I do love Roon and I love Tidal. However, I have been quite bothered by Tidal simply dropping titles from my Roon library (meaning they removed them from their library).
Granted, my tastes lean toward some pretty obscure pop records, and a lot of them are records that I have only on vinyl, are out of print, some were never issued on CD, etc… it was such a thrill finding this stuff on Tidal, and then it’s gone. Perhaps Tidal drops stuff that isn’t getting much play?
Has this affected anyone else? Also, I am a newb here, and I can’t seem to find a Tidal discussion group? Can anyone suggest one for me?
Have you made sure that Tidal might not have them under alternate variations? An example would be if you had it under a FLAC version, but that has now been changed to an MQA version. The FLAC version would no longer be available, and you’d have to find then add the MQA version.
This has been happening for many years and it is annoying and difficult to keep track of. Tidal occasionally just changes versions, not necessarily from FLAC to MQA, sometimes just indiscernibly different FLAC versions. Maybe it’s a licensing rights thing, I don’t know.
If you know that it’s happened, you can add the new version. But you would have to monitor the Album numbers in your library and compare Export lists to keep on top of it which is more than I care to do.
In addition to what @andybob wrote above, there is also something else: sometimes the record labels decide to remove part of all of their catalogues from the streaming services like Tidal, Qobuz or Apple Music.
One example is label Tzadik (with records from John Zorn, Derek Bailey…), at a certain point last year they decided to remove their whole catalogue from all the streaming services and they are even not available anymore for buying (like the download store from Qobuz or Apple). @JAMES_PHARR which artists or record labels are you missing? Did you try to search in the Tidal app to see if they are just available in a different format or if they not available at all anymore?
Not any consolation for you, but there is a long standing feature request for Roon to monitor and produce a list of albums that Tidal deletes from your collection. You could at least try to do something about it if only you knew it had happened.
Stephano - thank you for your thoughts. One thing you asked about which artist/ albums I am missing. Thanks for that question. Here’s one example. There was a pop band called “The dB’s” and they made 7 official releases, some on majors, some on indies. Last time I looked - about a week or so ago, Tidal had all 7. Today they have one. If you can figure just this one out, I will like you forever.
As for format changes, If the albums are in any format, a simple search on the band or album name should bring up the same results. They do still have the complete discography, they just dropped the titles.
My guess is that this is one of the many ways Tidal tries to compete with Spotify and others - by cleaning out stuff that rarely gets streamed. Just a guess.
BTW, I really doubt that the various record labels, especially the three indies who don’t exist anymore, could or would have gotten together to do this all at once… Good idea anyway, thanks.
OK Dirk, you just kicked me over the fence I was sitting on. I’ve been thinking about subscribing to Qobuz, but heck, I am definitely going to do it now. Maybe today. Thank you sir!
Streaming services have contracts that determine duration of availability, as well as regional availability. Contracts might not have been renewed yet for a variety of reasons.
If it is something you want to ensure you can listen to whenever, owning is the only sure bet.
Rugby, you are right. I still buy records. I buy new (if I can get them) or used CDs rather than doing DIY ADC from vinyl (vinyl is wonderful, but my system is very much optimized for digital).
Owning is indeed the only sure bet. I enjoy (and miss a little) the hunt for physical media. I do dearly miss record shops.
Digital is removing the immediacy, the direct physical involvement; and it is affecting how people interact with music. They are hearing music not listening to music. There is no personal buyin if you just click a button. We attach value to things to a certain extent by the effort we make in getting/achieving it. That is lost in an instant world.
This happens on all streaming services and really isn’t anything new. Licensing and rights changes all the time as they are bought and sold… Sometimes it’s just a newer release and the old ones removed. Happens with Qobuz all the time, lost count of how many I have lost this year already and how many I have had to add again. This is the downside of streaming it’s not a fixed constant.
AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
15
And that’s why I love my weekend trips to 1,2 or all 3 of our local surviving record shops.
I can lose hours just browsing the record bins…and tape racks…
I disagree. I very much enjoy buying digital downloads - waiting for our crappy internet to download it, unzip, copy to the NAS and backup, then getting Roon to rescan to load it in and ready to play. The ritual is part of the pleasure I get out of music. I kind of get what you are saying as it relates to streaming (although I almost exclusively play complete albums from Roon, so it’s not much different). I still buy the occasional CD when I can’t get a digital download, but they never get played any more, just ripped to FLAC. And I just have no time for faffing about with vinyl.
