The ‘problem’ for us, is that Amazon would rather sell a truck load of Echo devices to the masses, rather than pander to a few hundred-thousand Roon users wanting a different UI.
Although it would be ‘nice’ feature for me, being a Prime member, I can see myself sticking with Qobuz for the future.
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Qobuz is available in the USA and has been for months and it’s already integrated into Roon.
If Amazon with their Hi Res release pushes Apple and Spotify to do the same, Tidal and Qobuz are doomed.
That would mean Roon would be left with no music service to integrate with your music library .
That IMO significantly decreases the appeal of a Roon subscription.
I’m not sure it’s that simple?
Qobuz and Tidal, just like Roon, are niche products/services that still survive.
Maybe there’s room in the marketplace for all the players, large and small?
If Apple and Spotify get into Hi Res , TIdal will not survive. Qobuz seems to be classical oriented so it has a niche that possible keeps it afloat.
Spotify have stated that they’re not interested in providing anything beyond 320kbps MP3, and I don’t think anything beyond AAC sits with Apple Music’s strategy either?
I think it will take a while for this to ‘play out’, but I’m not worried about Tidal or Qobuz’s demise at the moment.
Tidal is behind on payments to music companies by a significant time period per news reports.
We will see.
Actual news or news from 2017/18?
you realize they have been on the selling block off and on for quite some time.
I will wait and see on Amazon’s hi-rez service. Let’s see if they offer comprehensive hi-rez streaming at least on par with Tidal or only use it as a platform to sell CDs and downloads like Apple does with its music service.
Did you sign up for their 90 days trial? that should be a lot of time to check
Like I mentioned earlier, I compared all the High Res Albums I setup as “favorites” on Qobuz and all of those have the same high bit-rate available on Amazon HD
I used to sign up for Tidal and none of the Pentatone labels have High-Res (that’s about 6 months ago before I switched to Qobuz, maybe things have changed), and both Qobuz and Amazon HD have.
I think Amazon are offering a free trial, so it shouldn’t cost you.
PLUS it took a while for Roon to integrate Qobuz after Tidal. I wouldn’t hold your breath…
Understood all that, 90-day free trial. But I would like to hear if something concrete coming in 2 or 3 months with regards to this service.
I think this is where Amazon Music HD has an advantage.
You can use it at home via Amazon hardware AND use it on a mobile via their app.
Here is the horror-scenario that’s much to likely for comfort:
- Amazon don’t want anyone using their service unless its through their software and hardware.
- Tidal goes belly up. Jay-Z can comfort himself in the warm embrace of Beyonce (and a gazillion $) so I don’t pity him.
- Qobuz dwindles away into nothingness before it even got started.
- Roon is without a streaming service and is a software for playing locally stored content only.
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So… everyone should ignore amazon, subscribe with Qobuz and hope for the best;) consume wisely.
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I would love to go back to QB but they still don’t have much of a catalog. Would love to dump Tidal for Amazon but waiting for Roon to at least reply here with some sort of answer. Kind of lame they haven’t. If Amazon comes out with some amazing hardware on the 25th I may be jumping this Roon ship, even though I love it but it can be a hassle sometimes.
Competition in any industry is a good thing. Each player will strive to improve and differentiate themselves through quality of service, functionality or price. And those that don’t won’t last long.
Hey, Roon is run by sharp people that understand what their customers need. My guess is that if there is a deal that can be made with Amazon, Roon will do so. But then, like with Spotify, you can’t always get what you want (now sing along …) but if you try sometimes, well you might find, you get what you neeeeed).
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£12.99 in the UK with a 90 day free trial.
Seems like a decent deal - cheaper that Tidal.
Would love this to be integrated to Roon, but can’t see that happening.