Perhaps this is a sign that I should buckle down and just buy the albums outright, but it’s also a sign that Tidal could patch up a few missing spots in its library. But even in my first week of using Tidal, I’ve been disappointed to discover that a lot of my go-tos from Spotify simply aren’t present. Naturally, the exact tracks you can and can’t find will vary from listener to listener. But when it comes to older and more obscure albums, Tidal tends to be patchy, whereas Spotify is (sometimes surprisingly) robust. Both services have nearly complete discographies from major artists, and popular albums from more niche artists. Based on my own listening habits, I’ve definitely found a few blind spots in Tidal’s library. While Tidal claims to host more than 80 million tracks, Spotify claims to host more than 82 million. While I have no issue with Tidal’s music selection overall, there’s no denying that Spotify has more stuff. While I can almost guarantee that no musician is getting rich from Tidal, it’s at least more generous than some of its competitors. If you subscribe to Tidal’s $20-per-month HiFi Plus tier, it will also funnel “up to 10% of your subscription” to artists of your choice. One potential reason for this is that Tidal pays musicians much more per stream than Spotify does: about four times as much, according to one music enthusiast site Producer Hive. (Well, that and a potential case of fraud from back in 2018. Tidal is here to provide high-bitrate streaming music, and that seems to be the only thing it’s known for. Artists aren’t protesting it no one’s accusing it of spreading medical misinformation listeners aren’t drawing up political battle lines about what should and shouldn’t be on the service. While this may be sort of an ephemeral thing, it’s worth pointing out that Tidal isn’t mired in any kind of huge controversy at the moment. These features aren’t unique to Tidal, of course, but they’re vital for any good music app. You can choose your favorite tracks, listen to full albums, view hand-picked playlists or let the algorithm decide. (There also appears to be a respectable selection of pop and hip-hop, if you’re into that kind of thing.) The interface is clean and navigable, and the service has plenty of curation options. Over the past week, I’ve found almost everything I want to listen to, from chill bluegrass, to tried-and-true classic rock, to John Williams soundtracks and more. (They’re all popular, but it’s fair to say that none of them is topping the Billboard charts right now.) I was pleased to find Gillian Welch, The Rolling Stones and Hilary Hahn all listed among the top choices. When you first start up the program, Tidal asks you to pick three artists (ideally in three different genres) to get a good idea of your tastes. Thankfully, Tidal has been pretty good in this regard so far. But it’s good to know that if I decide to pay for a monthly subscription, I’ll be getting music at CD quality or better, rather than "mid-2000s era MP3."Īll the sound quality in the world won’t do you any good if an app doesn’t offer the music you want to listen to. On the free tier, Tidal offers a 160 kbps bitrate, the same as Spotify’s free tier. I haven’t decided whether or not to pay for Tidal yet, so my only access to this high-quality bitrate has been through a 30-day free trial. Spotify, on the other hand, tops out at 320 kbps, which is a sizable difference. The more moderate HiFi plan ($10 per month) streams at around 1,411 kbps. At the $20 per month HiFi Plus tier, you can get lossless bitrates of up to 9,216 kbps on certain master tracks. Tidal’s primary selling point over Spotify has always been its better sound quality.
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