Spotify free vs Premium vs Gaana free vs paid streamed vs downloaded vs Tidal

[Deleted member 15865]

I have been using Spotify free for more than a week now. I am happy with it. I was going to buy - but I have seen people be extremely excited with its pair format. I also trie 320kbps and Spotify - bare could notice the difference.

Amazon music playing at highest quality is similar - no discernible difference. Guess I'll keep the free Spotify. Oh yes - paid Wynk is crap, I am having it and not going to use it.

Depends on your system and listening, I guess. To me, the difference between Spotify free (or Amazon for that matter) and paid (320 Kbps) is stark.

I dont know if somebody noticed this. I use laptop for streaming with spotify app. I have installed the spotify app on my phone too. Once I start the System and play songs through laptop, after that I can control it by phone, i can change the songs in my phone and it works like a wireless device.

Spotify Connect works the same way on streamers. The mobile app controls what the streamer plays natively. The sound quality is better than airplay.

 

[Vivek Batra]

Another finding. If you play Spotify on laptop and route the audio to your AVR (not DAC) via HDMI vs directly playing Spotify on the AVR using Spotify Connect then the later has better sound quality and loudness than the former method.

 

[Krakenopheonix]

I think amidst all these music streaming services, one should consider the monetary factor as compared to buying music over ones lifetime.

Say you start paying for streaming @25yr (late boomer) and die at 65yrs, that's 40yrs of paid streaming (single or multiple services).
Invest the same amount in buying music and compare the two situations.

[Music purchased would be lossless, else it doesn't serve the purpose of buying. When it comes to discovering music, there are free services for that. And when you buy music, you meet a lot of collaborators, there are lots of exchanges and most people have already done the good work]

Invest wisely.

 

[Nikhil]

Welcome to the forum krakenopheonix! Thank you for joining.




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[indy70]

I think amidst all these music streaming services, one should consider the monetary factor as compared to buying music over ones lifetime.

Say you start paying for streaming @25yr (late boomer) and die at 65yrs, that's 40yrs of paid streaming (single or multiple services).
Invest the same amount in buying music and compare the two situations.

[Music purchased would be lossless, else it doesn't serve the purpose of buying. When it comes to discovering music, there are free services for that. And when you buy music, you meet a lot of collaborators, there are lots of exchanges and most people have already done the good work]

Invest wisely.

I was in the purchaser mode for long time with this strategy. Sample through free service and buy the ones that are really worth. But off late I have stopped buying and sticking to just streaming. It is too fleeting to consider buying any music these days. Music from my times are mostly purchased ones (90s and 2K) - Cassettes and CDs. So I bought those and they are with me. New music is not pushing me to purchase anymore. May be I am getting losing the grip and modernity is taking over.

 

[superczar]

I think amidst all these music streaming services, one should consider the monetary factor as compared to buying music over ones lifetime.

Say you start paying for streaming @25yr (late boomer) and die at 65yrs, that's 40yrs of paid streaming (single or multiple services).
Invest the same amount in buying music and compare the two situations.

[Music purchased would be lossless, else it doesn't serve the purpose of buying. When it comes to discovering music, there are free services for that. And when you buy music, you meet a lot of collaborators, there are lots of exchanges and most people have already done the good work]

Invest wisely.

My dad brought a lot of LPs (which we still have) in his college/early days of career.
The cost of these LPs from the late 70s/early 80s averages around 50/- each which adjusted for inflation comes to 1000 INR + today

I do appreciate the sight of these LPs , and once in a while pick them off the shelf and enjoy playing them back.

When I was in high school, I had a few very well heeled peers who could purchase any number of CDs they fancied while I would save up for 1 treat a month
The decision as to which one was often difficult and on some occasions, damn near impossible - and that would make me envy those other kids.

Today, both he (my dad) and I concur that for a cost of less than a single LP or a CD, everyone in the family gets access to an infinitely wider breadth of music - For both serious as well as on-the-go listening sessions..

Times change, while it is certainly nice to possess a collection from a sentimental/ non-tangible / emotional connect perspective, streaming is what is democratizing music and for the better!

 

[Vivek Batra]

My dad brought a lot of LPs (which we still have) in his college/early days of career.
The cost of these LPs from the late 70s/early 80s averages around 50/- each which adjusted for inflation comes to 1000 INR + today

I do appreciate the sight of these LPs , and once in a while pick them off the shelf and enjoy playing them back.

When I was in high school, I had a few very well heeled peers who could purchase any number of CDs they fancied while I would save up for 1 treat a month
The decision as to which one was often difficult and on some occasions, damn near impossible - and that would make me envy those other kids.

Today, both he (my dad) and I concur that for a cost of less than a single LP or a CD, everyone in the family gets access to an infinitely wider breadth of music - For both serious as well as on-the-go listening sessions..

Times change, while it is certainly nice to possess a collection from a sentimental/ non-tangible / emotional connect perspective, streaming is what is democratizing music and for the better!

I hope my son would write something similar in coming years

 

[Vivek Batra]

I second to the fact that buying music in the form of cd/lp/cassette is more useful then solely relying on streaming. Streaming can not compete with physical media most of the time.

 

[amitk777]

I do appreciate the sight of these LPs , and once in a while pick them off the shelf and enjoy playing them back.

Of late I have been learning Hindustani in my small way, and have read about many LPs, which were recorded of the great masters.

Although I am on Roon+Tidal, I sometimes think of investing time in searching for and collecting these LPs. Due to the democratization or I would say commercialization , it is possible that these streaming services will only focus on what sells, and we all know what sells.

Buying music will be preserving our legacy.

 

[Bhaskar Jyoti Talapatra]

I hope my son would write something similar in coming years

Hi
Friend
I think you can be hopeful in this regard because I see my son who will sit for the ICSE exam in the coming year appreciates my collection of the physical media like vinyls, cassettes and CDs though he listens to music from youtube and gana using headphone. Even he encourages me to buy vinyls. So let us hope our sons or daughters will have the same passion as we have
Cheers
Bhaskar

 

[Deleted member 15865]

For me the equation is clear:

Classic, timeless albums and/or personal favourites - CDs
Other albums - Stream FLAC (Tidal)
Exploration - Apple Music, Spotify and Internet Radio stations (some even FLAC)

 

[Bhaskar Jyoti Talapatra]

We ,the older or not so young people prefer physical media. As for myself I am happy with the vinyls and cds. I don't even think twice before buying vinyls. But time's winged chariot is hurrying. So these days we see the popularity of the streaming services. We can't ignore this progress of modern technology.Besides convenience is an important factor. So we like the curated playlists of Spotify, gana. Those are handy, convenient and ready to be used. But physical media have and will have a special charm in the days yet to come.
Regards
Bhaskar

 

[lalit09]

For Bolly and punjabi, saavn is best , for international spotify or tidal, i have spotify premium never felt anything extra other then direct casting to compitable device.

 

[rpmahale]

I have Spotify premium as well as Tidal master subscription . I play Spotify through Marantz AVR and Tidal Masters through Laptop desktop Tidal app. For Hindi songs collection Spotify offer best collection and above average sound quality. Tidal master is an excellent option for International music. Tidal Master sound quality great and better than CD. Tidal Master is very expensive than Spotify. Tidal Masters is a kind of addiction , even though it is expensive you will like to continue it for great sound quality. I have subscribed Tidal in February 2019 and till date spend almost 14000/- INR. (@2000/month). I really don't know is it value for money service or not. I may have purchase more International album in this money then I have listen through Tidal streaming service. In my opinion continue Spotify premium @Rs 120/month and if you like the album purchase CD for better sound quality.

 

[Vivek Batra]

I have Spotify premium as well as Tidal master subscription . I play Spotify through Marantz AVR and Tidal Masters through Laptop desktop Tidal app. For Hindi songs collection Spotify offer best collection and above average sound quality. Tidal master is an excellent option for International music. Tidal Master sound quality great and better than CD. Tidal Master is very expensive than Spotify. Tidal Masters is a kind of addiction , even though it is expensive you will like to continue it for great sound quality. I have subscribed Tidal in February 2019 and till date spend almost 14000/- INR. (@2000/month). I really don't know is it value for money service or not. I may have purchase more International album in this money then I have listen through Tidal streaming service. In my opinion continue Spotify premium @Rs 120/month and if you like the album purchase CD for better sound quality.

I would say purchasing media is more economical. For streaming we are paying every time for the subscription and internet to listen to the same track over time. I have not so good experience with Spotify Premium using via AVR.

 

[MaSh]

The world is moving to Streaming. Days of downloads are on the edge of extinction in my opinion, just like CDs, Cassettes, LPs, etc. Amazon Prime, for example, is value for money, Movies, Music, and shopping.

That said, Spotify clearly has an edge over Amazon Prime music. However, when on one of my long drives, I use Gaana paid version. It has good content and I download the playlists beforehand which allow me to listen to music from the mobile in the car irrespective of whether there is network or not. The downloaded version sounds better than the streamed version of the same song. The good thing is, when the playlist is updated by Gaana, it is synced with the downloaded list, so even the downloaded songs are updated.

MaSh

 

[raghupb]

I don't have paid subscription to any of the ones below (I'm El-cheapo)

Amazon Music - in my opinion, uses some kinda DRC; some tracks that I've heard since ages sound different; wide collection
Spotify - better quality, even the free version, but selection of artists/songs are limited (maybe it is geo specific)
Gaana - good for Indian/local content; cluttered UI
Tidal - tried it only once (someone else's account); great quality but too expensive for me

For the bulk of the artists/bands that form my core listening (mostly English), I have my ways of fishing out good content in wide ocean
Cheers,
Raghu

 

[dr_rocket]

Those who are complaining about Tidal prices, please use turkey vpn for registration. Cost 260 INR pm. It's really value for money.

 

[Deleted member 15865]

I have subscribed Tidal in February 2019 and till date spend almost 14000/- INR. (@2000/month). I really don't know is it value for money service or not. I may have purchase more International album in this money then I have listen through Tidal streaming service.

An international album CD costs around Rs 1500. Surely you listen to much more than that on Tidal in a month!

I would say purchasing media is more economical.

There may be many reasons to prefer physical media over streaming, but economy is surely not one of them.


While we may have personal preferences for or against streaming, we have to recognise that streaming services have literally saved the world music industry from going bust with rampant free downloads and shares through torrents/friends etc.

 

[noblejose]

Those who are complaining about Tidal prices, please use turkey vpn for registration. Cost 260 INR pm. It's really value for money.

is this method available now?