So like everything else in life just now, Spotify is putting it’s prices up which coincides with thoughts of ditching it and subscribing to either Mixcloud or SoundCloud.

Anyone got a preference, or an alternative?

What’s the new price? Got a link?

Got an email that it’s going up to £11.99 a month from May.

Tidal here.

This will give the likes of ibroadcast a boost I suppose, assuming old duffers like me still have their own music collections on MP3?

think deezers pretty much like for like with spotify isnt it, how much is that?

LPs and CDs.

I never can say goodbye

Bandcamp, buy an album a month instead, feed an artist 😀.

I’m in the mp3 camp and use Poweramp.

a radio

A piano. Or a banjo.

Sheetmusic.

The sheer convenience is well worth the price to me. I don’t miss faffing about with MP3s, downloading them, then sorting them onto a memory card and them then not playing in any sort of order on the car stereo! 🙂

Amazon HD or whatever they call the highest quality for me.

Works superbly and sounds good.

I also have a wall full of CDs and albums which I occasionally listen to as well.

Do any of the alternatives also include audiobooks and podcasts?

I was a bit irked at having two price increases in one year but I couldn’t find anything which quite matches what Spotify offer.

Interesting that Spotify is now more expensive than Apple TV and Netflix…

I have all my CDs stored as MP3s on my phone, and satisfy my podcast and live/catchup radio needs using the BBC Sounds app. We do have Spotify, I occasionally use it for The Rest is Politics and finding random old albums to listen to, but I wouldn’t miss it massively if I’m honest.

Great suggestion of BBC Sounds. Between Craig Charles funk n soul, Radio 2’s sounds of the 70s/80s/90s, Rock Show, Folk Show etc there’s a lot in there. Trevor Nelson’s show is always worth a listen too.
I have 400 or 500 CD albums ripped to MP3 on my NAS at home, and a small standalone MP3 player, but agree it’s a bit of a faff.

How’s Amazon Music – is the basic ad-supported version included in your standard Prime membership?

Ive just done this exactly because Spotify have put up their prices

Currently trying Apple music on a 1 month free trial

Things ive noticed so far

Apple music is slightly quieter than Spotify (ive checked all my settings and checked online)

Apple music on my Alpine 9in touchscreen carplay headunit does not allow me to see a list of tracks on the album im listening to so i cant scroll through and select a certain song, i have to skip each song to find the one i want (need to look into this more)

Apple music Sound quality seems to be better espcially with Dolby Atmos turned on

Once the Apple music free trial is up im going to give Tidal a try

Youtube Premium – includes Youtube Music. Seems far better value to me (as a big Youtube video user too) than an ‘audio only’ subscription.

Changing is a big faff if you want to tansfer playlists – as they well know.

I did look at Apple Music but it didn’t work the way I wanted it to, personalised playlists etc, so I stuck to Spotify.

I went from Apple Music to Spotify a while ago for the same reason. Going to have to look again for a better family accounts deal.  What a faff.

There’s an app called SongShift which I used to transfer my playlists when I switched from Spotify to Apple Music a few months ago (have the one subscription now for all the apple services)

+1 YouTube music – get premium and then you also get the music. Thinking of ditching Spotify too but its a pain recreating all my playlists.

I recently started with Yotube Premium, as I want more than my fair share of video on the platform. To help make the cost more bearable, I also started using Youtube Music. So far it does the job.

Tidal sound quality is noticeably better. You can also use it with DJ gear, unlike Spotify. Not sure if it’s any cheaper though!

Apple music Sound quality seems to be better

Apple offers lossless, so it is by definition better. However whether that difference is audible compared to Spotify on Very High (which is 320 KBPS OGG Vorbis) is another matter.  To me in the situations I use Spotify (out and about, often over bluetooth) it isn’t.

TBH Even on very good equipment in a quiet environment, you would need very careful listening to pick out Vorbis@320 vs lossless. I can just about do it at 160 KBPS on some tracks, I doubt I could at 320 KBPS (and that’s with a decent DAC and expensive headphones). YMMV.

What I think some people get thrown by is the Spotify volume settings.  If you enable the setting to equalise track volumes or use the ‘loud environment’ setting, it does audibly affect the sound quality. I suppose they are running it through a volume compressor/limiter.

Tidal have halved their price apparently, seemingly in preparation for Spotify bringing an HD offering soon.

AIUI Apple pays everyone per stream, whereas Spotify has some arrangement where the big names get most of the proceeds (and promoted) and more obscure artists get nothing – anyone know if this is right?

Certainly I’d not be keen on an arrangement where I’m e.g. streaming Spiderland yet again and the proceeds are going to Ed Sheeran.

AIUI Apple pays everyone per stream, whereas Spotify has some arrangement where the big names get most of the proceeds (and promoted) and more obscure artists get nothing – anyone know if this is right?

The artists get whatever the music license holders (record companies) want them to get as they negotiate the rights. I’d be surprised if there’s much difference in the license terms between various providers.

This is interesting though – Apple seems to pay out more, and Spotify doesn’t pay out at all for less than 1000 streams a year (though the royalties off 1000 streams will just about buy a coffee).

Not trying to be an Apple f@n801 here but more coming at it from the angle of Spotify not being great.

Depends on the music you listen to.

I use Mixcloud a lot which is great for dance/house music but not great for bands.

I’ve not found a better option than Spotify for wider music.

A hard drive with loads of music on it.

Or the radio.

I’ve just jettisoned Spotify and now subscribe to the much BSQ Tidal for a quid a month more.

I ditched Spotify a year or so ago because they were slow to release their HD audio offering, I got Apple Music which includes HD by default, for less than I was paying Spotify.

I find Apple Music works well for us as part of a Family Plan

Though if we had a mix of Windows and Android instead of iOS, MacOS, AirPlay, Alexa, and PS I’d likely not be as wedded to it.

works well in the car too – installed Apple Music app and Apple Podcasts app mean I haven’t used Spotify in the car for ages.

I’m planning on switching from lute to mandolin but am slightly concerned about the difference in sound quality

I’ve already upgraded my minstrels gallery and am contemplating a chambered orchestra

surprised no one has suggested whistling

A nice CD player and DAC…. Get your butt into the op shops. CD’s are so cheap. Listen to actual albums as the artist intended instead of skipping tracks over and over,

BBC Sounds – I download a range of shows including Craig Charles’ and Cerys Matthew’s (they both have two shows), Iggy Pop who h plays a surprisingly wide range of stuff that you might not expect etc.

Played back in the car etc it’s nice to have a wide range and to hear new things – on Spotify o tend to listen to the same stuff all the time.

I love Cerys show – really original.

Have you tried the Spotify AI playlist? You describe the music you want on your list. Good way to hear new stuff.