Is tidal the best music streaming service?

[Sunhop]

I've noticed alot of hate for tidal. Some can be warranted if you're focusing on their advertising model. The problem comes when you question the quality of the service. 10 million more songs than Spotify. Ability to stream in hi fi. Hq videos. What's there to hate. Some may say "Spotify" has more songs but I'm willing to challenge those claims. How many Prince songs does Spotify have? Can I stream the Lemonade movie on Spotify? How many Young Jeezy albums are on Spotify?

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[Aquila]

Google Play Music by a lot, Tital has good quality but the selection is more limited and the HiFi bitrate is $20 per month, where it plays the same 320kbps that GPM and Spotify do on the majority of songs and that 320kbps is the max for all other subscribers. I place GPM significantly over Spotify, but I'd put Spotify and Tidal approximately equal unless you're going to pay the double rate for the much higher bitrate and their lossless format, which is applicable to a subset of music, is dependent on higher data usage and connection strength to not default to 256kbps or 320kbps, depending on the song.

 

[Kevin OQuinn]

Is the app still an abomination?

 

[Sunhop]

Tidal does not have a limited selection. Who told this you this? Can you give me examples of major artist tidal is missing?

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[Kevin OQuinn]

Does tidal break down the number of hi-fi streams they have available versus not? Can I check if what I listen to has a hi-fi version?

If quality is the big reason to get tidal then it needs to have actual better quality (better source material than other services).In fact, it needs to have twice as good quality (which it does technically) for what people listen to.

If we're comparing the "normal" quality (320Kbps, $10/mo) then other things matter, like app quality and music discovery.

 

[Aquila]

Tidal does not have a limited selection. Who told this you this? Can you give me examples of major artist tidal is missing?

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I'm sorry, I completely misread the intent of your post based on your misleading title. I thought you were asking what people thought was the best and why, not trying to start an argument over those opinions to defend what most think of as an inferior product. Wikipedia (I know, right?) shows that Tidal has a library of around 25 million tracks, which is nearly 17% less than Spotify's 30 million tracks - or in other words, Spotify is at least 20% larger. So while I'm not going to go compare the exact tracklist, but it seems that about 1 in 6 tracks that Spotify has is missing from Tidal. That, and there is a significant difference between the Tidal STREAMING library and the SALES library. So that 25 mil is probably a bit inflated.

Now that I've reread your post, wondering why people hate Tidal, here's the short list, although I'm sure there's more that could be added:

1. The app is absolute garbage. It has a 3.5 Star Rating in the Play Store, with over a 1 in 4 ratings as 1 star. It hasn't been updated since March, so it's basically unsupportd.
2. The services are MAJORLY overpriced
3. Lossless is inconsistent and doesn't work on many (or possibly most) songs
4. The max bitrate for songs that are either A) not available in lossless B) being streamed on a lower connection speed is less than or equal to (depending on the song and conditions) to the competitors
5. The library is limited (all 3 major competitors are at least 20% larger in libary)
6. AFAIK still doesn't support Chromecast... which is stupid.
7. The fact that I'm up to 7 counts as 7 and I don't feel a need to continue....


So the answer to your title is, "No, Google Play Music is better, by a lot. Then Spotify, then either Apple Music or Tidal ... or possibly even Pandora or iHeart Radio... because once you're past first and second, why are you still installing apps?

The answer to your claims about library size are in my answer above, but No, Tidal is not larger than Spotify in anything but price. Spotify has a bigger library and more users. And when we talk Quality, if most things are streaming at max 320kbps, then that's the quality. A few outliers don't change the fact that almost all mobile users are getting 320kbps, 256kbps or sometimes even less.

 

[Sunhop]

http://www.gottabemobile.com/2016/04/25/tidal-vs-spotify-tidalforall/

You're going off 2014 numbers my friend

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[Sunhop]

Way to bring Wikipedia to a fact war

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[Aquila]

Way to bring Wikipedia to a fact war

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Again, my fault for misreading your title and not realizing you wanter a war. The easiest solution is for you to buy what you like, I'll buy what I like and we go on about our days. Have fun!

 

[Sunhop]

It's ok to admit you were wrong bro

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[Aquila]

It's ok to admit you were wrong bro

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I did admit it, please don't act like a child. I admitted that I shared my opinion, thinking that's what this thread was for and it turns out it's just a place for some app-fan nonsense that has no place here. Tidal, for the time being is inferior. I'm sorry we disagree, but I'm sure we can agree that we do and move on.

On a much more critical note:
If we cannot move on, then please feel free to send me a PM explaining why we can't agree to disagree and follow the PUPPAH part of the forum rules. Because that last part is important, while which app you choose to use couldn't be less important to anyone but you and the person/company that you're paying to use it. This isn't worth continuing down this path.

 

[Almeuit]

I disagree. GPM for me. I've tried them all and GPM satisfies my needs and I get YouTube red as well (including all those on my family plan).

 

[Laura Knotek]

I disagree. GPM for me. I've tried them all and GPM satisfies my needs and I get YouTube red as well (including all those on my family plan).

I use GPM and YouTube Red for my streaming needs.

If I want to listen to lossless files, I use HibyMusic, a DAC, and a USB OTG adapter to listen to my personal CD collection.

 

[Jerry Hildenbrand]

If Tidal would

1. Stream HD music consistently and properly
2. Have more of the music I'm looking for

I'd use the hell out of that ugly app. As it stands, I'll pass.

 

[LeoRex]

I don't obsess over streaming music quality, but Jerry here does... if you listen to the podcasts, he's usually the one in the background muttering about DACs. So if he says 'I'll pass', that says something.

 

[Golfdriver97]

I didn't know Tidal existed before yesterday. Mainly because I listen to GPM, And before that, Pandora. I guess if they were that good, they would be a household name.

I downloaded the app to get a feel for it. I think the subscription rate is quite high. I find it strange that they don't offer the music on the lower tier plan.

Even Techradar said that a con is the fact that it's $20/month. On Play, there are half as many 1 star reviews as 5 star, with skipping/streaming issues as a major complaint in the past few months.

I think I'm going to pass.

 

[Sunhop]

The reason tidal isn't a household name is because of lies on the Internet. Like you have to pay $19.99. That's just not true.

Most responses are ppl talking about the awful ui, but they haven't used the app in 2yrs. I honestly think ppl are just hating Jay-Z on this one

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[Sunhop]

If Tidal would

1. Stream HD music consistently and properly
2. Have more of the music I'm looking for

I'd use the hell out of that ugly app. As it stands, I'll pass.

I bet if you actually took a look at the songs offered instead of assuming they don't have what you're looking for you'd be pleasantly surprised.

I don't get tech guys wanting this great app with such a vast library to fail

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[Aquila]

I don't get tech guys wanting this great app with such a vast library to fail

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I don't think anyone wants it to fail - necessarily, it's just everyone can admit that it's not able to do what it claims and it's not ready for prime-time on Android. Jerry said he'd use the app, even though it sucked, if the music was there and if the lossless was working correctly and "more consistently" but for me that'd be "on 100% of the library". I on the other hand, will not use a terrible app, no matter how good the service is alleged to be - especially when the service itself still sucks. Give them a couple years to figure out the technology and get up to speed on how to deliver on their claims and maybe we'll have a different conversation. But today, in the real world, Tidal sucks. Does it have potential? Probably not, but it's possible. Is it currently the best? In no way, ever - at all.

 

[Laura Knotek]

The reason tidal isn't a household name is because of lies on the Internet. Like you have to pay $19.99. That's just not true.

Most responses are ppl talking about the awful ui, but they haven't used the app in 2yrs. I honestly think ppl are just hating Jay-Z on this one

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It is $19.99/month for the hi-fi version.

The lower priced version is $9.99/month, so why would I pick Tidal rather than Google Play Music when Google Play Music also includes YouTube Red?