Tidal Rolling Out Apple TV App on tvOS App Store

[Solomani]

Will be downloaded about 10 times by 7 users.

Puh-lease! The Kardashian clan has far more people than that!

 

[zoomp]

Funny thing is that a streaming service used by a lot of jazz/classical music fans is actually run by high profile pop artists. I’m very glad this is finally coming to the apple TV, I’ve always hated running it with airplay. My brother will love it since he has just installed a full automation system in his home, and the company sold him a tidal plan.

If you have anything more than a 1000 US invested on your sound equipment, you will want to try it. MQA although’ nascent is looking (and sounding) great.

Btw, I live in Brazil, so I guess Tidal reach is greater than some of you think. ;-)

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

I've hated Tidal ever since my credit card number was stolen during a trip to Europe and used to sign up for a one year subscription. I did some research and found that many other people had the same issue with stolen credit card numbers being used to sign for this crappy service. At least my bank refunded the charges to me.

So if the same credit card thief decides to use the same credit card to buy some Apple stuff, are you going to hate Apple just as strongly? If you do some research, credit card thieves do buy Apple stuff too with stolen cards.

And are you making the connection that Tidal didn't steal your card, just some thief who then used it to subscribe to Tidal. The same thief could have used it to buy some clothing at Macy's or shoes at Target or food at Walmart, etc. Had he/she done that, would you hate all those retailers just as strongly?

 

[pcaleb]

It happens they I’ve been using a free Tidal trial subscription lately. As with most subscription services and download stores, the metadata for the classical recordings is terrible. But otherwise, I’ve been pleased with how easy it is to use, surprised by the breadth of its offerings, and thrilled with the sound quality. Mostly because of the last, it’s the first streaming subscription service I actually use (a lot!). Had I not invested years and years in building up my own lossless library (spending way more than $20/month), I would jump at a subscription. In fact, I still just might.

 

[Prince Akeem]

Spotify should hurry up and finally release an Apple TV (tvOS) app too.

 

[4jasontv]

Why take issue with a non-mandatory, nothing-forced-on-you OPTION?

Because they are hypocrites.

In what service offering is better quality not generally sold at a higher price? Much of the "Apple Tax" is rationalized on buying better quality. And again, it's just an option, not forced on anyone, much like 4K video is just an option for the video crowd, as is 1080p, as is 720p. Apple has long charged more for the higher quality video file than the lower quality one. Do you also take issue with Apple for doing that?

Apparently, Apple is arguing that iPhone X is a superior phone to iPhone 8 and pricing it accordingly. Do you take issue with that?

Generally higher quality offerings of anything will be priced higher than lower quality versions.

The issue isn't that they sell better quality for more. The issue is that they want to call their work art, but then then they intentionally degrade the product and offer a lower quality version. Unlike a video, the file size isn't big enough to say that their is a significant cost savings for either them or the customer. They are the EA of music. They claim they represent the artists, but none of their business practices support that idea.

As to all that, I don't quite know what to say to that. Conceptually, if an Artist cares about their creations, they probably DO want those creations to be experienced in the best quality way possible. I assume if I'm a musician, I'd much rather my work be heard lossless than lossy, unless perhaps the latter made me more money if my art had a good layer of capitalism blended into it.

If they are saying "don't take me serious as an artist" because they offer a lossless version on Tidal, they must be saying that even more loudly by offering a lossy version on Apple Music and others.

The difference between iTunes and Tidal is options. The quality on iTunes is not optimal, but the artist has no say. They are offering their work at the best bitrate offered to those customers. With Tidal they are agreeing to intentionally offer a lower quality for the purposes of increasing sales. Yes, they are saying don't take me serious with iTunes as well, but you have have it reversed. It's louder on Tidal.

Are you saying that if they chose to sign that (presumably exclusive) contract with Apple Music, they wouldn't be choosing to offer a greater "corruption of their works"?

I don't know what you are asking here.

What is another fairly mainstream streaming service platform that they could have chosen instead of Tidal, that would not have been offering the same "corruption of their works"? Lossless is lossless. Even if you can identify another, a lossless song there is going to be exactly the same as it is on Tidal.

I think you misunderstand. If lossless is something the artist cares about then they should restrict sales to just that format. By making it available in both formats they dimiss their status as artist.

And how did they "sell out" with Tidal but would not "sell out" had they chosen to offer their music with any other middleman business, including Apple?

If lossless has value to them then they sold out by selling it in an alternative format. The difference is that by using Tidal they had to actively engage with a company that reconginzes lossless value. An artist that only uses a lossy distributer could be seen as an ignorant artist. Tidal sells this option as a reason to distribute with them, and therefore the choice to offer the lower quality product is intentional.

Lots of musicians trying to do it as a career are wanting to monetize their "art." To some degree, just about all of them have to "sell out" to do that. I'm not seeing how Tidal in particular can be a particularly bad channel for artists, given that Tidal is putting quality of the product above the other major players. If anything- at least from my perspective- opting for the niche offering that is Tidal instead of doing an exclusive with a mainstream offering like Apple or Spotify seems to be closer to the opposite of selling out (choosing to make less money than they probably could if they chose to go with a more mainstream streaming music distributor).

I have no problem with artists trying to make a living from what they do, as I also have no problem with artists who suffer to maintain the integrity of it. Most of these musicians haven't even been alive long enough to have suffered for their work. They haven't had time to attempt to retain their vision. A twenty year old who signs a record contract didn't get into that situation to share a message or spread an emotion via sound. They got into it to make money. They could have easily printed their own CDs, or even cheaper made a website, and dtrawn attention to themselves by playing their music by at bars and street corners.

 

[Luc94888]

Just tried it out on my ATV3 and am impressed. The Piano Guys Wonders album track "Story of my Life" (ripped from the CD into iTunes on my Mac with Apple Lossless) is listed as having a 709 kbps bitrate in iTunes. Tidal shows it streaming at 736 kbps in the Tidal app on the Apple TV. "Let it Go" on the same album shows as 795 in iTunes and 822.30 in Tidal. I assume the extra 27 kbps in both cases is the extra overhead due to streaming. Unfortunately the developer HUD doesn't show what rate the native Apple TV music app plays the track.

Stage Four (Deluxe Edition) which my Meridian Explorer says is MQA studio 88K/96K streams at 1.05 Mbps which is greater than the CD quality ~700 kbps, but a bit less than the MQA 24/96 1.5 Mbps.

How are you able to bring up the developer HUD? Is that how you’re seeing the bitrate? Does it show the codec? Apple Lossless, FLAC etc?

Also, I’m assuming you mean Apple TV 4 or Apple TV 4K because tvOS is not available on ATV3?

 

[MJU]

I’m willing to double my monthly payment till they sort there issues out, no way in history has it been written that an app can increase my TV speakers. Please Subscribe @tidal
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Yes, I see the sarcasm tag, but I'll post this for others anyway (who may not make the connection)...

Conceptually, many TVs are connected to the best speakers in the house: TV to Receiver to Best Speakers. This gives that kind of setup the best quality (streaming) versions of music to play on those speakers, something not available from Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora and so on. That's the benefit here- for those that hunger for highest quality (streaming) audio, Tidal is now an option to play on the best audio system likely to be in their homes.

Of course, comments have to pile up hating on it because Apple competes with Tidal and thus only Apple's offering can be worthy, but for those who can step beyond the halo, this is just another OPTION which doesn't hurt anyone who believes that Apple Music is the one and only Music streaming option for all. As such, anyone who cares about quality now has an ability to enjoy that quality on a stationary device already hooked to probably their best speakers.

Those without a great sound system for their TV are probably not the market for this option. However, they probably should be looking to make some investments there, as pretty much every other use of their TV will be improved with better quality audio hardware pumping out the sound vs. relying only on the cheap, typically terrible-quality speakers that come built into a TV... and this would likely be obviously true whether you use Tidal or any other streaming music option too.

[doublepost=1515095916][/doublepost]I’m willing to double my monthly payment till they sort there issues out, no way in history has it been written that an app can increase my TV speakers. Please Subscribe @tidal

Yes, I see the sarcasm tag, but I'll post this for others anyway (who may not make the connection)...

Conceptually, many TVs are connected to the best speakers in the house: TV to Receiver to Best Speakers. This gives that kind of setup the best quality (streaming) versions of music to play on those speakers, something not available from Apple Music, Spotify, Pandora and so on. That's the benefit here- for those that hunger for highest quality (streaming) audio, Tidal is now an option to play on the best audio system likely to be in their homes.

Of course, comments have to pile up hating on it because Apple competes with Tidal and thus only Apple's offering can be worthy, but for those who can step beyond the halo, this is just another OPTION which doesn't hurt anyone who believes that Apple Music is the one and only Music streaming option for all. As such, anyone who cares about quality now has an ability to enjoy that quality on a stationary device already hooked to probably their best speakers.

Those without a great sound system for their TV are probably not the market for this option. However, they probably should be looking to make some investments there, as pretty much every other use of their TV will be improved with better quality audio hardware pumping out the sound vs. relying only on the cheap, typically terrible-quality speakers that come built into a TV... and this would likely be obviously true whether you use Tidal or any other streaming music option too.

 

[hooptyuber]

I don't understand the sour kvetching and sneering about Tidal in general and about an app being offered. I use Tidal and the sound quality is fantastic. Much better than the other streaming services with relatively low bitrates, including Apple.
The TV app is also a great option for people I know who don't have a computer hooked up to their stereo/home theater systems.

 

[Phonephreak]

I've hated Tidal ever since my credit card number was stolen during a trip to Europe and used to sign up for a one year subscription. I did some research and found that many other people had the same issue with stolen credit card numbers being used to sign for this crappy service. At least my bank refunded the charges to me.

So you hate them for no reason other than someone stole you cc number.

 

[HDFan]

How are you able to bring up the developer HUD? Is that how you’re seeing the bitrate? Does it show the codec? Apple Lossless, FLAC etc?

Also, I’m assuming you mean Apple TV 4 or Apple TV 4K because tvOS is not available on ATV3?

Yeah, ATV4. To install the HUD you need to first install X-Code 9.2.

Then Window/Devices/Simulators

Pair with your Apple TV

When it is setup go to Settings/Developer and turn on the Playback HUD.

Hopefully this will work for you.

 

[franciscosjb]

Im sorry how do you pair the apple tv? Cant find a way

Yeah, ATV4. To install the HUD you need to first install X-Code 9.2.

Then Window/Devices/Simulators

Pair with your Apple TV

When it is setup go to Settings/Developer and turn on the Playback HUD.

Hopefully this will work for you.

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