I was a subscriber to Tidal on several occasions but haven't used them in a few years

are there newer or better providers of analog quality music out there?

Apple Music. I can't believe I lived in a world where you couldn't listen to any song you wanted when you wanted.

IF you are a Prime member you can use Prime Music at no additional charge, they do have an upgrade to it for a monthly fee to premium where you get unlimited skips, repeat etc, but you do have access to the full Prime Library with the base free membership

Pandora Free, don't subscribe so I have to deal with limited Skips and no repeat, plus commercials occasionally.

I like Spotify, they did raise their monthly cost recently but it's still worth it, I looked at some alternatives to save a few bucks but this seems to be the best one IMO out there.

What if you wanted to get exposed to similar artists? For example, if you like Stan Getz and wanted to hear music by him and music in the same style by other artists (who may not be known to you)?

I'd imagine if I wanted to hear Getz, either Apple or Prime would probably serve well. But how about finding similar artists for a particular sub-genre (like Cool Jazz)?

Qobuz - $13.77 a month. Best quality Hi rez, & I’ve heard it across several different platforms/ streamers/ systems.

Inevitably many discussions on services end up also including the catalog scope in the conversation. Almost no one carries everything and many of the larger catalogs come up short on fidelity or which master they’re sourced from.

Spotify has been threatening for years to go Hi rez, but they seem to more focused on algorithms than bandwidth.

I use both. Qobuz is streets ahead when listening critically.

Newer? Hardly, they've been around practically since the dawn of the Internet, domain registered Sep. 1997. Of course I am referring to Radio Paradise. (Very) eclectic music mix, they now have several "channels" of curated playlists, no fee (other than voluntary), no commercials, not even disguised ones, and just a few pleas for support. Now that Bill's wife Rebecca has been kicked to the curb by their post-college-aged daughter Alanna, things appear to be moving a little to the left, but it is mostly apolitical.

I use Qobuz for hi-Rez streaming

quote:

Originally posted by HRK:
IF you are a Prime member you can use Prime Music at no additional charge, they do have an upgrade to it for a monthly fee to premium where you get unlimited skips, repeat etc,
<snip>

I have the yearly-fee Amazon Music, and prefer it for one excelent feature: “My Likes and More”. It’s a randomized playlist of songs that I’ve “Liked”, with others that Amazon thinks that I will like because they’re similar in some respect. Sometimes they’re correct and I have another song to add to the hundreds on my playlist.

I also have Apple Music. An even larger music library, but nothing similar to “My Likes and More”.

If you like jazz, both Apple's and Amazon's "stations" (more like a playlist) suck.

A few weeks back, I took an Uber to the airport for a business trip. The Uber driver's radio was streaming an excellent jazz playlist. It was Spotify and the driver had arrived at the same conclusion as me on Apple and Amazon.

quote:

Originally posted by tatortodd:
If you like jazz, both Apple's and Amazon's "stations" (more like a playlist) suck.

A few weeks back, I took an Uber to the airport for a business trip. The Uber driver's radio was streaming an excellent jazz playlist. It was Spotify and the driver had arrived at the same conclusion as me on Apple and Amazon.

I use both Apple Music and Spotify. Yes, I agree, Spotify has much better curated playlists than Apple for all genres of curated playlists.

Thanks - will look into Spotify.

I use YouTube Music. It’s included with YouTube Premium. I’ve found a few things that I couldn’t get elsewhere because someone uploaded it. “Sink Your Teeth into That” by Talas is one that I didn’t see anywhere else.

Qobuz is still my favorite, it is the best sounding and has a strong audiophile following.
Amazon Prime Music and Tidal are also decent but I hear a lot of audio guys like Qobuz the best, I do anyway.

I listen almost exclusively to classical music streaming. I still subscribe to Idagio for $15/month; but Primephonic was bought by Apple and is now Apple Classical.
Classical music compositions do not fit into the usual streaming "song" format; if you listen to entire classic works, you will find either Apple Classical or Idagio to be the bees' knees.

Apple Music (at least on my subscription) streams Apple Lossless, much higher resolution than CD. If you previously purchased music on iTunes, it will now be on Lossless.

quote:

Originally posted by konata88:
Thanks - will look into Spotify.

Spotify is not HD or Hi Rez playback.

It’s the MP3 equivalent of streaming services

I use it to discover new artists

I get Apple Music free every month as a perk with my cellphone service (Verizon).

You may want to check your cell company for such offers.

quote:

Originally posted by snwghst:

Spotify is not HD or Hi Rez playback.

It’s the MP3 equivalent of streaming services

I use it to discover new artists

Good to know. Probably okay for me - I just want to find similar artists that I might like and then buy the CD.

^^^^^^^
Re: “then buy the CD.“

I didn’t know that folks still bought CDs.

I prefer CD. Old fogey I guess. Besides, it's the only way to play music in my old cars.