There just isnt though. Spotify had the best UX of any music streaming service for the longest time and only recently have they started shooting themselves in the foot.
Lossless is pointless and not a selling point compared to interface and usability across hardware. Tidal is probably it’s closest competitor, but it still doesnt have the integration Spotify does.
Even in blind tests with high end gear, people often mistake 320kbps MP3s as the lossless track. Compression is incredible these days and isn’t inherently a bad thing like it used to be, it saves a lot of space and bandwidth with minimal to no perceivable difference in quality.
And as you point out, not even worth considering with average equipment.
I don’t know, I have a couple of tracks that I love, but could never get them in FLAC. I listen to them on a very high volume and always feel like there are bits that would feel smoother if they were lossless. I am unable to confirm or deny that.
You basically need professional headphones and speakers to notice any difference, my guess is that 99% of Spotify customers have headphones that didn’t cost more than $100, so why would they care? I mean, I have nice headphones and speakers and after some blind tests I couldn’t notice any difference.
Or if there is a noticeable difference, you have to really listen for it. Which if you wanna do that, then fine, but the vast majority of the time usually have music on while they are doing something else and don’t sit listening for every subtle difference, if one exists.
Spotify had the best UX of any music streaming service for the longest time
Not if you actually like have controls and managing music. They’ve been actively fucking their UX’s usability for years. Options just disappearing or being moved to hidden places, garbage shoved in front you constantly, etc.
I’ve discovered recently that if you block artists you won’t be able to see a list of who you blocked later anywhere in the UI be it mobile or desktop or web.
Only way is to request an account data download and then parse the zip file they give you lmfao
Yea, the only way to unblock an artist as of now is if you manually navigate to each individual artist page and THEN it’ll have an “Unblock Artist” button (And iirc it only shows up on one version of the app, either desktop or mobile I forgot which). There’s no other indication anywhere else of blocked artists lol
Yes, I made this point in my comment, the last few years Spotify has been going through the same UX disaster the rest of the web is, changing things for the sake of it.
I used free Spotify in hopes of finding new music, and the experience was very subpar. It wants you to enable DRM, the web interface is the laggiest I have seen, and the button to “not recommend this song anymore” doesn’t exist. Also recommendation, the whole reason I tried the service, are just meh.
I also cannot imagine having your main music collection on streaming and not locally.
I used to recommend Deezer, mostly for the fact it was the closest to what Google Play Music used to be in terms of layout and functions. But recently they decided to do a downright gross redesign and then actively insulted paying customers that didn’t like it. So they’re out.
YouTube Music is trash and I’m not paying Google for anything anyway, after they killed Play Music.
So I tried Apple Music (from an iPad I barely ever use), then Tidal, and honestly? They’re all doing the same things. Some are in different states of enshitification, but they’re all on the same road. What Spotify gets away with, all the others eventually attempt or copy. The problem is simply the industry and customers that allow the abuse.
But if you must use one, I would suggest Tidal. It seems the least far along the path, but it’ll get there too.
And remember, there are services like Soundiiz and TuneMyMusic that will help you transfer and sync across all these services. They’re not perfect, but they’re better than nothing.
I’m getting ready to start curating my own collection again with Lidarr and Jellyfin but that might be a bit involved for most people.
Tidal has recently eliminated its most expensive plan and bundled everything it offered into the cheaper tier. So it’s actually the opposite of enshittification. I love it
I’m a big fan of Qobuz. Extensive catalog, hi-res tracks, good suggestions that are genuinely new to me, and doesn’t drown me in Drake/Post Malone new releases.
I enjoyed Deezer for a time, would still be there otherwise. Never saw the appeal of Spotify, used YTM/Google Play for years.
I tried others, stayed with Tidal for a while, but unfortunately had to come back to Spotify. The playlists are just much better and you have access to tons of good user-created playlists.
Integrations (or the lack there of) have me day dreaming about returning to Spotify once in a while. I moved to Tidal and while the catalog is great (except for a weird dearth in Jonathan Coulton songs), I gradually discovered some things I miss. Tidals Alexa app, for example, still can’t play playlists, the Roku app buggy, there’s no desktop app for Linux, swapping music playing from one device to another is not inbult, and things like that.
Also because there are fewer of us Tidal users, FOSS integrations are lacking. The options open to me in home assistant for building things on top of spotify are are vastly greater than anything I can do with Tidal.
I have 8 playlist I’ve been cultivating for like 6 years now, and it’s kind of hard to walk away from that. And I’ll fuck the dirt before I go back and re-make them lol.
Use something like Soundizz to transfer your playlists. Simple and takes like 5 minutes. I transferred everything (playlists, favorite songs, followed artists) from Spotify to Tidal without issue.
I like the algo. The “discover weekly” playlist continues to recommend new music that I like and didn’t know existed, at least every week or two. And “song radio” is such a good way to keep a vibe going.
I pay for it. My car actually has a built in client so I can use it directly there without having to use BT or data off my phone. And I don’t see any ads or have these issues because i pay for it. Also there’s quite a bit of international content on Spotify I have access to.
I don’t know why anyone pays for Spotify anymore when there are others that are less and are lossless and include shit they are now taking away.
There just isnt though. Spotify had the best UX of any music streaming service for the longest time and only recently have they started shooting themselves in the foot.
Lossless is pointless and not a selling point compared to interface and usability across hardware. Tidal is probably it’s closest competitor, but it still doesnt have the integration Spotify does.
I wouldn’t say its pointless, but it really doesn’t help much considering the quality of your average headset/earpieces.
Even in blind tests with high end gear, people often mistake 320kbps MP3s as the lossless track. Compression is incredible these days and isn’t inherently a bad thing like it used to be, it saves a lot of space and bandwidth with minimal to no perceivable difference in quality.
And as you point out, not even worth considering with average equipment.
Even as an Audiophile, I agree, FLAC is a waste of bandwidth and disk space unless you’re remixing tracks (which most people don’t do!)
I don’t know, I have a couple of tracks that I love, but could never get them in FLAC. I listen to them on a very high volume and always feel like there are bits that would feel smoother if they were lossless. I am unable to confirm or deny that.
You basically need professional headphones and speakers to notice any difference, my guess is that 99% of Spotify customers have headphones that didn’t cost more than $100, so why would they care? I mean, I have nice headphones and speakers and after some blind tests I couldn’t notice any difference.
Or if there is a noticeable difference, you have to really listen for it. Which if you wanna do that, then fine, but the vast majority of the time usually have music on while they are doing something else and don’t sit listening for every subtle difference, if one exists.
Not if you actually like have controls and managing music. They’ve been actively fucking their UX’s usability for years. Options just disappearing or being moved to hidden places, garbage shoved in front you constantly, etc.
I’ve discovered recently that if you block artists you won’t be able to see a list of who you blocked later anywhere in the UI be it mobile or desktop or web.
Only way is to request an account data download and then parse the zip file they give you lmfao
So, you’re saying, if I borrow my friend’s Spotify, and block most of their favourite artists, they won’t know what I’ve done or how to undo it?
Living up to your username I see lmao
Yea, the only way to unblock an artist as of now is if you manually navigate to each individual artist page and THEN it’ll have an “Unblock Artist” button (And iirc it only shows up on one version of the app, either desktop or mobile I forgot which). There’s no other indication anywhere else of blocked artists lol
Yes, I made this point in my comment, the last few years Spotify has been going through the same UX disaster the rest of the web is, changing things for the sake of it.
I used free Spotify in hopes of finding new music, and the experience was very subpar. It wants you to enable DRM, the web interface is the laggiest I have seen, and the button to “not recommend this song anymore” doesn’t exist. Also recommendation, the whole reason I tried the service, are just meh.
I also cannot imagine having your main music collection on streaming and not locally.
Which do you recommend?
I used to recommend Deezer, mostly for the fact it was the closest to what Google Play Music used to be in terms of layout and functions. But recently they decided to do a downright gross redesign and then actively insulted paying customers that didn’t like it. So they’re out.
YouTube Music is trash and I’m not paying Google for anything anyway, after they killed Play Music.
So I tried Apple Music (from an iPad I barely ever use), then Tidal, and honestly? They’re all doing the same things. Some are in different states of enshitification, but they’re all on the same road. What Spotify gets away with, all the others eventually attempt or copy. The problem is simply the industry and customers that allow the abuse.
But if you must use one, I would suggest Tidal. It seems the least far along the path, but it’ll get there too.
And remember, there are services like Soundiiz and TuneMyMusic that will help you transfer and sync across all these services. They’re not perfect, but they’re better than nothing.
I’m getting ready to start curating my own collection again with Lidarr and Jellyfin but that might be a bit involved for most people.
Tidal has recently eliminated its most expensive plan and bundled everything it offered into the cheaper tier. So it’s actually the opposite of enshittification. I love it
I’m a big fan of Qobuz. Extensive catalog, hi-res tracks, good suggestions that are genuinely new to me, and doesn’t drown me in Drake/Post Malone new releases.
I enjoyed Deezer for a time, would still be there otherwise. Never saw the appeal of Spotify, used YTM/Google Play for years.
Such as?
Last I checked there’s still no alternative that doesn’t require some sacrifices.
I tried others, stayed with Tidal for a while, but unfortunately had to come back to Spotify. The playlists are just much better and you have access to tons of good user-created playlists.
Integrations (or the lack there of) have me day dreaming about returning to Spotify once in a while. I moved to Tidal and while the catalog is great (except for a weird dearth in Jonathan Coulton songs), I gradually discovered some things I miss. Tidals Alexa app, for example, still can’t play playlists, the Roku app buggy, there’s no desktop app for Linux, swapping music playing from one device to another is not inbult, and things like that.
Also because there are fewer of us Tidal users, FOSS integrations are lacking. The options open to me in home assistant for building things on top of spotify are are vastly greater than anything I can do with Tidal.
I have 8 playlist I’ve been cultivating for like 6 years now, and it’s kind of hard to walk away from that. And I’ll fuck the dirt before I go back and re-make them lol.
Use something like Soundizz to transfer your playlists. Simple and takes like 5 minutes. I transferred everything (playlists, favorite songs, followed artists) from Spotify to Tidal without issue.
Tidal? Really? That’s the alternative? No thanks
There are services that will migrate playlists. They’re not perfect, but I’ve seen them work before. I can’t remember the one I used.
I’ve used SongShift. It told me which items were missing after the transfer.
That sounds familiar. I think I used it too. Thanks!
The main argument i hear is the recommendation algorithm but it’s really subjective
I like the algo. The “discover weekly” playlist continues to recommend new music that I like and didn’t know existed, at least every week or two. And “song radio” is such a good way to keep a vibe going.
Spotify Connect usually works really well, I can use it on Linux, it’s relatively cheap.
I don’t see any reason to switch tbh.
Which service would you recommend?
I pay for it. My car actually has a built in client so I can use it directly there without having to use BT or data off my phone. And I don’t see any ads or have these issues because i pay for it. Also there’s quite a bit of international content on Spotify I have access to.