Mog shut down April 15. Where will you go?

[uofmtiger]

As I mentioned, I prefer Rdio to the other services and I am currently subscribing to them. However, Spotify is offering 3 months for the price of 1, so I am going to carry them through the summer, too. The main reason is that the price was right and I may want to listen to my headphone setups this summer (I do that more in winter) and I want to have the option of 320k while Rdio is upping their bitrates. I probably won't use it nearly as often as Rdio, but I like the option.

I have already set a reminder to cancel Spotify in September. Hopefully, Rdio will have their conversion done by then.

 

[Condorsat]

Spotify is offering 3 months for the price of 1, so I am going to carry them through the summer, too.

I was intrigued ... got an e-mail from Spotify about the three for the price of one deal ... e-mail stated that offer was expiring on 15 June. I'm still on my free 6 month trial period for Xbox Music 192kbps WMA but it's getting ready to run out.

So I decided to try the offer & upgraded my add supported Spotify account to premium 320kbps Ogg Vorbis format on Spotify. The add supported version of Spotify 160 kbps on desktop PC is no where near as good as the 320kbps premium version. It's a bigger difference than I was expecting. I'm a Windows 7 desktop PC user Dac > Powered Speakers & Subwoofer.

I've been listening to lower bit rate versions for almost 6 months on PC ... so maybe that is why 320kbps MP3 seems like a jump in sound quality.

 

[uofmtiger]

I was intrigued ... got an e-mail from Spotify about the three for the price of one deal ... e-mail stated that offer was expiring on 15 June. I'm still on my free 6 month trial period for Xbox Music 192kbps WMA but it's getting ready to run out.

So I decided to try the offer & upgraded my add supported Spotify account to premium 320kbps Ogg Vorbis format on Spotify. The add supported version of Spotify 160 kbps on desktop PC is no where near as good as the 320kbps premium version. It's a bigger difference than I was expecting. I'm a Windows 7 desktop PC user Dac > Powered Speakers & Subwoofer.

I've been listening to lower bit rate versions for almost 6 months on PC ... so maybe that is why 320kbps MP3 seems like a jump in sound quality.

I also think 320 sounds better than the lower (less than 256k) stuff, too. I listen to music all day at work on a Sangean radio, so high bit rates aren't the most import criteria in that situation.

At home, I like a higher bitrate, especially when listening via headphones, so I hope Rdio gets their stuff converted by the time my 3 months of Spotify end.

 

[Condorsat]

I also think 320 sounds better than the lower (less than 256k) stuff, too. I listen to music all day at work on a Sangean radio, so high bit rates aren't the most import criteria in that situation.

At home, I like a higher bitrate, especially when listening via headphones, so I hope Rdio gets their stuff converted by the time my 3 months of Spotify end.

I like Rdio's PC interface. The album art display image is really nice :thmbsp:.

 

[wash.and.dry]

With apps from BubbleUPnP on a 'droid phone or tablet, you can render to your SB from Google Play Music. Fairly simple to set up, needs Logitech Media Server in the loop.

Thats a nice looking interface Chicks. I wish Apple offered something like that for the iPad or iPhone. Using it remotely would be great. Does anyone know of a remote app for Apple products for the SB?

 

[chicks]

Anyone tried Rara? 22 million tracks, 320kbps "Dolby Pulse" format. :scratch2:

From Wikipedia:

Dolby Pulse: released in 2009, it is identical to the HE-AAC v2 codec except for the addition of Dolby metadata, which is common to Dolby's other digital audio codecs. This metadata "ensures consistency of broadcast quality."

Well, depending on where you read it. This article says much lower bitrate, but...

Rara uses Dolby Pulse, a variant of HE AAC v2 at bitrates of between 42kbit/s and 72kbit/s. Audio sounds very good, although Spotify Premium’s 320kbit/s Ogg Vorbis streaming takes a slight edge if you’re listening on a PC.

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/software/1289230/rara-com

But I guess they upgraded to 320kbps in 2013:
http://raramusic.wordpress.com/2013...-high-quality-audio-and-service-enhancements/

 

[Schmidlapper]

After going through trials on both Spotify, Pandora and Beats and also trying the pretty much free Grooveshark, I have subscribed to Beats Music. The music selection was comparable, the interface adequate and ultimately it sounded noticeably better through my system, which consists of an iPad feeding an airport express connected to a tube integrated amp.

 

[onemug]

After going through trials on both Spotify, Pandora and Beats and also trying the pretty much free Grooveshark, I have subscribed to Beats Music. The music selection was comparable, the interface adequate and ultimately it sounded noticeably better through my system, which consists of an iPad feeding an airport express connected to a tube integrated amp.

Nicely done. I'm doing similar myself.

How close is Spotify to Beats in sound quality? and can you describe that difference?

 

[SimplyOrange]

Nicely done. I'm doing similar myself.



How close is Spotify to Beats in sound quality? and can you describe that difference?

I've heard Beats uses some sort of EQ, I wonder if they use that for their streaming service as well?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Schmidlapper]

Beats music on high quality has a good sound stage with depth, and I also found it to be less fatiguing to listen to for long periods. As for the EQ comment, I believe Beats headphones were known to use a special equalization oriented towards hip hop and the like, but never heard of it on their streams. Can you provide any links, sources or references that talk to the streaming service using it?

 

[cleonjr]

Gonna try beats trail after the google trial expires,I was already in Rdio I will leave it free I do not mind the ad's,still wish I could stream through foobar so I could use the DSP,even WMP streaming would be good

 

[onemug]

Heads up for Spotify users.

Tap "Settings" and then "Music Quality" and make sure you have "Extreme" selected. Extreme gets you 320 kbps. "High" gets you 160 and "Normal" gets you 96.

Spotify Premium gives you those 3 options and I think the default might be Normal. That is what was selected when I went into Settings on mine.

Besides desktop, I also stream Spotify thru my Sonos Controller and iPad remote app. I believe Extreme is automatic that way.

 

[pfcs49]

Heads up for Spotify users.

Tap "Settings" and then "Music Quality" and make sure you have "Extreme" selected. Extreme gets you 320 kbps. "High" gets you 160 and "Normal" gets you 96.

Spotify Premium gives you those 3 options and I think the default might be Normal. That is what was selected when I went into Settings on mine.

Besides desktop, I also stream Spotify thru my Sonos Controller and iPad remote app. I believe Extreme is automatic that way.

I have Spotify Premium. After a LONG search in every nook I could find, I don't see any of you "...." categories or any way to check or change density.

 

[pfcs49]

Heads up for Spotify users.

Tap "Settings" and then "Music Quality" and make sure you have "Extreme" selected. Extreme gets you 320 kbps. "High" gets you 160 and "Normal" gets you 96.

Spotify Premium gives you those 3 options and I think the default might be Normal. That is what was selected when I went into Settings on mine.

Besides desktop, I also stream Spotify thru my Sonos Controller and iPad remote app. I believe Extreme is automatic that way.

I have Spotify Premium on my Mac. After a LONG search in every nook I could find, I don't see any of your "...." categories or any way to check or change density.

 

[Condorsat]

On my Spotify Premium ... Windows 7 PC

I select EDIT > Preferences > Playback > Check the High quality streaming box

 

[cleonjr]

On my Spotify Premium ... Windows 7 PC

I select EDIT > Preferences > Playback > Check the High quality streaming box

that is what I have too ,the extreme and other stuff is Android or something else.

 

[onemug]

I have Spotify Premium on my Mac. After a LONG search in every nook I could find, I don't see any of your "...." categories or any way to check or change density.

Using my iPad, in the bottom left corner of Spotify's home screen the word "Settings" is there. I click on it and it gives me several options. One of those is "Music Quality" and clicking on that gives me 3 choices...Normal, High and Extreme. This is with the wifi in my house.

A few years ago I had "evidently" a slower older router (thank you TWC). MOG, at 320, would sometimes stall and buffer. They replaced it with a newer faster one and I also upgraded to their more faster speed and never had a problem since.

fwiw, I now use Verizon FIOS with 50 down and 25 up speed and the newest Airport Extreme for a router. No problems.

I would imagine the choice of 3 options (densities) would help some people that are having trouble with speed issues by going to the lower bitrates.

Have no idea why it's on some and not others.

 

[pfcs49]

Thanks, but not on my iMac.
I went back and found it: put spottily up; click on "Spotify" next to Apple symbol; click on preferences; go down the list to "playback" and select from options.
I swear it wasn't there previously!! I looked and looked! But I HAVE been wrong before.

 

[chicks]

Looks like Deezer is coming to USA soon. 30 million tracks, unlimited mp3 uploads, 320kbps, Chromecast support, 5 million paid subscribers, Samsung partnership, plenty of features, including 3rd party HTML5 addins (reviews, etc). Could be huge.

http://www.deezer.com

 

[uofmtiger]

Looks like Deezer is coming to USA soon. 30 million tracks, unlimited mp3 uploads, 320kbps, Chromecast support, 5 million paid subscribers, Samsung partnership, plenty of features, including 3rd party HTML5 addins (reviews, etc). Could be huge.

http://www.deezer.com

Sounds like it is similar to Google. However, it appears they have a native iPad app and a desktop app (Google is missing both).

While 30 million tracks is more than Spotify, it doesn't mean they have a better library than Spotify (which we know has exclusive deals). What makes up that extra ~10 million tracks? If it is an exclusive deal with a known label, it means something. If it is the equivalent of a dude playing bongos in his mom's basement, it doesn't mean as much.

I also want to see how "unlimited mp3 uploads" are implemented.

In any event, I will try it out to see how it compares to the others. Right now, all of the services are on the cusp of some major changes....Rdio 320k, Beats implementation into Apple, Spotify and Echo Nest. This is just one more thing to add to future things I will try out. :thmbsp: