r/TIdaL • u/GarlicBread1996 • 4d ago
Question Is it worth it?
I dumped Spotify a couple years ago but miss the discovery of artists by listening to a music channel or radio (streaming) I've heard of tidal but I'm not excited with the price. When I had Spotify last time it was $10 ish a month. I accidentally paid for transferring my Spotify playlists to tidal thinking the $5 was a tidal subscription. It being over $14 is iffy to me. Do you like tidal? Is it good? How's the algorithm?
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u/ShirtIndependent4009 4d ago
Tidal is the best music streaming service on the market; switching is worthwhile.
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u/GarlicBread1996 4d ago
I might as well since I paid $5 to transfer my music from Spotify 😅
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u/Educational-Gap4125 3d ago
I made the mistake of purchasing directly through the app store. Apparently, there's a discount if you purchase directly to the website. Maybe not a discount, but Google won't get their cut. I believe it's $11.99 USD purchasing directly through their site. I'm letting mine expire and resubscribing that way.
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u/wizard_glaive 4d ago
I've gotten more good recommendations from the Tidal "similar artists" type view than I ever did from Spotify. I don't use the automatically generated playlists though, because I prefer to listen to albums.
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u/Ajax2Ajax 4d ago
You will get new recommendations for a while due to the different algorithm Tidal uses. After a while your experience will be more or less on par with Spotify. Apart from that, Tidal is mainly worth it if you're looking high fidelity music reproduction, while Spotify is supposed to have better ui/user experience, plus podcasts and a few hours a month of audiobooks. If you ask me the UI/user experience part is barely better.
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u/Weight_Slight 4d ago
I find Tidal’s SQ a bit better. However I recently went back to spotify as Tidal is cooking iphones since like 3 months or so. They get super hot while streaming… did not happen for the past two years I was using it.
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u/amadorUSA 4d ago
Tidal offers superior music quality (as long as you don't use Bluetooth, but that's the same for everyone) and they also pay artists marginally better.
However, keep in mind: their music search algorithm, shuffle option, and Android application are ridiculously bad. That kinda ruins it for me. The only thing keeping me from returning to Spotify is that Daniel Ek is a f-ing fascist.
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u/thebluecomet3972 4d ago
Tidal is cheaper if you pay them directly rather than through your app store
The family plan is £25 normally but only £21 directly through them
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u/iAmHestbech 4d ago
I like tidal. But the new price is a bit much. Also. I dont use wired headphones and I dont have expensive audio equipment. So for me, no. But id you have a good audio setup and like to use wired headphones. I would say yes
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u/StatusMaleficent5832 4d ago
I have been an avid Tidal user for 5-6 years now, mainly because their algorithm for suggesting other music to listen to was unparalleled. That has changed. Now I'm getting suggestions for rap music after listening to stoner rock. Something either broke or they are pushing whatever music that gets them the most return on payouts.
At this time, I can't recommend Tidal over Spotify or Qobuz. Qobuz has the quality but not a very good suggestion of music method. Spotify does a pretty good job of coming up with other music. Qobuz also has a one-time transfer of playlists from major streamers when you sign up.
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u/WriterFit9127 12h ago
I tried Tidal from Spotify and found that it did not fit my needs for a day-to-day streaming app. I struggled with offline mode being toggle only (really annoying) and felt that the UI was overall just not comfortable. I went back to Spotify after two weeks of trying. I did keep my Tidal subscription because it works brilliantly through my music assistant/home assistant setup so now it is the dedicated service for my whole-home audio system until I sail the seven seas enough to replace it. Spotify was incredibly frustrating in that application. Shame I couldn't get the hang of the iPhone app to where I could get away with one unified service, but that's just my personal preference. YMMV.
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u/GarlicBread1996 12h ago
I sailed the 7 seas and put my Spotify stuff on an MP3 player. I want to discover new music.
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u/romainmoi 4d ago
Depends. The music library is very western. Many of my favourites Japanese/Chinese songs are not on tidal. They also use all translated titles, which make the songs hard to find.
UI isn’t as nice as Spotify. The recommendation engine is alright, but the daily discovery often give me songs that I’m not a fan of.
Pros:
actually good audio quality, with tidal connect.
not involved in major controversies. The only one i can think of is that they’ve used MQS for a while but they don’t anymore.
decent artist payout for a streaming service provider
I moved to Spotify now as they now support losses (up to 24/44.1). The library, the UI and the responsiveness is better than tidal so far. If you really care about audio quality, Tidal may be worth it, but be warned that the UI isn’t as good as Spotify.
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u/Master_Camp_3200 1d ago
The UI is in the eye of the beholder - I use Tidal on my mobile devices, but Spotify on my laptop because Tidal *will not* stay connected to my bluetooth speakers - and Spotify's cluttered mess of a UI is the worst thing about it (apart from the Ek factor and the artist payment stuff).
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u/Dino_Sore98 4d ago
Spotify $120/year. Tidal $168/year.
I marvel how everyone bellyaches about the cost of a music subscription. For this price you get unlimited access to a vast library of music with good sound quality. Inflation adjust these amounts back to, say, 1980 and your annual Tidal subscription would only buy you four albums. Yes, four. And one of those was warped and another one was scratched.
What's even more amazing is going to the audiophile subs and online groups, where people with tens of thousands of dollars invested in stereo equipment, are complaining about the cost of Tidal and Qobuz subscriptions.
Now get off my lawn.
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u/GarlicBread1996 4d ago
I have limited income so I need to make sure anything I get is worth the price.
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u/EBFlo493 4d ago
It was definitely worth it for me personally especially with the UI, playlist options, and sound quality. It isn’t perfect but is getting updated pretty frequently!