Actually, now that I think of it, I do also still subscribe to Spotify. It's not the best for classical, but it works for me for other genres.
and I've spent too much ripping labeling, curating, and organized that to let it get messed up.)
In that case, indeed, you'd have to think long and hard before joining Apple Music.
About Spotify, yes, it's not built for classical music, but it's not very bad either, as long as one knows what they're looking for.
I've also heard good things about Tidal and Qobuz, but they're not available where I'm, so I can't say for sure!
@jchokey Yes, indeed, I’m choosing to keep a little distance from Apple Music for exactly the same reasons - my fingers have been burnt in the past, and my own metadata in my iTunes library is too valuable to risk. I too will find a suitable ‘isolation’ strategy as and when child of Primephonic is released.
It does seem ironic, though, that those of us with a history with Apple seem to be favouring Idagio (which works so well on the iPhone app). And those of us on Android are often settling for Apple Music as their preferred option 🤷🏻♀️
@jchokey Yes, indeed, I’m choosing to keep a little distance from Apple Music for exactly the same reasons - my fingers have been burnt in the past, and my own metadata in my iTunes library is too valuable to risk. I too will find a suitable ‘isolation’ strategy as and when child of Primephonic is released.
When the time comes, we should create a topic with options/strategies for doing that.
When the time comes, we should create a topic with options/strategies for doing that.
For sure. I'm trying to be optimistic about Apple and Primephonic, but planning for disappointment.
Thinking about metadata and iTunes libraries and other assorted places where we store our own music (as opposed to streamed stuff), it might be good to create a forum about the options available for managing our own music libraries. iTunes is not designed to catalogue classical music easily. I have yet to come across software that will let me catalogue my 33,000 "songs" (as iTunes calls them) without investing more time than I have at my disposal.
For sure. I'm trying to be optimistic about Apple and Primephonic, but planning for disappointment.
Thinking about metadata and iTunes libraries and other assorted places where we store our own music (as opposed to streamed stuff), it might be good to create a forum about the options available for managing our own music libraries. iTunes is not designed to catalogue classical music easily. I have yet to come across software that will let me catalogue my 33,000 "songs" (as iTunes calls them) without investing more time than I have at my disposal.
I think that's a great topic idea!
When first searching for a solely classical music service, Primephonic won out over IDAGIO for many reasons. Now, I have adopted it, along with Apple (also waiting for its Primephonic subsidiary) to go with Tidal. Apple is not close to Tidal in terms of, well, anything: catalogue, sound quality, interface. Even Amazon was better than Apple😱😳
So, I actually check all three voting choices.😂🥳
@capriccio I started a metadata topic here a while back. It's a worthwhile discussion to have, and as an information scientist (my day job) I'm always up for a deep dive into data architecture and governance.
I have subscriptions for Apple and for Idagio, taking up their 9-month and 6-month free offers, respectively, and also Amazon Music (3-month free trial).
Apple is of no use to me as I have no smartphone so can stream only at mp3 quality on my laptop. I was using Idagio on their browser app, and was much impressed, especially by their filtering on an individual work, allowing choice by conductor, soloist, ensemble or date of issue. At first I was satisfied with the streaming at CD quality, but gradually I came to miss the Hi-Res that I had become used to on Primephonic. Also, there was no way to search my library. Although this was true also with Primephonic, their web-player allowed me to use bookmarks on the browser to organise my library, which I cannot do on Idagio. So I now stream using Amazon Music. The search is not very good, but you can search your library. Also, you can list it in order of adding to the library, or by release date, in addition to alphabetically.
Apple is of no use to me as I have no smartphone so can stream only at mp3 quality on my laptop.
I don't understand this. If you use an external DAC then you can stream not only lossless music but hi-res files as well. On the other hand, if you use the analogue output on your laptop's motherboard then there probably will be no audible difference between mp3 and lossless/hi-res.
Apple Music has recently offered a limited number of hi-res albums that should be readily available regardless of the hardware you use for streaming, provided that the DAC is hires-capable (which, I believe, most of them are today).
It’s frustrating that each of the streaming services function so differently on different platforms!
I wonder, @capriccio, if it would be helpful (or possible?) to have the option of footers in the posts, where we can say how we’re streaming and on what platforms?
What do others think? Would that be useful, or unnecessary clutter on our posts?
It’s possible, @jen, because there’s a feature which lets you add a “signature” to all your post. I turned that feature of the forums off, because I find it a distraction and unnecessary clutter, especially when some one is a regular poster.
I can turn it on if people want. Alternatively I can add a field in the member profile where people can say which platforms they use. I’ve been meaning to do that anyway, just haven’t had the time.
What do others think? Would that be useful, or unnecessary clutter on our posts?
I'm in. With smaller font (as usually is with signatures) I think it won't make any clutter.
