Hi all, So occasionally in the past I have seen tracks and albums from both Qobuz and Tidal disappear and show either a black square next to the track or a message this track unavailable. I understand that this is due to changing licensing agreements or albums being rereleased as other versions etc.
This used to only happen once in a while but lately it’s happening a lot, especially in the last couple months. I just went to listen to a playlist I haven’t played for a while and a dozen songs are missing and it’s the same with many of my other lists as well. Why the increase in this annoying trend? It’s a pain to have to go back and research for changed albums and add them to my library again. The new versions often have different cover art or have been split into two different albums with the songs that were on one album now spread out over two. its super annoying to have albums that are my favourites suddenly made unavailable. It’s like someone stealing records from my collection!
Again, why is it happening so frequently lately? As a serious collector of music this is becoming a serious flaw in the world of streaming music. If it continues to be so frequent I may have to reconsider the value of roon/tidal/qobuz as a serious option for collecting music.
Why can’t roon come up with a feature that notifies me and tracks down the replacement albums if available so I can keep up with it in real time? Just a quick look tonight shows Im missing at least twenty or so just in the last week. That’s a lot of time spent tracking them all down again.
Im worried that its going to get worse as more and more streaming services fight over who gets the rights to different albums, leaving my library caught in the middle with albums coming and going between services, with the big players outbidding tidal and qobuz for licensing.
You might want to add your vote to this Feature Suggestion:
I did not notice such shift, the issue of albums getting replaced or disappearing from my favorites or playlists, is rather low in recent months. Used to be much worse like 1 or 2 years ago.
Is your library focussing on a particular genre or small bunch of record labels? Maybe they are just replacing many of their albums by remaster versions.
That is rather unlikely to happen, as licensing to streaming services is not an exclusive thing. I would rather be worried that copyright owners shy away from the administrative labor associated with uploading and maintaining their content to smaller platforms like Tidal or Qobuz.
Maybe sourcing music solely from streaming platforms, being a primary example of ´rented economy´ attitude, in general is not the best way to go for a serious music collector. I am tending to buy albums which I consider important enough to me part of my collection. Roon in my understanding is the best way to combine local and streaming content.