All About Streaming Music Services

[Madiel]

It is quite annoying that when you listen to an album, at the end of the album it randomly selects a "related" album to play. Just because I'm enjoying Jarvi's Prokofiev, doesn't mean I want to hear the 1812 Overture!

I very much hope you can find the setting to fix this. I hate that "feature" of some services (cough Spotify cough) with a burning passion.

Every television service known to man also expects me to specifically say that I want the episode to END. But at least with TV I'm sitting there waiting for the prompt. With music I shouldn't have to be hovering over the stop button.

[classicalgeek]

I very much hope you can find the setting to fix this. I hate that "feature" of some services (cough Spotify cough) with a burning passion.

Every television service known to man also expects me to specifically say that I want the episode to END. But at least with TV I'm sitting there waiting for the prompt. With music I shouldn't have to be hovering over the stop button.

I've managed to disable it in the desktop app and the web player (not sure if it works this way on the mobile app):
- click on your name in the upper right corner
- now click 'Settings'
- in Settings, click the 'Music playing' tab
- under 'Playback', 'Continue playing music after your queue has ended' is enabled by default. To disable it, click the blue button once.

Hopefully this works for you! I agree, it's an extremely annoying feature, probably designed with pop music listeners in mind.

[Madiel]

I agree, it's an extremely annoying feature, probably designed with pop music listeners in mind.

It's not better in pop music. Sure, if you're listening to some sort of vague playlist. But pop music has albums as well, genuinely conceived of as albums with a beginning, middle and end. Most of the artists I like understand that and work in that format. For some years Radiohead actually refused to allow their music on iTunes because of the push to hearing single songs rather than entire albums.

The whole goal is the same wrong-headed measure of engagement that social media like Youtube uses: number of minutes you spend listening. Just encourage you to keep going and going and going by not letting the stimulation stop. All of these platforms have this idea that they need to occupy as much of your day as possible in order to make money. It's decidedly not for the user's benefit.

[classicalgeek]

It's not better in pop music. Sure, if you're listening to some sort of vague playlist. But pop music has albums as well, genuinely conceived of as albums with a beginning, middle and end. Most of the artists I like understand that and work in that format. For some years Radiohead actually refused to allow their music on iTunes because of the push to hearing single songs rather than entire albums.

You're entirely right, of course... I was going to ask, who did they have in mind when they designed that feature? But then I read your next paragraph. Yup, it always comes down to the almighty dollar/euro/pound:

The whole goal is the same wrong-headed measure of engagement that social media like Youtube uses: number of minutes you spend listening. Just encourage you to keep going and going and going by not letting the stimulation stop. All of these platforms have this idea that they need to occupy as much of your day as possible in order to make money. It's decidedly not for the user's benefit.

And that explains why YouTube has a similar feature that's turned on by default (and it's not easy to disable!) I'm betting services like Spotify and Qobuz copied YouTube's strategy...

On a different note, I just downloaded the Qobuz mobile app, and disabling this feature works a bit differently there:
- on the bottom of the main screen, tap 'My Qobuz'.
- on the My Qobuz screen, tap the gear icon in the upper right corner (Settings).
- on the Settings screen, tap 'Streaming'.
- on the Streaming screen, under Playback, 'Autoplay' is enabled by default. Tap the button to disable.

[The new erato]

Thank you. Very useful, though I o ly seek out albums on Qobuz  and usualy stops playing manually when the album is finished.

[Mirror Image]

Curiosity got the better of me, I signed up for Spotify Premium as they were offering 3 months free with a charge of $9.99 afterwards for each month. I ran some tests through them: Shostakovich 11th with Haitink/RCO on Decca (the second movement The Ninth of January) and also played Debussy's Images, Book I with Seong-Jin Cho on DG. My final verdict was: it sucked. It sucked big time. I was incredibly disappointed with the audio quality, which I read is 320 kbps Ogg Vorbis. Honestly, it pales in comparison to what I'm ripping through the Music app on my Macbook, which is 288 kbps AAC. Also, there wasn't any way I could fool around with the EQ settings as I'm using my laptop and I read further that the EQ is only available through their app on an Android or iPhone. I'm sorry, but this is just stupid. I also hated their search engine. Extremely clunky. To people who have to rely on streaming services (for whatever reasons), best of luck to you! But it's definitely not for me.

[Madiel]

Your first mistake was to choose Spotify...

[Mirror Image]

Your first mistake was to choose Spotify...

Well, obviously, but I just wanted to hear what the fuss was all about. This pretty much backs up my feelings about all of the streaming services and I'm thankful that I don't have to rely on them in order to get my music.

[Daverz]

Curiosity got the better of me, I signed up for Spotify Premium as they were offering 3 months free with a charge of $9.99 afterwards for each month. I ran some tests through them: Shostakovich 11th with Haitink/RCO on Decca (the second movement The Ninth of January) and also played Debussy's Images, Book I with Seong-Jin Cho on DG. My final verdict was: it sucked. It sucked big time. I was incredibly disappointed with the audio quality, which I read is 320 kbps Ogg Vorbis.

I don't know anything about Spotify, but Qobuz is streaming just straight FLAC, same as what you would download from the labels themselves.

[Mirror Image]

I don't know anything about Spotify, but Qobuz is streaming just straight FLAC, same as what you would download from the labels themselves.

Yeah, they don't really offer any incentives for signing up.

[Madiel]

Well, obviously, but I just wanted to hear what the fuss was all about. This pretty much backs up my feelings about all of the streaming services and I'm thankful that I don't have to rely on them in order to get my music.

Well I'm not going to tell you that you simply must go for streaming, but some of the points you raise are in part reasons why I don't like Spotify specifically and don't use it. Disparities between apps and other versions, and crappy searching for classical, are things that I wouldn't assume are uniform across all streaming services.

Honestly I've never felt that Spotify's dominance in the streaming world was on the basis of merit. And in fact Spotify is not dominant everywhere. As much as anything it depends who entered which market first.

[Daverz]

Yeah, they don't really offer any incentives for signing up.

They do have a discount if you pay for a year:

https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/music/streaming/offers

[Mirror Image]

Well I'm not going to tell you that you simply must go for streaming, but some of the points you raise are in part reasons why I don't like Spotify specifically and don't use it. Disparities between apps and other versions, and crappy searching for classical, are things that I wouldn't assume are uniform across all streaming services.

Honestly I've never felt that Spotify's dominance in the streaming world was on the basis of merit. And in fact Spotify is not dominant everywhere. As much as anything it depends who entered which market first.

Now that I'm thinking about it, I had signed up for Apple Music as well about a year or so ago to see how I liked it and it wasn't great either. Qobuz seems like the best option if I had to make a choice on a streaming service.

[Madiel]

Qobuz does seem to get the best rap if you want classical but also want other music. There's also Tidal which emphasises sound quality.

For classical only go with Idagio.

As discussed here earlier, Apple Music has woeful searching for classsical. They are expected to roll out their dedicated classical app soon, who knows if it will be any good.

[Brian]

I am nearing the end of my Qobuz free trial month. Notes:

- Generally excellent. Somebody who knows about classical music curates the new releases page. The playlist building is endless and good. Audio quality is superb. Catalog depth is tremendous and search engine is good. I spent a day last week surfing through very obscure old out of print recordings of Gunnar de Frumerie on weird Scandinavian labels.
- The Tacet label only does samples of tracks, not whole tracks.
- There was a setting to stop it auto playing a different album once your chosen album finished (thanks GMG for telling me).
- Is there a setting for gapless playback? Because I do get gaps between tracks.
- Your options are to play a whole album, or play a particular track and then it continues on to the next track after that. Unlike Naxos Music Library, there is no option to play one multi-movement work and then stop.

[Mirror Image]

I'll stick with my own streaming service.

[Spotted Horses]

I am nearing the end of my Qobuz free trial month. Notes:

- Generally excellent. Somebody who knows about classical music curates the new releases page. The playlist building is endless and good. Audio quality is superb. Catalog depth is tremendous and search engine is good. I spent a day last week surfing through very obscure old out of print recordings of Gunnar de Frumerie on weird Scandinavian labels.
- The Tacet label only does samples of tracks, not whole tracks.
- There was a setting to stop it auto playing a different album once your chosen album finished (thanks GMG for telling me).
- Is there a setting for gapless playback? Because I do get gaps between tracks.
- Your options are to play a whole album, or play a particular track and then it continues on to the next track after that. Unlike Naxos Music Library, there is no option to play one multi-movement work and then stop.

If I were to try streaming it would probably be Qobuz.

Regarding lack of gapless playback, that means if you are playing an opera you will get a hiccup as tracks increment within an act. If I play a recording of the Alpine Symphony there will be a hiccup as it moves between tracks the record label includes to denote the different sections?

I also understand that Qobuz allows you to purchase lossless downloads at a discount. Is the discount generally substantial, and is download purchase available even during the free trial? Probably I would find the ability to purchase downloads cheap to be the most attractive feature.

[Papy Oli]

I am nearing the end of my Qobuz free trial month. Notes:

- Generally excellent. Somebody who knows about classical music curates the new releases page. The playlist building is endless and good. Audio quality is superb. Catalog depth is tremendous and search engine is good. I spent a day last week surfing through very obscure old out of print recordings of Gunnar de Frumerie on weird Scandinavian labels.
- The Tacet label only does samples of tracks, not whole tracks.
- There was a setting to stop it auto playing a different album once your chosen album finished (thanks GMG for telling me).
- Is there a setting for gapless playback? Because I do get gaps between tracks.
- Your options are to play a whole album, or play a particular track and then it continues on to the next track after that. Unlike Naxos Music Library, there is no option to play one multi-movement work and then stop.

Hi Brian,

Glad you found what you wanted in Qobuz. Happy listening !

As to the point in bold, each playlist was limited to 1,000 tracks maximum. Not to be picky or anything (it might have changed since I had the subscription).

[DavidW]

I have gapless playback but that is through my streamer which bypasses the Qobuz app.

[Papy Oli]

I also understand that Qobuz allows you to purchase lossless downloads at a discount. Is the discount generally substantial, and is download purchase available even during the free trial? Probably I would find the ability to purchase downloads cheap to be the most attractive feature.

Whilst you still need a Qobuz account to do so, you can buy CD quality downloads and High Res downloads independently in the download store, without any ongoing streaming subscription.

However, if you have the top end "Sublime" streaming subscription, you can get some large discounts on the High Res downloads only, if High Res is available for the recording in question. Checking a few new releases just now on their shop homepage, they vary so far between 20 & 50% off the full price. That rebate does not apply to the standard CD quality at all (usually a discount on CD quality will only exist if the label or the artist in question is part of monthly "Current Promotions").