I like this idea! I'm ok with paying for Netflix, but I haven't gotten into streaming music. If Apple offered something with both, I might be able to get on board.
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Upcoming Revamped Apple Music Streaming Service Won't Offer Free Ad-Supported Tier
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I like this idea! I'm ok with paying for Netflix, but I haven't gotten into streaming music. If Apple offered something with both, I might be able to get on board.
Come on Apple. You'll let Spotify win like this. Teenagers want free music, adults are willing to pay but they want a lot of content. And you're telling me this service is rumored to offer neither?
Beats are crap (the app and the headphones). Just pure marketing with lack of quality and content. Spotify has way more users because they are the only company doing streaming right, so much so that Taylor Swift even threw a tantrum.
If Apple doesn't offer high fidelity streaming, they will have no advantage over Spotify. It's the reason companies like Tidal survive -- they appeal to a niche. It's time for Apple to take that and bring it to the masses. 320 kbps won't cut it in this day and age (any good headphones will let you know the difference).
Beats are crap (the app and the headphones). Just pure marketing with lack of quality and content. Spotify has way more users because they are the only company doing streaming right, so much so that Taylor Swift even threw a tantrum.
If Apple doesn't offer high fidelity streaming, they will have no advantage over Spotify. It's the reason companies like Tidal survive -- they appeal to a niche. It's time for Apple to take that and bring it to the masses. 320 kbps won't cut it in this day and age (any good headphones will let you know the difference).
On a thousand dollar sound system maybe.
On an iPhone or Macbook sound chip with only decent headphones? Lol.
I'm being serious. Grab a decent pair of $50+ headphones or IEMs, listen to a track on Spotify at 320 kbps, then go on Tidal and listen to the same song in high-fidelity (it's actually ALAC).
If you don't notice differences, you're a victim of the loudness war. Tidal's tracks definitely sound better and are equivalent in sound quality to ripped tracks on iTunes from a CD.
Of course, if you use Apple earbuds or Beats the bass will probably drown everything out, so for most people lossless won't make a difference.
Probably, for the most part iTunes Radio is ad-free because no one wants to advertise on a platform that doesn't even work properly.
[Bold added above for emphasis.]
And that's the problem for those of us who do want lossless — the market share we represent is not significant enough to force the change.
I can't speak for Spotify's 320kbps quality, but I'm willing to bet that you wouldn't be able to distinguish a properly encoded 320 mp3 from lossless CD quality in a real blind test (not knowing your source and therefore being psychologically influenced like when doing your Spotify/Tidal comparison), even on audiophile equipment.
I doubt that I couldn't if Spotify was the source of the 320 kbps audio. Tidal sounds better, especially with the lows and mids. It's a very slight difference (around 5% - 10% depending on the song), but it's there. It also could be that Tidal and Spotify might have different versions of the same track (because I was listening to oldies music), and the one Spotify possesses has been a victim of the loudness war. That decreases dynamic range.
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Fortunately, Tidal exists for that. Unfortunately though, it's too expensive for me and Spotify's apps provide a much cleaner experience (especially on desktop).
It's also because people don't know what they're missing and follow the crowd when it comes to most things in life. Take away their crappy Beats, Apple buds or cheap aftermarket earbuds and give them a pair of good Audio Technicas or any respected brand (Sennheiser, Shure, etc...) and they will never go back.
It's like that saying: what the eyes don't see, the heart doesn't feel (or something close to that, I translated literally from Spanish). Same is true for any of our other senses.