Or not. Formerly known as, Aspiro, Jay-Z’s newest business venture – now called Tidal – is the “first music service with High Fidelity sound quality.” Now what does that mean exactly? HiFI denotes the sound quality, which stands in at a bit rate of 1411kbsp, a perfect copy of CD quality. In other words, users are getting the best uncompressed sound quality in the business without the loss of any digital information.
That’s right, audiophiles all around the world can embrace at the proliferation of holy and pristine sound. However enticing this sounds to those who love lossless music, this might not really translate well to the mass market. Most people would be hard pressed to find a person who only listens to higher-bit-rate audio; hence, the term, audiophiles. Does the music streaming audience really care that much about lossless quality, or better yet, what percentage of music streamers actually know what lossless means?
Tidal claims to have the fans’ best interests in hand, but it comes at a fault when they have a false understanding of their fans. They probably are not the type of avid music heads with a dedicated listening room filled with wireless Sonos speaker systems. They probably are not sound engineers who can pick up the nuanced pure sounds of instruments. Yes, quality is important, but the line distinguishing lossless from lossy (mp3 quality) becomes blurred.
If any potential user wants to settle the debate, then they can put their audio systems and ears to the test by accessing Tidal’s blind listening trial. If listeners can correctly identify which tracks feature lossless quality sound, then a 30-day free trial will be granted. Admittedly, it’s a clever ploy for using the service and paying the monthly total of $19.99.
Wait, what? It costs that much to stream music. Rival service, Spotify, charges $10 less, and currently, has a promotion offering three months for only $.99, and any user can find the same trending music along with their favorites. Hmm, it might not be worth the trouble.
Aside from the cost and non-unique music library, there’s the downside to the blind test. What if you can’t realize the difference in sound, and then how embarrassing would that be for Tidal. Listeners should expect their auditory worlds to explode and be supplanted by the need to only have HiFI sound. But that might not be the case for us mere mortals who lack the depth of music veterans.
Jay-Z, give us an incentive man!
“The iTunes Store wasn’t built in a day. It took Spotify 9 years to be successful…”
Well, Hova doesn’t seem too concerned at all. Sure seems like he’s in it for the long haul.
Those who have been downloading and streaming music for some time now know that a bit rate of 320kbps is what’s in. It’s the quality standard that everyone unknowingly or knowingly expects from their songs these days. To some the sound might be imperceptible from the 1411kbps versions, and to others, the difference is enough to merit its need. Arguments from both sides will be restless.
A good case can be made for the HiFI lossless sound. Who knows what the dominant form of music will be in the coming years. Advancements such as these have been made in the past. For instance, look at cassettes. Wow, everyone can agree that the quality on those is terrible by comparison. Just like cassettes have become inferior, compressed audio files can also very well be inferior by tomorrow. Today’s standards are not indicative of what will be, only of what is. People can, and maybe should, applaud Jay-Z’s efforts to bring his audience of amateurs into the real world of music.
