP?
 
What DAP are you using?
 
I'm still on Rhapsody 4, downloading to my Creative Zen Vision M, and I've been resisting upgrading to Rhapsody 6. But now I'm getting pop ups that say they are transitioning everyone to Rhapsody 6 over the coming weeks . . .
 
Thanks!

 

[andrei0635]

I've been using Spotify for at least a year now, and I must say that their service is great. For 10$ a month you cant get 320kb/s mp3's and save them on your cell phone or PC while your premium subscription is active. I am a big fan of PsyTrance, and i rave a lot, so i must say that i am impressed to see so many artists on this app, i really wasn't expecting so many albums and details about singles and albums where an artist puts a single track.
I would say that nowadayas i just can't go back to youtube to listen to music after i learned to live with Spotify.
The radio is awesome, you choose a song and the next one they chooose for you, which is great for discovering new music. I must tell that i wasn't expecting so good match-ups on this service but the standard is set high. Ex: I choose a track of hightech and the next tracks on radio was also hightech instead of let's say full on psytrance or dark psytrance.
5*/5* Would bang again

About the audio quality, i'm not an audiophile yet but i think it sounds great

EDIT: I forgot to tell about the remote control feature. Example: I am listening to a cool track on my PC and i can control the volume from my smartphone or even resume the playback from the PC to the phone in a second, Which is awesome because i usually listen to music when i wake up and with a click on a screen i can resume the lsitening from my PC to my headphones and take the music with me (if it's saved ofc)