Is Spotify's price rise a joke?

[DistortedVision]

Spotify increase is increasing the price of its Premium subscription by £1. Yes I know it's only a quid. But they have been promising a hi-res streaming service for God knows how long. I'm starting to think that this is vapourware and it's never going to happen. I think they should be reducing their subscription prices if they are going offer hi-res. Wonder how much market share they have lost to their competitors.

 

[Messiah]

I know what you mean.

If I had just a single subscription I would certainly be looking at other services. However, I have a family plan with 4 other users who are more than happy with Spotify and couldn’t care less about the quality.

They are happy they can use it on their phone, the Alexa (their general name for the various Amazon devices) and the car. With ease.

So, for the sake of a £1 I will suck it up and keep everyone happy but it makes me wonder, how far do I let it go? £20? More?

Tidal Family is £15 compared to the £18 for Spotify. Hmmmm…….

 

[jjbomber]

Spotify increase is increasing the price of its Premium subscription by £1. Yes I know it's only a quid. But they have been promising a hi-res streaming service for God knows how long. I'm starting to think that this is vapourware and it's never going to happen. I think they should be reducing their subscription prices if they are going offer hi-res. Wonder how much market share they have lost to their competitors.

Actually Apple music put their's up first, but that news was buried by WhatHiFi. I wonder why? Amazon did as well. They all charge £10.99 in most circumstances. so the price is fine. The quality is another matter, which you are right about. I'm with Qobuz and find them fantastic. I transferred my playlists over in Soundiiz, which is so simple to do.

 

[Cricketbat70]

I know what you mean.

If I had just a single subscription I would certainly be looking at other services. However, I have a family plan with 4 other users who are more than happy with Spotify and couldn’t care less about the quality.

They are happy they can use it on their phone, the Alexa (their general name for the various Amazon devices) and the car. With ease.

So, for the sake of a £1 I will suck it up and keep everyone happy but it makes me wonder, how far do I let it go? £20? More?

Tidal Family is £15 compared to the £18 for Spotify. Hmmmm…….

My son pays for a family Spotify account, so many times I've looked at perhaps upgrading my Amazon Prime Music to the full paid version as it is "hi-fi?" quality and Spotify is still dragging its feet on the hi-fi quality service. My son who only listens to music through his phone and as background music on his PC when playing games keeps saying "why pay for a single Amazon music account when I pay for Spotify family"

 

[Gray]

Just so glad I don't subscribe to any of them.

 

[12th Monkey]

Given inflation levels (and that companies like Spotify are primarily energy consumers), I'm not surprised or that bothered. For background music it feels worth it - had a party for our 30th with a 6hr+ playlist (which will be used quite a lot in future) and it was a blessing. Much easier than burning a load of compilations, and no need to keep half an ear out for when the music stops.

 

[Juzzie Wuzzie]

Seems perfectly acceptable - 10% inflation takes a £10 product to an £11 product. If, however, it's not the product that you are after, that's a different argument.

 

[Witterings]

Just so glad I don't subscribe to any of them.

I thought this for many years ..... how wrong I was.

 

[Al ears]

I thought this for many years ..... how wrong I was.

Like every commodity, should you choose to subscribe or buy into it, you cannot expect prices to go down.
Attempting to single one out against the others is pointless.
Like energy suppliers, if you don't like what you're getting for your money then move on....
Streaming may suit an awful lot of people, I am not one of them, but it just shows what lack of control you have over your essential media provider.

 

[Al ears]

Like every commodity, should you choose to subscribe or buy into it, you cannot expect prices to go down.
Attempting to single one out against the others is pointless.
Like energy suppliers, if you don't like what you're getting for your money then move on....
Streaming may suit an awful lot of people, I am not one of them, but it just shows what lack of control you have over your essential media provider.

And for those that suggest WHF hide price hikes, I wouldn't be looking for them to regularly supply this sort of information anyway.

 

[Witterings]

Like every commodity, should you choose to subscribe or buy into it, you cannot expect prices to go down.
Attempting to single one out against the others is pointless.
Like energy suppliers, if you don't like what you're getting for your money then move on....
Streaming may suit an awful lot of people, I am not one of them, but it just shows what lack of control you have over your essential media provider.

Don't quite get the relevance of the reply in relation to what I said?

 

[Al ears]

Don't quite get the relevance of the reply in relation to what I said?

Apologies if I posted incorrectly, it wasn't directed at you.
I believe your post was about the need to subscribe.
If it wasn't then sorry.
Have a thought about those that bought Pure products for internet radio only for the them to turn off the function to allow them to access same.

 

[Witterings]

Apologies if I posted incorrectly, it wasn't directed at you.
I believe your post was about the need to subscribe.
If it wasn't then sorry.
Have a thought about those that bought Pure products for internet radio only for the them to turn off the function to allow them to access same.

My point was, I refused to pay a monthly subscription for years on a principle basis, eventualy I succumbed it was one of the best things I did.

 

[Al ears]

My point was, I refused to pay a monthly subscription for years on a principle basis, eventualy I succumbed it was one of the best things I did.

That's what I thought.
Then hopefully you will not complain if the price rises, which is what the OP is doing.
Anyhow, first price rise since 2011? He should be grateful.....

 

[Gray]

I thought this for many years ..... how wrong I was.

Occasionally, I dip into Spotify Free - so I know what I'm missing 👍

 

[Witterings]

Occasionally, I dip into Spotify Free - so I know what I'm missing 👍

I couldn't be bothered with Spotify free because of the adverts ... I'm not actually a Spotify user because of the low quailty but went with one of the others with Hi Res instead.

 

[Cricketbat70]

Given inflation levels (and that companies like Spotify are primarily energy consumers), I'm not surprised or that bothered. For background music it feels worth it - had a party for our 30th with a 6hr+ playlist (which will be used quite a lot in future) and it was a blessing. Much easier than burning a load of compilations, and no need to keep half an ear out for when the music stops.

Ditto to Spotify playlist and a 30th anniversary. 4 weeks ago for me and Rach.

 

[12th Monkey]

Ditto to Spotify playlist and a 30th anniversary. 4 weeks ago for me and Rach.

Sounds like you got married the weekend before we did!

 

[bigboss]

Actually Apple music put their's up first, but that news was buried by WhatHiFi. I wonder why?

Buried where?

Apple is hiking the prices of Apple Music and Apple TV+ subscriptions in the US and UK from today

Apple says the change is due to licensing costs

www.whathifi.com

 

[Gray]

I couldn't be bothered with Spotify free because of the adverts ...

I know what you mean - louder than the music it interrupts, some rapper telling me about his new release. No thanks.
I used to log off then on again when the ads came.

My brother has now made it so that I can use Spotify Free with no adverts whatsoever.
Too good to be true and I don't expect it to last....but it means I don't have to keep switching it off.
Still don't use it much at all though - certainly not enough to pay monthly.

 

[Edbostan]

Spotify increase is increasing the price of its Premium subscription by £1. Yes I know it's only a quid. But they have been promising a hi-res streaming service for God knows how long. I'm starting to think that this is vapourware and it's never going to happen. I think they should be reducing their subscription prices if they are going offer hi-res. Wonder how much market share they have lost to their competitors.

I have Amazon Music Family subscription and that offers HD, Ultra HD and Dolby Atmos tracks for £16.99 per month.

 

[DCarmi]

I've been using Spotify (family subscription) for years. I recently took up a 4 month trial of Amazon Music out of interest to try HD through a Wiim Pro into the internal DAC on my PM6006, so we are talking fairly entry level hifi, really.

Did I find a difference in sound quality between the 2? Probably. Do I find it significant? Not really and it could just be imaginary on my part. HD has to be better, n'est ce pas? With better equipment and ears, your mileage may vary.

To be fair much of my Spotify listening is done on the hoof through bluetooth headphones where the difference is effectively none.

The biggest difference is the interface. Spotify is good, Amazon I dislike.

I doubt I'll keep Amazon beyond October but I'll do a bit more comparison between the 2. Personally, I really prefer physical media and all I need from streaming is on-the-go audio and some music discovery. I also doubt I'd pony up for the hifi version of Spotify when it does appear.

I did try YouTube Music on a 3 month trial, and did not like it at all. I felt it sounded inferior to Spotify.

 

[Witterings]

I've been using Spotify (family subscription) for years. I recently took up a 4 month trial of Amazon Music out of interest to try HD through a Wiim Pro into the internal DAC on my PM6006, so we are talking fairly entry level hifi, really.

Did I find a difference in sound quality between the 2? Probably. Do I find it significant? Not really and it could just be imaginary on my part. HD has to be better, n'est ce pas? With better equipment and ears, your mileage may vary.

To be fair much of my Spotify listening is done on the hoof through bluetooth headphones where the difference is effectively none.

The biggest difference is the interface. Spotify is good, Amazon I dislike.

I doubt I'll keep Amazon beyond October but I'll do a bit more comparison between the 2. Personally, I really prefer physical media and all I need from streaming is on-the-go audio and some music discovery. I also doubt I'd pony up for the hifi version of Spotify when it does appear.

I did try YouTube Music on a 3 month trial, and did not like it at all. I felt it sounded inferior to Spotify.

Have you set the Amazon App to play Hi Res?

With Amazon I've back to backed the high Res vs their standard quality (which O belive is CD quality) and whilst it wasn't night and day there definitely was a difference, I did this as you couldn't multiroom Hi Res to the WiiM minis and wanted to see what difference it made.
Overall I'd say the main difference is the tracks seem warmer and "fuller" with maybe a smidge more detail but it was the oevrall presentation I mainly noticed.

 

[DCarmi]

Have you set the Amazon App to play Hi Res?

Yes. It streams at the best quality available and the Wiim Pro is showing this and I think the DAC in the PM6006 is reasonable. I am using Toslink rather than coxial, which may not be doing the audio quality many favours. (Am I treading on dangerous ground here?)

I need more time to do a proper evaluation but all I am saying is that I am not hearing a massive difference with my equipment and ears. I am not saying it is bad and the sound from Amazon Music is unacceptable. Far from it. Yesterday I did compare "Don't Come Around Here No More" by Tom Petty on both Az Ultra HD and CD. There was a difference in Az's favour, I felt, but it was marginal (IMHO). I've not done the same with Spotify yet.

Switching from Spotify family would cause all sorts of ructions, so I probably be paying in addition to Spotify. To be fair streaming through hifi to "sit down and listen" to music is not my main usage of such a service.

 

[Cricketbat70]

I have Amazon Music Family subscription and that offers HD, Ultra HD and Dolby Atmos tracks for £16.99 per mon

I keep thinking of upgrading my Amazon Prime music to a pro account. My son pays for a family Spotify account and keeps saying, why? I always wonder with my equipment would I hear a difference between HD etc on Amazon and Spotify and CD. For me it would be playing through Chromecast audio with a toslink into my Yamaha AV receiver.