Apple Music HiFi tier to be announced

What will MQA Tidal do about it?

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If the price point rumour is right then:

  • it’s unlikely to involve MQA which doesn’t feel as it’s an Apple move anyway, they like to be kings of their own castle
  • other lossless services will be nervous, particularly given that the proportion of hi-res content is still fairly small

If I was in MQA’s shoes I’d try giving Apple or Spotify the rights for free use just for the traction. If both of Apple and Spotify launch this year there is cause for concern for both of Roon’s streaming partners.

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I hope you do not work as a consultant for either of these 2 companies !

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Yes, but even for free, would they want it ?

At the rumoured price, yes, definitely. Does anyone know how reliable Hits Daily is with that kind of stuff ?

There’s something else at play when it comes to Apple and Spotify, and especially both Apple and Spotify: with Tidal, and moreso Qobuz, the rights holders hold the knife. With Apple and Spotify, I’m not that sure.

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Rest assured, I don’t. The thought occurred to me as I was writing is all. This feels like an existential threat to Qobuz, Tidal and possibly MQA if Tidal goes, desperate times, desperate measures and all that.

Apple, almost certainly not, Spotify is harder to call.

Interesting point, I think that the record labels should be pretty nervous of these two, and Amazon, as well.

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I’d love to see a “new & improved” ALAC utilized. (Although the old one might kick both Tidal & Spotify in the pants)

If Spotify and Apple combined their streaming efforts, they could knock out everyone else if they wanted. Applefy, anyone?? Sure hope they don’t, unless they make it a Roon streaming service, although I’ll use Roon for my library until the day one of us dies, no matter what!

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Before a new Apple streaming service opens to Roon it’s more likely Apple will buy Roon and screw it. Having the best intentions of course.

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Of course it was only a matter of time after Amazon Music HD made the first move and Spotify announced their plans but still… what a time to be alive.

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Apple want Spotify for their algorithms and customer base, they’ve been trying to undercut Spotify for years in the hope they lose backing and go bust so they can buy them.

They’ll have zero interest in Roon.

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One would hope. As it would be peanuts to Tim.

Either way it isn’t good for the smaller services that Roon supports and thus not particularly good for Roon.

I hope Roon has plans for more streaming services somehow and hopefully a big one.

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I personally think the Roon App is light years ahead of Apple Music. So I would never use Apple Music unless it tied in with Roon. Now, if it were to mate with Roon, I just might dump Qobuz for them.

Roon is not likely to add Apple Music support. They probably would have already done it if they could have since Apple Music is the #1 music streaming service in the world, even though not yet lossless.

The more competition the better

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Can anyone explain to me the benefits of sending full res or high res to an iPhone for the iPhone then to downconvert it to AAC and send it via Bluetooth to your AirPods? Why not just send the AAC in the first place?

It’s all marketing, but no one is going to have an Apple Music subscription for their iPhone and another higher tier for the living room. Just give me the lossless, how I slice and dice it is my problem.

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Won’t it be one subscription for all devices, and isn’t it possible Apple will negotiate to put its service on other streaming devices? And won’t it put it on AppleTVs at a minimum?

Possibly, I think access on the move could be a deciding factor for some to move to Apple Music or Spotify unless Roon comes up with a mobile solution?
Also no need to buy a NUC or similar, back up the music library, backup the backup of the music library, back up the db, no worries with Qnap ransom ware, these will be positives for the less technical users.
As others have said, exciting times and for ÂŁ9.99 month (U.K.)
Speaking to teenage and 20 somethings they don’t own or want to own music, don’t care or even know about MQA hence they use Apple Music, Spotify and others, interface wise they use the voice assistants so as long as that works they are content.
Are we an out of date minority?

It wouldn’t surprise me if Apple is working on an entirely new wireless Bluetooth protocol which is lossless.

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