Do I Need Lossless Quality for My Music Streaming

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Fred99

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#2481749 12-May-2020 10:24

When my son had Spotify, he'd shared his a/c details with flatmates or been sloppy with passwords or security. He was with us on a trip, so connected to the sound system in my vehicle to play some music for us all to enjoy - maybe. Someone somewhere was having fun - half way though a track it would switch to what at guess may have been selections from "Bollywood's Greatest Hits". Was very funny - but only the first few times.

Gurezaemon

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#2481810 12-May-2020 11:16

Yabanize:

I like Spotify the best, What helps is it is the most widely used, so for sharing/viewing your friends playlists it's quite handy. Also the playlists Spotify creates for you like "release radar, "discover weekly" "your daily mix" ETC are awesome. Apple Music had some similar stuff but just didn't do it for me. Spotify also has the extreme quality setting which is 320kbps which is more than good enough for most people.

I agree with this wholeheartedly. 30 years ago, I think we were exposed to a lot more variety of music because of the ubiquity of radio as opposed to everyone having their own music players on them all the time.
Having a playlist of stuff I know that I like seamlessly segue into what the Spotify algorithm thinks I'll like, along with the other automatically generated playlists has really expanded the range of stuff that I listen to, and the 320 kbps setting is more than good enough for me.

Wakrak

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#2481877 12-May-2020 13:10

Is that what it costs normally? $3? I've been using Google music for a long time which includes YouTube premium, and it's about $10 per month.

Paying for Youtube Premium and other apps such as KWGT (android) are cheaper if you pay in Indian Rupee, so I changed my google account to make it look like i'm a fine citizen of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. ₹129 (Indian Rupee) a month equates to roughly $3 NZD. I think it's a bit more difficult to pull off with a family account.

Takes a while to get rid of the Indian music recommendations as well 😀

Radiotron

179 posts

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#2482151 12-May-2020 19:00

No two setups are the same, I use a secondhand HP i5 Probook with external USB DAC, streaming audio from a variety of sources mostly AAC, or the HDD for audio rips. And Radio Paradise has a very nice FLAC stream too.

JRiver Media Center installed, with WDM driver that can manage all of the audio from any source that is playing. It handles audio extremely well, set to upsample to DAC at 96/32. Works good for getting PC audio into a minimalist 2 channel system that is about quality - complements a high end Sony CDP and a specialist turntable.

Not sure that's of much use, however JRiver is worth a look for managing audio collections, and has DLNA functionality also. And the WDM driver is brilliant for Spotify and Pandora playback out of a web browser.

Fred99

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#2482211 12-May-2020 20:46

Gurezaemon:

I agree with this wholeheartedly. 30 years ago, I think we were exposed to a lot more variety of music because of the ubiquity of radio as opposed to everyone having their own music players on them all the time.
Having a playlist of stuff I know that I like seamlessly segue into what the Spotify algorithm thinks I'll like, along with the other automatically generated playlists has really expanded the range of stuff that I listen to, and the 320 kbps setting is more than good enough for me.

Agree - my experience with Google PM and YTM - the algorithms are good, use it for a while and interact with auto-playlists, and soon you're given playlists that expand your horizons. It's actually quite scary - does a better job guessing what I'll like than any human I've ever known could. Which has a slightly scary side to it - but... whatever...

Handle9

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#2482212 12-May-2020 20:49

Fred99:

Gurezaemon:

I agree with this wholeheartedly. 30 years ago, I think we were exposed to a lot more variety of music because of the ubiquity of radio as opposed to everyone having their own music players on them all the time.
Having a playlist of stuff I know that I like seamlessly segue into what the Spotify algorithm thinks I'll like, along with the other automatically generated playlists has really expanded the range of stuff that I listen to, and the 320 kbps setting is more than good enough for me.

Agree - my experience with Google PM and YTM - the algorithms are good, use it for a while and interact with auto-playlists, and soon you're given playlists that expand your horizons. It's actually quite scary - does a better job guessing what I'll like than any human I've ever known could. Which has a slightly scary side to it - but... whatever...

Sounds like GM has gotten better. That was the main reason we went back to Spotify a few years ago - we found the recommendations engine to be much better.

Gurezaemon

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#2482255 12-May-2020 21:44

Wakrak:

Paying for Youtube Premium and other apps such as KWGT (android) are cheaper if you pay in Indian Rupee, so I changed my google account to make it look like i'm a fine citizen of Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. ₹129 (Indian Rupee) a month equates to roughly $3 NZD. I think it's a bit more difficult to pull off with a family account.

Takes a while to get rid of the Indian music recommendations as well 😀

Aaaaaand.... wait until they lock down their geolocation tech lol. Using a VPN is way tempting though, and certainly an improvement in pricing. Not sure how the missus and kids would react to all the Indian music though. Although Bloodywood is doing a lot for expanding the global reach of music from India.

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Wakrak

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#2482291 12-May-2020 23:42

Aaaaaand.... wait until they lock down their geolocation tech lol. Using a VPN is way tempting though, and certainly an improvement in pricing. Not sure how the missus and kids would react to all the Indian music though. Although Bloodywood is doing a lot for expanding the global reach of music from India.

Man it would suck if they caught on and deleted the account. I've got my location history permanently paused, but it probably stops nothing. Alternatively, you could pay in ruble and enjoy some Russian music instead.
I went down a VPN rabbit-hole one night when the creator of Real-Debrid starting sharing articles about how VPNs have become the new snake oil industry. Crikey, lost a few hours staring at the screen. Anyway, nice weather over here in Mumbai 😅

Fred99

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#2483392 14-May-2020 09:11

Email from Google this morning advising that they're doing what was expected:

... we're glad to tell you that you can now transfer your Google Play Music library, including playlists, uploads, recommendations and more, to experience YouTube Music with your music library. Once you transfer, you can continue to use Google Play Music, and your music library will still be there. Google Play Music will eventually go away later this year, but don't worry – we'll give you plenty of notice before that happens.

Wakrak

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#2484141 14-May-2020 22:51

Spotify currently doing a 3 months free trial for new customers

lchiu7

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#2484493 15-May-2020 15:26

Fred99:

Email from Google this morning advising that they're doing what was expected:

... we're glad to tell you that you can now transfer your Google Play Music library, including playlists, uploads, recommendations and more, to experience YouTube Music with your music library. Once you transfer, you can continue to use Google Play Music, and your music library will still be there. Google Play Music will eventually go away later this year, but don't worry – we'll give you plenty of notice before that happens.

Noticed the option was there on YT Music when I opened it today but haven't pulled the trigger yet. Listened to an interview also with the Product Manager of all Google's music products and the rationale for doing to one product, the release of the migration tool and how YT Music is going to get better (and 10K upload limit, not 5K as GPM)

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