Derek Malcolm / Digital Trends
In the wake of yet another tease from Spotify on the potential coming of its long, long-awaited hi-fi tier, the flames of streaming music wars have once again been stoked in my household: I’m ready to dump Spotify for better audio quality, while my family is prepared to die on its lo-fi hill.
My wife, 13-year-old daughter, and I have been a Spotify Family family for years. But while we all agree that the Swedish streaming service’s UI, music discovery, and plentiful extra features are miles above the competition, I, on the other hand, have become accustomed to the sweet sounds of lossless and hi-res audio, and have had to sit at the sidelines gnashing my teeth watching every other music service add them to their platforms. And I’ve had it.
But Derek, why not just dump Spotify and switch?
You switch. I’m done trying to switch. Believe me, I’ve tried. I’m an A/V journalist with access to any number of evaluation trials of all the major services. I’ve explained ad nauseam the virtues of lossless audio over Spotify’s subpar 320kbps, and I’ve even made it easy for my family by porting their playlists over with all the SongShift and Switcheroo-type apps out there.
But it’s all fallen on deaf ears. My family just can’t — or doesn’t want to — break free from Spotify Penitentiary. They’re fine with the audio. And more important, they’re in love with its UI and usability. It is, quite literally, Stockholm syndrome.
And I get it. Most people (including my family) don’t notice or don’t care to notice the differences between Spotify’s lossy stream quality and the lossless CD quality of just about every other service, let alone hi-res audio. (Spotify’s CEO has said as much, too.) There’s also an argument to be made about most people not even having the right audio equipment to take advantage lossless or hi-res audio, so what’s the point?
The point is, I notice the difference, and I can’t go back. And I’m resentful that my only other option is to give up a streaming service that I really like for a level of audio quality that should just be table stakes at this point. That, and I’m tired of hearing CEO Daniel Ek (and the media) dangling it in front of me since 2021. Enough already.
“There’s a good subset of that group of 246 million subscribers that want a much better version of Spotify,” Ek said at Wednesday’s earnings call. “Those are huge music lovers who are primarily looking for even more flexibility in how they use Spotify and the music capabilities that exist on Spotify.” Exactly.
Call me Mr. Good Subset. My hand cannot be raised any higher. And before I risk another family streaming service coup attempt, Mr. Ek, please, make with the hi-fi.
Derek Malcolm is a Toronto-based technology journalist, editor, and content specialist whose work has appeared in…
Spotify’s Car Thing now available to anyone for $90
If you took note of Spotify’s very limited release of its Car Thing music player and thought that it might make a good addition to your vehicle, we have good news: It’s no longer an invite-only exclusive. If you live in the U.S. and have a Spotify Premium account and $90 burning a hole in your pocket, you can grab one of these devices for yourself.
As a quick refresher, Car Thing is a device that’s meant to make it a lot easier to navigate and play audio from Spotify in your car. Car Thing doesn’t offer any functions that you can’t get through your phone or your in-car infotainment system (if it has Apple CarPlay or Android Auto), but if you’re one of the many folks who don’t want to use (or can’t use) one of those options, Car Thing is a $90 convenience.
Spotify’s HiFi tier was MIA in 2021. Will 2022 be any different?
Spotify announced almost a year ago that it would launch a new subscription tier for its Premium members called Spotify HiFi before the end of 2021. As the name suggests, Spotify said the new, more expensive tier would distinguish itself by offering “lossless CD-quality” audio — a significant step up in quality over the company’s current maximum streaming quality, which is still based on a lossy compression system. But 2021 is now in our collective rearview mirror and, so far, there’s still no sign of Spotify HiFi.
And concerns are growing that even Spotify can’t say for sure when or if it will actually launch the new tier. Now, 9to5Mac has spotted a message from the company on its community support site that doesn’t exactly fill us with confidence:
Hey folks,
Chill with Spotify for free on Delta Airlines this holiday season
There’s some good news for Spotify listeners who are planning to take a trip this holiday season on Delta Airlines — you’ll be able to stream as much music as you like without paying the airline’s customary fees for Wi-Fi data. Delta won’t be playing Santa for long, as the free data period only lasts from December 8, 2021, to January 19, 2022.
To take advantage of the free data, all you need to do is connect your phone or tablet to the in-flight Wi-Fi system and then fire up your Spotify app. There’s only one caveat: Your aircraft needs to be equipped with Viasat for its data connectivity, and not every Delta flight has this gear.
