Quobuz Receivership

True.  Thank you for some words of optimism, I like that.  We'll see.

Actual tracking was amateur - what do you mean?

(Etc)

Not sure this terminology is entirely in keeping withforum rules, but lets assume it's justified as venting of frustration and annoyance...

Klemperer’s great EMI recording [of Mozart''s Don Giovanni] was simply in random order. It would take longer to make a play list of fifty tracks randomly ordered than actually listen to the music. ... Not good. Gave up at that point.

Perhaps they fixed such issues later, but random access to a single piece is ruinous ...

That is what I mean ...

ATB from George

PS: I have the recording in any case, but was after the rehearsal sequence, of which I have only a part.  The rehearsals give a rather fine idea of how happy or miserable were the actual recording sessions, but these were both serious of intent, and gloriously light-hearted when things went a bit wrong ....

Strangely the rehearsal sequence tracks were mixed among the recording proper. which is an amazing over-sight ...

I see. I've never tried their streaming service, but have bought lots of downloads, all of which have been fine. I too would have been pretty miffed if a streamed album was played in the wrong order. 

They are right now the best and the cheapest. I would be sad if they got out of business as I still have a subscription running till may.

According to the blog on the Qobuz web-site (in French), there Is still a hope that the company can continue.  It also says that the funds representing the unused portion of annual subscriptions are held in an escrow account and will be refunded to subscribers if the company folds.

There is an option to randomize the play order of albums, CDs, and playlists etc within the Qobuz desktop player.  If not enabled, I have never known any piece play in the wrong order. 

Same here - I've streamed probably hundreds of albums from Qobuz and none has played with tracks in the wrong order...

Yes, let's assume that.  Otherwise I'd just be an obnoxious idiot.....Ok, busted.

Then they lost a client through setting silly default settings. A shame that they cannot cater for the plug and play people who are not interested in fiddling, but just want to listen to music they love.

If they do fail then they have nobody but themselves to blame for amateurishness. A shame all the same as I had high hopes, but there is no reason to drive the non-computer-geek into the settings to make music play in the intended order ...

ATB from George

PS: I can say that simpler things were actually in the right order, but it is the out of way stuff that is significant, once you have 95 percent of the recordings that you really want.

The default position is not 'Randomise', George. You do seem to be making a mountain out of an easy-to-fix molehill. Have you asked yourself why NOBODY but you has reported this issue? 'Nobody but themselves to blame for amateurishness'? Really? Whatever their faults, and there are a few, amateurishness wasn't one of them.

See my PS, added in the last thirty seconds. Nobody on the Forum could answer it either. Their help could not. Pathetic.

I did not need access to what I have already, but the chance to listen to the currently unavailable, and that is where they went wrong. Tisch - tisch. No good and after a very short while they wanted serious money for something that served me no useful purpose. Unsubscribing was also a night-mare. Though as a bankrupt company presumable they cannot draw money so easily.

Too bad, the service world is tough and Q_ certainly were not cutting it.

ATB from George

Well, Qobuz is certainly not, along with stereo, going down in a blaze of glory there.  

Ah, that's a shame.  I've been with spotify since it was free but would happily have tried Qobuz streaming once it made its way onto Audirvana, which was imminent. I've bought lots of downloads from them in the past and had some good deals.  I hope they find a way to survive.

Just deleted a whole rant on Qobuz, needless to say it wasn't for me on any level.

Website poor, downloading awkward, naming wav files odd (SMR tag on all files)

Wasn't a fan :-(

Unfortunately for us audiophiles, it seems businesses offering better quality downloads for more money are going to fail. Qobuz, £20 P.M., Spotify, £10 P.M., the latter offers a greater selection of music for modern listeners, an overwhelming number of whom are content with low bitrate MP3 quality.

I'm not into streaming from these sites but I have dabbled. Qobuz's site is pretty unfriendly and confusing but I guess if I was that interested in it I'd learn how to use it. Spotify was friendlier. But I really can't be bothered, not while I can buy CDs dirt cheap & rip them.

I had an issue once where the site wouldn't process a payment for downloads but outside of that I think it's been a great service and as I'm pretty good at writing cash off once I've parted with it, I enjoy the membership discounts on the hi res downloads and keep reminding myself not to work out how many albums I need to buy to cover the cost of membership 

I also use the streaming service quite a lot (mainly via iPhone app) and it's always worked well.

Maybe Naim had concern about the future of Qobuz and this was a factor in going for Tidal integration first. Like many have said, the future of any of these streaming services is wobbly at best - if the likes of Apple decide to incorporate hi res offerings into iTunes ....

For those who have said this is best download site, have you tried highresaudio dot com?

I only came across a week or two ago and haven't bought from them yet, though most lilely next purchase will be. Meanwhile been having a good browse (which I gave up trying on Qobuz). Though German, there is English language option. But need to choose currency selectively for best price, not by your geographical location - mostly $ cheapest, but some albums € cheapest - with every example I looked at £ was most expensive, by up to 30%!!! (Rip Britain off - perhaps inspired by hearing of Rip-off Britain!) one time I opened on iPad, and couldn't see the different currency options, so maybe nor available in mobile version.

High res audio is also a good site to download - but always Qubuz beats them on price.

Ive just read a blog post on the Qobuz website (through google translate) that appears to suggest any annual subscriptions have gone into some sort of escrow account and should the worst happen, then any remaining months subscriptions will be returned to customers. Not sure how likely that is.

Still hoping it doesn't come to that.

I wonder where the profits were in the business; in the streaming side or the download side?

I guess plenty of competition for both but I've found it excellent as a download supplier.

Bruce