Digital Streaming Platforms (DSPs) have changed the way we all listen and consume music. The days of scavenging through music stores and purchasing music are long gone (unless you are really invested in music or maybe want to support the artist you listen to the most, in which case good on you!). The rise of online streaming in general has paved the way for many new competitors to seemingly appear out of nowhere and now start offering their own DSP. I will be going through the most common or known streaming platforms and rating them based on my own experience or impressions (note that I am not rich and can not afford to subscribe to all of these, hence the lower down the list I go, the less experience I have with that particular service.

Each service will have the following categories which will be discussed: Price, Library Size, Audio Quality, Features and Experience.

Spotify

Yes of course! Spotify has been around for a long time, though not as long as Napster if anyone remembers them. This is currently my main and most used streaming service I use personally so it will be the most accurate as a result.

Price

Spotify is priced at the current mainstream price of $11.99 AUD per month, putting at the same level as Tidal, YouTube Music, Amazon Music and Apple Music.

Library Size

Unlike some other platforms, Spotify has a rather large library of over 82 million tracks. What sets them apart in particular is their partnership with certain game and movie studios which distribute their tracks exclusively on Spotify, which may be a determining factor when choosing them. I haven't had too many issues with finding the tracks I liked and they were able to cater for my modest listening requirements.

Audio Quality

Spotify has a maximum current streaming quality of ~320kbps which is fine for what I listen to, my audio hardware and most people's ears. Anything higher will likely require a dedicated DAC, higher end listening gear and experience finding the little details in sound to really benefit from listening to lossless audio.

As of the time of writing this review, Spotify HiFi has not yet arrived and seems to be a long way away due to "licensing issues". I suspect this is due to the fact that Tidal, Apple Music and Amazon Music were able to offer higher quality music for the same price as Spotify, which they were unlikely able to do.

Features

Spotify sets itself apart by offering high quality recommendations (I will discuss this later), displaying a stream counter, strong multi-platform support and social integration. Users are able to share their own playlists, follow friends and view each other's listening habits. They also have a partnership with Discord allowing your listening activity to appear on your profile and allowing others to listen along. In addition with audio normalisation, they have auto play, with an equaliser in all their apps (and recently on Desktop as well).

Spotify connect is another features which lets you control your listening activity from any device remotely even over the internet, which is convenient if you forget to pause your music while in another room.

Experience

Over the last few days, I have started to use the radio feature of Spotify and wow is it trash. In the past, the radio would frequently rotate and I would have the option to dislike songs so they would appear less frequently in the radio and other recommendations but that has since been removed. Instead, we are given a mediocre fixed playlist that will play every single time you reach the end of a playlist, with the exact same songs as the days before which easily gets dry and boring. Seriously, its less of a "radio" and more of a "here are a bunch of songs which you probably like which you will listen to forever".

Lyrics were recently added and have been a nice touch. They sync line by line on supported tracks or just display them if they have not been synced. The UI is alright, but does feel a bit rushed and "solid" in its character.

In addition, some of the features are not available between desktop and mobile platforms, such as exclusive album videos, Wrapped stories and the ability to switch between different releases/versions of an album on mobile. Oh and a bug, if you enter any character such as [, *, +, \, ? when searching through a playlist on the Desktop client, it will break the page and you have to click the reload button to restart your search. Small issues like these really piss me off as they clearly haven't put any type of sanitation or checking to make sure that these characters don't just break the entire page.

Verdict

Overall, I would give Spotify a 4/5. The crappy radio but monopoly over the music streaming business has really made it a strong option, while also making it difficult for existing users to switch away due to its social features and prominence around the world.

YouTube Music

I've only used the free version of this service and overall its not horrible. While clearly underdeveloped compared to the dedicated DSPs, it presents itself as an alternative for users with YouTube premium or those who are looking to stay within the Google ecosystem.

Price

Also at $11.99 AUD per month. Nothing too special unless you have YouTube premium then its more expensive BUUT you get it with your subscription to that. Not bad pricing in my opinion.

Library Size

I'd argue this has the biggest size out of any other platform, just due to the fact that it can grab music from the YouTube service itself, meaning you can find some songs which may not be available elsewhere such as from smaller artists.

Audio Quality

YouTube Music has a hard cap at 256kbps AAC audio, which again is fine for most people. This applies to the app and the online music player, putting it below Spotify and basically all other platforms.

Features

YouTube being a video sharing platform, you get access to music videos in addition with the audio tracks, integrating them both into one service, great if you like watching music videos. Just like others, they have an auto play system/radio function, albeit a MUCH more interesting and better one, which actually gives you the option of listening to all the recommendations, ones you have listened to before or discovering new tracks, much more customisable than Spotify. They are also cross-compatible with many devices, however there is no app for desktop, its all on their website. Unlike the normal YouTube website, the music version doesn't seem to apply audio normalisation.

Lyrics are also available but not synced with the song. It is also just displayed as a blob of text.

YouTube Music's version of social networking is their already existing playlist features, which allow you to share playlists with others, and their subscribing feature. Yep, that's about it.

Experience

Surprisingly, YouTube music has managed with the little listening I have done on it to provide an extremely strong set of recommendations, and oddly enough has been a contributing factor when discovering new music! I really like its UI, speed and tailored recommendations. The lack of audio normalisation may be an issue for some as certain songs may crank their volume really high.

Verdict

3/5. The lack of certain features such as audio normalisation and desktop apps may be an issue for some, and it can feel kind of "foreign" at certain times.

Tidal

Despite using the free trial only, Tidal is a good shit option if you like having high quality audio while still paying the standard price with strong cross-platform compatibility.

Price

Tidal is priced at a similar $11.99 AUD for their base plan of 1411kbps lossless FLAC streaming and a Master (MQA) plan for double that price, $23.99 AUD.

Library Size

Tidal has over 80 million tracks in its library which is sufficient for basically almost anyone. I have experienced certain tracks become greyed out/unavailable due to an expired license being a minor inconvenience but overall it is able to suffice. Certain artists also release on Tidal first exclusively before releasing to others, which you may admire.

Audio Quality

As discussed in the pricing section, Tidal has a base plan (excl. US) of 1411kbps streaming in FLAC quality, meaning lossless. This is great for people who want to get some of the highest quality audio realistically that you are able to hear at the same price as some other competitors who do not offer this level of quality. In addition, Tidal offers Master Quality Audio (MQA) which are up to 9216kbps, which contain almost all of the data in the original file that the artist is able to produce. However, the MQA format has been criticised for distorting the quality slightly meaning it is not the highest it can get. For the majority of listeners, this is unnecessary and the difference between lossless and MQA is basically indistinguishable.

Where Tidal differs from other services is its integration with certain Headphones brands such as Sony to offer 360 Reality Audio, providing spatial audio to supported hardware.

Features

Tidal offers music videos in addition to their music catalogue, which are at a considerably higher bitrate and quality compared to YouTube. They also have Tidal Connect which allows you to control playback from another device; a weaker implementation of Spotify Connect as certain features are not available.

They also have lyrics which are identical in quality to Spotify due to the fact they both use Musixmatch. Tidal has a much more visually pleasing implementation on all platforms with much larger text with easily readable colours and font. Certain albums are also animated such as "Future Nostalgia by Dua Lipa", but I don't really care about that feature.

Tidal is rather weak when it comes to social features. You cannot follow other users and playlists must be shared manually through links. It also lacks integration with other media platforms which make it marketable.

Experience

Something I noticed about the mobile app in particular was its bulkiness and slow operation. In comparison to YouTube Music and Spotify, Tidal may sometimes lag and provide an undesirable experience, which put me off using it as my main streaming service. This is especially annoying on a mobile device, where cycling through tracks will take a few seconds to load in and it feels like its trying to catch up every single time. In addition, music would sometimes stutter or lag to play which provides a subpar listening experience. Not very good.

While the lyrics might seem to look better, functionally they are very odd. On the desktop applications, lyrics are extremely delayed and it would take about an extra second for the line to move down. This is in addition to the time skipping being late when clicking on a certain line. Strangely while the clicking issue still exists, the syncing of the lyrics is correctly timed when I was using Tidal on my iPhone. Inconsistencies like these really put me off switching over. Videos also don't act naturally. On the desktop client, full screening a video will result in the cursor being stuck on screen. Extremely distracting and really odd how they didn't manage to nail the most basic principle of a video player.

Overall, the entire UI feels really strange and off putting for me. Coming from Spotify, I expect a intuitive user experience and I felt that I experienced the complete opposite. For example, the back/forward and search elements stick to the top. That would be fine if it actually made an effort to differentiate itself from the other elements on the screen. The developers literally just slapped them on as fixed elements and didn't even bother putting in the effort to oh I don't know, add a background or even a fade to make it easy to spot and see that top bar. It might seem like I am nit-picking but seriously, if you are going to be using Tidal full time, you better be aware of these quirks because they are driving me insane. Note that this is only present when navigating through the main tabs at the left (Home, Explore, Videos) and viewing albums, artists etc just sink in with the existing blur effect but hang on, isn't that inconsistent design?

It doesn't just stop there. Here is a playlist on the desktop view and if you are wondering "why the hell is there a giant blank space serving no purpose just underneath the title?" well I was wondering about that as well. If you start scrolling down in a playlist, that is what happens I kid you not. I feel as if I am currently conducting the company's quality control process for them. I think I've discovered more issues with their application than I have actual features.

Verdict

3/5. While it offers higher quality features in every respect, it falls short (just kidding, it literally digs its own grave) due to its reliability and clutter-filled application which has weird features that don't work correctly. I am so upset about this score but if there's one thing I have learnt after using computer programs for over 10 years: if the process sucks you will only get more pissed at yourself for choosing to use it. I don't care if it offers higher quality audio, choose something else. If you care about the service paying artists, just buy their music. I'm so done with Tidal and now I understand why I left them a year ago.