[obsidyen]

Fair enough, I could not find Melanie C's Northern Star album in CD quality anywhere until I subscribed to Tidal. I Turn To You (Hex Hector mix) is a guilty pleasure of mine. Let's just hope they don't go bankrupt then.

 

[325xia]

I saw the post by the official Coldplay page on Facebook earlier this morning, and I have to say I'm pretty disappointed by this move. Daft Punk is also there -- which means two of my favourite artists are signing onto this rapper-owned, overpriced crapload of a streaming service. I mean, I get the appeal for lossless over regular MP3, but streaming that to my phone? I could probably listen to an album's worth of songs before just one song could stream on that thing.

IMO streaming isn't going to be the future, especially since a lot of us have to deal with horribly slow internet speeds. Streaming 320kbps MP3 files (which are usually around 10 MB for a 4-minute song) takes long enough; now you want to go lossless (which is at least 25MB for a 4-minute song)? I guess TIDAL at this point seems to be limited to the elite high-res-obsessed audiophiles packed with AK240s and Summit-Fi gear with 20Mbps internet and way too much money to burn.

If you can stream video, like Netflix, HBO Go, etc. Tidal is no problem. It uses far less bandwidth.

 

[thatBeatsguy]

 
If you can stream video, like Netflix, HBO Go, etc. Tidal is no problem. It uses far less bandwidth.

Even then, $20 a month is still pretty excessive. And to think they're going to bring Tidal to the consumer, who most likely just uses Apple earbuds or EarPods...in their case, I really don't see the appeal. If they're going to market this to the audiophile specifically, then they have a pretty big userbase that will hand over $20 a month each to the glorious person known as Jay-Z. For all I know, I don't think he even cares about audio.
 
Trying to market this to the consumer will pretty much make them the Pono of streaming, and it's giving the audiophile market a bad name. Pono is, well, horribly expensive, and so is Tidal. Both also promote high-resolution audio. Both also have names that will cause some skepticism as to if they actually know a thing or two about audio. And if you're going to have to shell out immense amounts of cash for high-res audio to make your music sound better, IMO it might leave a very wrong impression on non-audiophiles, maybe making them think we're all just elitist idiots wasting our money on something not much better than what they already use.
 
Like what StefanJK stated, if marketing doesn't ruin the product, then all should hopefully go well (although if you ask me, having a rapper behind the name is kind of a bad omen; I mean, we've already seen Beats).
 
Oh, and if you haven't noticed, I'm not in the US like you, so don't think my internet is decent enough to put up with Netflix. Oh yeah, and I don't stream anything.

 

[elvergun]

  I saw the post by the official Coldplay page on Facebook earlier this morning, and I have to say I'm pretty disappointed by this move. Daft Punk is also there -- which means two of my favourite artists are signing onto this rapper-owned, overpriced crapload of a streaming service. I mean, I get the appeal for lossless over regular MP3, but streaming that to my phone? I could probably listen to an album's worth of songs before just one song could stream on that thing.
 
IMO streaming isn't going to be the future, especially since a lot of us have to deal with horribly slow internet speeds. Streaming 320kbps MP3 files (which are usually around 10 MB for a 4-minute song) takes long enough; now you want to go lossless (which is at least 25MB for a 4-minute song)? I guess TIDAL at this point seems to be limited to the elite high-res-obsessed audiophiles packed with AK240s and Summit-Fi gear with 20Mbps internet and way too much money to burn.

 
 
What's the point of your post anyways?  Maybe you should create a thread titled "Things thatBeatsguy does not like" and paste the post quoted above to start things off.

 

 

[thatBeatsguy]

 
What's the point of your post anyways?  Maybe you should create a thread titled "Things thatBeatsguy does not like" and paste the post quoted above to start things off.

 

Dropping a couple cents? I like your sarcasm though. 

 

[canthearyou]

I'm watching it now and I have to say that this is one of the lamest business/press conferences I have ever seen..  According to Allicia Keyes this venture will usher in a new era, save the planet, unite the world in the bond of music-love, etc. etc. blah, blah, blah.  It's rather embarrassing when a collection of self-important "artists" (one, in the accompanying video, referred to themselves all as "icons") with egos big enough to fill three stadiums, but with the collective cerebral horsepower to maybe run a lawn tractor, think that signing on to a music streaming company is going to magically improve the consumers listening experience and the world to boot.  Ok, I'm being a little harsh here, but really, why don't you hire some top technology/engineering guys, set up some bullet proof servers in say, North America, and then get the rights to stream almost everything in every catalog by paying top drawer royalty fees to the publishers and artists.   If you do that, you will eventually have an outstanding product to sell and you just might be profitable. Change the face of the music industry and the world?...not so much.

Yep, canceling right now! Complete garbage!

 

[toolio]

I ignored last night's absurd hype, and after reading that Tidal had done something to improve its global network through Akamai and Amazon, I decided to re-up for a trial subscription. I had a paid subscription a few months ago but cancelled after one month because of constant dropouts.
What a difference!!! I am currently streaming to Brasil, where I spend most of my time (but subscribed using a Canadian credit card) and hi-fi (lossless) streaming is perfect at the moment, and for the four hours I used Tidal last night. During my first trial, I could barely get through a song without dropouts, in Brasil or in Canada. At the moment my Brasilian internet providers are experiencing significant speed problems to the U.S. and Europe, which was not the case when I first used Tidal. Yet streaming under these circumstances is far more robust than when my Brasilian providers were functioning normally. Even Qobuz, of which I am a big fan, cannot be streamed properly in light of the current problems with my providers in Brasil. Yet now Tidal can.
I hesitate to become overly enthusiastic, given my previous experience. However, so far there seems to be a night-and-day difference between today's Tidal and the Tidal of a few months ago. If this continues I'll gladly pay again once my 30 day trial expires.

 

[Zojokkeli]

  Even then, $20 a month is still pretty excessive. And to think they're going to bring Tidal to the consumer, who most likely just uses Apple earbuds or EarPods...in their case, I really don't see the appeal. If they're going to market this to the audiophile specifically, then they have a pretty big userbase that will hand over $20 a month each to the glorious person known as Jay-Z. For all I know, I don't think he even cares about audio.
 
Trying to market this to the consumer will pretty much make them the Pono of streaming, and it's giving the audiophile market a bad name. Pono is, well, horribly expensive, and so is Tidal. Both also promote high-resolution audio. Both also have names that will cause some skepticism as to if they actually know a thing or two about audio. And if you're going to have to shell out immense amounts of cash for high-res audio to make your music sound better, IMO it might leave a very wrong impression on non-audiophiles, maybe making them think we're all just elitist idiots wasting our money on something not much better than what they already use.
 
Like what StefanJK stated, if marketing doesn't ruin the product, then all should hopefully go well (although if you ask me, having a rapper behind the name is kind of a bad omen; I mean, we've already seen Beats).
 
Oh, and if you haven't noticed, I'm not in the US like you, so don't think my internet is decent enough to put up with Netflix. Oh yeah, and I don't stream anything.

 
I hardly think they're after your average free Spotify users or casual listeners, and the whole business with the celebrities is probably to attract more money from investors.
FWIW I tried streaming Tidal to my iPad and Nexus 5, and both sounded very bland. On my headphone rig at PC however it sounds kickass, and the difference compared to Spotify, Youtube, etc. is clear. The desktop app is awful though, and I wish they worked on that.

 

[Billheiser]

Yep, canceling right now! Complete garbage!

Like with other products and services, I try to ignore the marketing BS, and judge things based on their real value and implementation. I like my jeans and will keep wearing them despite the silly and irrelevant marketing/advertising that they do.
The ads for Beats are cool, but Im not a fan of their headphone.
The marketing event for Tidal sounds silly, but the service itself is potentially excellent.

 

[canthearyou]

Like with other products and services, I try to ignore the marketing BS, and judge things based on their real value and implementation. I like my jeans and will keep wearing them despite the silly and irrelevant marketing/advertising that they do.
The ads for Beats are cool, but Im not a fan of their headphone.
The marketing event for Tidal sounds silly, but the service itself is potentially excellent.

No problem with the service. Just the people involved. I'll take my money elsewhere.

 

[Billheiser]

No problem with the service. Just the people involved. I'll take my money elsewhere.

That's your right. Other services likely have jerks behind the business too, but we just won't know their names because they're not musicians.

 

[Zoom25]

That's your right. Other services likely have jerks behind the business too, but we just won't know their names because they're not musicians.

+1. I don't understand all the Jay-Z hate. Seriously, someone want to fill me in on what wrong he has actually done?

 

[Billheiser]

+1. I don't understand all the Jay-Z hate. Seriously, someone want to fill me in on what wrong he has actually done?

Agree - there seems to be personal dislike for him and I don't know why. I like 6-7% of his music but I don't pay attention to celebrity stuff (or to marketing events).

 

[canthearyou]

I'm watching it now and I have to say that this is one of the lamest business/press conferences I have ever seen..  According to Allicia Keyes this venture will usher in a new era, save the planet, unite the world in the bond of music-love, etc. etc. blah, blah, blah.  It's rather embarrassing when a collection of self-important "artists" (one, in the accompanying video, referred to themselves all as "icons") with egos big enough to fill three stadiums, but with the collective cerebral horsepower to maybe run a lawn tractor, think that signing on to a music streaming company is going to magically improve the consumers listening experience and the world to boot.  Ok, I'm being a little harsh here, but really, why don't you hire some top technology/engineering guys, set up some bullet proof servers in say, North America, and then get the rights to stream almost everything in every catalog by paying top drawer royalty fees to the publishers and artists.   If you do that, you will eventually have an outstanding product to sell and you just might be profitable. Change the face of the music industry and the world?...not so much.

Exactly this!

 

[StefanJK]

I totally don't get this 'some celebrities are annoying, lets not buy the product' view.  If the product is good for the price, buy it.  The marketing isn't forced down your throat, just don't watch it.  If this crayppy marketing to people who care more about marketing and less about the product in more money to support servers to to stream CD bitrate music to people without good audio systems, that is good for people with good audio systems who make up a smaller market.