Donna Summer had many hits in her long, multi-decade career. Her work with Goirgio Moroder in the mid seventies on LPs like Love to Love You Baby – to me – were the progenitors of electronic dance music as we know it today. But it’s her 1983 hit album, and title track She Works Hard for the Money, that I’m thinking about here. Why? Because I’m sure that you, like me, do that exact thing: We work hard for our money.
So when something as game-changing (in my small audiophile world) as Tidal HiFi streaming gets offered for 12 days free, it’s something you need to jump on. If you’re not into slapping your cash on the table, and diving into a digital-audio setup to add to your system, this is the perfect opportunity to try a high-quality (16/44 – MQA) streaming service and see what the fuss is about.
–Rafe Arnott
Radio Paradise, one of the best eclectic internet radio stations, is now streaming *lossless* FLAC files *for free* via its own app. You will need to update settings in the latest version of the Radio Paradise app, but thats all you need to do for good sound and grown-up variety! Excellent news for audiophiles on a budget.
Hi Guys, OK, I’ve been using Tidal for a while and I do like the sound quality. However, the catalog is thin. Try searching for Telemann and very lttle comes up. The user interface is also very poor. This is important! Spotify is better in both important areas, and it offers a free tier, which I listen to and enjoy. I endure some advertising and would undoubtedly switch to Tidal *if* I could listen for free. This is exactly how Spotify wrested the top streaming position from Pandora a few years ago. Pandora, the original leader, you may remember was free, but sound quality was pretty poor. Spotify came along with better sound (still not great,tho) and you could still get it for free. Tidal could do the same thing, offering the best sound quality with ads for free, or the best sound quality ad-free for a fee. Then they could capture budget-conscious people like me, which they cannot do right now. If they don’t get a big audience soon, they won’t survive. I’ll miss the sound quality when I have to quit the free trial.
Hi Bruce,
Tidal has almost never NOT had a song or artist I’ve been looking for. Obscure jazz or folk? Check. Rare ECM stuff like John mentioned? Check. Classical? You bet. Into scarce or Little known 50s pop? It’s there. Just search with proper spelling. Did I mention MQA?
🙂
Ok, I apologize for my precious negative post – I’m listening to Jason Isbell now on the free trial, and the sound quality is definitely better than Spotify or any of the others. However, the musical selection appears pretty limited.
More importantly, I can’t understand why virtually *all* the audiphile usual suspects are hyping streaming services relentlessly *for years* and I’ve seen practically nothing that talks about the fantastic, unlimited free music of all genres and eras on internet radio. Way better than any of the streming services because a: they are free, and b: real human D.J.s who often have actual good taste in music. Why is this approach to listening virtually never covered?? I can name many favorites: WFUV, Wrecking Ball Radio, Folk Alley, The Peak, Radio Swiss Classic, KPFA, BBC 6, and many more. Some have good sound quality, some don’t. Many have great music and intelligent DJs.
The audio press is doing a great disservice to its audience by neglecting this aspect of the new technology.
Bruce
Took a look. Looks Awful! No appealing music for adults whatsoever. Might be of interest to teenagers. Hope they don’t make unsubscribimg a hassle. Would never dream of paying for this. Spotify is *much* nicer from the get-go. Sound quality is irrelevant if the music sucks. Sorry!
At first glance, I’d tend to agree with you, Bruce. It took me awhile to figure out how to navigate and search the damn thing, but once you start digging deeper, you’ll be amazed at what’s there. For instance, they’ve recently gotten the entire ECM catalog! And I mean everything. For me, it’s like a kid in a candy shop. Hang with it a bit longer and see what you think… Search some of your favorite artists/albums. It it’s still a no-go for you, then that’s OK too.