Tidal pricing

@Sloop John B.

I haven't yet started my 3 month trial of Tidal - waiting to get rid of damn BT contract at the end of January

I have not yet setup any Tidal account (UK resident London by the way)

Are you therefore saying that if I enrol, setup NEW Tidal account and chose payment method as PayPal it "should" bill in dollars at the end of the trial i.e. $19.99 ??

Geoff P posted:

Just to butt in I have no NAIM these days other than a 150 power amp which works quite happily with my bespoke pre amp/DAC. The DAC is asynchronous USB implemented via I2S so not at all shabby fed via a MAC and Pure Music which allows me up to DSD quality streaming.  

if this is not of interest since no NAIM DAC is involved stop reading here 

I was tempted into trying and have chosen to continue with Apple Music at 9.99€ a month.  Though Apple Music is (shudder!!) only MP3 but at a decent bit rate, and you can't make a silk purse out of sow's ear, it sounds OK through the DAC for the chosen purpose which is to sample music before reaching for silver disc purchases. It also very kindly put all my CD music, from i-tunes, up into iCloud. Apple Music has also now learnt my musical tastes very well and offers me an excellent continuously expanding  array of music in its 'For You' menu in the form of playlists that I enjoy and full albums all downloadable from iCloud. This all also functions perfectly on my i-phone via mobile data and gives me music to walk by when out on decent length rambles. So quite a happy camper.

Then TIDAL reaches my e-mail so I am on the free trial of the so called 'HiFi' version  which for some obscure reason will only permit CD quality streaming through Google Chrome on a computer but sounds quite good. However as others have mentioned it ain't anywhere near as good at serving my musical needs ( Jazz , mainstream female vocal, R&B and Classical) and just does not have the intelligence, flexibility and accessibility of Apple Music.  Alright so it is portrayed as 'hifi' and IS FLAC at 44.1,but at 19.99€ it does not excite I am afraid.

Of course there is the possibility to take an MP3 quality TIDAL subscription at 9.99€ a month but it is not by any standards as comprehensive or user oriented as Apple Music so I am afraid it will be 'bye-bye' at the end of the trial.

Some here may realise i seem to have risen from the grave to appear on here. Don't worry I shall probably sneak back before the full moon rises.

GEOFF

Hello Geoff, it's good to hear from you - first post in nearly two years! And only a 150 left! How times change. 

As for Tidal, apart from the selection of jazz and classical being dreadful, I just couldn't get a good enough sound out of it to make it enjoyable. There are so many wonderful Internet radio stations out there for free and somehow, despite not being in cd quality the manage to sound really good. I particularly like the Avro channels from the Netherlands, then of course there is our very own Radio 3....

dave marshall posted:

Hi,

I've been considering, like many others on here, whether to continue with Tidal after my three month's freebie runs out early next month. 

I'm very happy with the SQ being delivered, and the access to the huge variety of music out there seems to make the £19.99 monthly subscription worthwhile, set against the cost of the half dozen or so CD's which I had previously been buying each month.

However, if, for example, I were to decide in, say, five years from now, to end my subscription, then whilst my cumulative outlay of roughly £1250.00 would have given me unlimited access, as above, all this music would simply disappear overnight with my cancellation. 

Hmm, strikes me that I ought to become more discerning in my music choices, and revert to buying CD's?

As an aside, I've tried to follow Sloop John B's advice to change my Tidal payment method to PayPal, to see if I can benefit from a reduction in the monthly subscription to $19.99, but so far, whilst I have added PayPal, I am unable to remove the credit card details originally submitted.

Any ideas chaps?

Dave.

There has been widespread press acknowledgment that Tidal was a big flop since it was released .

Are people really prepared to believe it will still be around in 5 years time, let alone 2 ?

Tobyjug originally posted:

"Are people really prepared to believe it will still be around in 5 years time, let alone 2 ?"

I really have no idea. However, I will retain either Tidal or Spotify for discovery purposes, and continue to purchase CDs (for ripping) and hi-res downloads along with vinyl for my own collection. In the event that my chosen external streaming service folds, I will probably switch to another if there is one available, or simply revert to playing my own music collection.

One of the biggest attractions for me is that with Tidal I am able to construct temporary playlists with albums or tracks that I wouldn't necessarily want to buy, but like to listen to from time to time. I have many such albums in my own collection which I have purchased outright, but rarely select for a listen. 

Certainly pricing is an issue for me. I haven't yet decided if I am prepared to pay £20 per month for an external streaming service. If I listened primarily to classical music, then Tidal would probably not be for me either. However, classical music and jazz only constitute a small part of my listening patterns, and so I am tempted to give Tidal the nod when it comes to my own decision. If the service only lasts for one or two years I will be disappointed, but it won't be the end of the world for me.

iburnell posted:

@Sloop John B.

I haven't yet started my 3 month trial of Tidal - waiting to get rid of damn BT contract at the end of January

I have not yet setup any Tidal account (UK resident London by the way)

Are you therefore saying that if I enrol, setup NEW Tidal account and chose payment method as PayPal it "should" bill in dollars at the end of the trial i.e. $19.99 ??

I believe Sloop John B lives in the 'Eurozone' so he is presumably exempt from Tidal UK overpricing. It's odd that he was charged in US Dollars, and therefore still makes a smaller saving at current exchange rates.

I very much doubt anyone is going to fool Tidal into paying US prices once their system knows your location. I dare say you could set up a VPN or something and fool Tidal into thinking you're in the South Pole or wherever it is that they charge the least, but I'm not sure it would be legal. Personally, I'm just going to vote with my feet and take my business elsewhere.

I have just recently started my three months trial. And as such I am happy to have a lot more at my fingertips then my already huge own collection. I use it to test out new stuff, and I use it when friends come along to be able to play what they are looking for.

It's a lot of money, but as Qobuz is not connected I fear I will have to stay connected after the trial is over. For me ideally Qobuz would be intergrated as they already offer high res streaming, are cheaper (due to the download discount), have the bigger collection and finally offer the option to download.