Qobuz coming to U.S.

[christopher3393]

Didn't see this posted anywhere: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/qobuz-brings-worlds-premier-high-res-online-music-service-to-the-us-at-ces-2018-300577268.html

Mid-2018. This is great news.

[matthias]

Matt

[christopher3393]

Whoops. Thanks.

[rando]

Upvote redacted.  

[christopher3393]

[Richter Di]

With a buggy iOS and Android version at the moment I think it is actualy bad news because they will do marketing and people will be disapointed.

Don’t get me wrong. I have a Qobuz Hi-Fi subscription and also sometimes buy HiRes articles from them. The music selection and sound is great. But the software needs to work flawlessly before making a big step to a bigger market.

[Musicophile]

15 hours ago, Richter Di said:

With a buggy iOS and Android version at the moment I think it is actualy bad news because they will do marketing and people will be disapointed.

Don’t get me wrong. I have a Qobuz Hi-Fi subscription and also sometimes buy HiRes articles from them. The music selection and sound is great. But the software needs to work flawlessly before making a big step to a bigger market.

Agree, their mobile offering is a bit problematic (I still use it a lot though). 

 

However, integration with Audirvana Plus works really well, including streaming of up to 24/192. And no MQA. 

 

I still hope they’ll eventually fix the mobile app (which often is slow to react and has particular issues with downloading for offline use). 

[rando]

I have to wonder if the EU regulations are stagnating their mobile app and in which direction the US version will head. 

 

Historically businesses struggle with distribution on the other side of the pond more than the common language of business.  Which is to say the manner in which they do business in the old world is very different from the manner in which it is conducted on in the new world.  A fact that can greatly impair on the ground operation and understanding of how to react to markets on the opposite shore.  Hopefully Quobuz hired some good people over here outside marketing and network upkeep.

[Musicophile]

1 hour ago, rando said:

I have to wonder if the EU regulations are stagnating their mobile app and in which direction the US version will head. 

 

Historically businesses struggle with distribution on the other side of the pond more than the common language of business.  Which is to say the manner in which they do business in the old world is very different from the manner in which it is conducted on in the new world.  A fact that can greatly impair on the ground operation and understanding of how to react to markets on the opposite shore.  Hopefully Quobuz hired some good people over here outside marketing and network upkeep.

what EU regulations are you referring to that could make their app slightly buggy and unstable?

[rando]

Specifically. you tell me?  I was the one asking those with better seats and personal experience with it to gain some idea what can be expected when they port it for US customers.  Who I might add are very well steeped in UI working correctly.

[Richter Di]

I would hope with fresh money coming in via a bigger customer base they can get top people to work on the App and make it more stable.

[#Yoda#]

3 hours ago, Richter Di said:

I would hope with fresh money coming in via a bigger customer base they can get top people to work on the App and make it more stable.

What are you dreaming about? 

 

Qobuz is still burning money with their weak business model. Qobuz subsidizes subscriber numbers with selling many HiRes albums at a dumping price (far below cost price).

I'm a Qobuz Sublime subscriber. Within 3 months I've compensated the subscription rate with the discounts on downloads and I know a lot of people with similar behavior. Eventually the more customers like me they get, the more money they will loose.

 

Because of negative experience especially with Qobuz, I use a music analysis tool to check any purchased HiRes file if the received quality is equivalent to the labeled resolution, what in case of Qobuz.com is not always a matter of course.

 

In three weeks, HighResAudio.com will launch their own HiRes Streaming Service in Europe with really approved and guaranteed QoS regarding the resolution reliability of the delivered content, in contrast to Qobuz.com. If HRA's subscription price is as competitive as they've announced, Qobuz will face a real challenge in their current market and the real financial situation of the new owner, Xandrie S.A. is not very transparent.

 

Anyway, competition is good for the customers!

[Musicophile]

11 hours ago, rando said:

Specifically. you tell me?  I was the one asking those with better seats and personal experience with it to gain some idea what can be expected when they port it for US customers.  Who I might add are very well steeped in UI working correctly.

Believe me, in spite of many useless EU regulations, I have yet to come across one that requires bad coding.

[rando]

I fear you miss the finer points in how meeting regulations across nearly 10 separate countries could impact it.  That a single platform could be hamstrung trying to serve the needs of so many masters.  Even across two states in the US regulations can be so troublesome a business will leave customers to a competitor.  Licensing, widely different overwriting requirements, fees, etc.  It could take a year or more to even meet base requirements and pass inspection.  All the while trying to keep the actual business at hand from falling off.  

 

I wasn't making a case for this.  I was asking if it might be at least one underlying cause for not doing certain things well.  Purposely falling short to avoid being keelhauled for breaking contrary agreements with neighboring countries.  The frontiers of virtual payment and product delivery, much less security and social issues related to the amount of time people spend interacting with cell phones, are hardly devoid of great amounts of money and regulations to catch it as it passes through.  

[Musicophile]

2 hours ago, rando said:

I fear you miss the finer points in how meeting regulations across nearly 10 separate countries could impact it.  That a single platform could be hamstrung trying to serve the needs of so many masters.  Even across two states in the US regulations can be so troublesome a business will leave customers to a competitor.  Licensing, widely different overwriting requirements, fees, etc.  It could take a year or more to even meet base requirements and pass inspection.  All the while trying to keep the actual business at hand from falling off.  

 

I wasn't making a case for this.  I was asking if it might be at least one underlying cause for not doing certain things well.  Purposely falling short to avoid being keelhauled for breaking contrary agreements with neighboring countries.  The frontiers of virtual payment and product delivery, much less security and social issues related to the amount of time people spend interacting with cell phones, are hardly devoid of great amounts of money and regulations to catch it as it passes through.  

I don't believe this to be the case. Most of the issues the app has are pure usability topics, e.g. sudden crashes, or unreactive buttons. 

 

Most of the time it works ok-ish, but especially the downloads for offline usage are often relatively unstable (partially driven I believe by iOS limitations). 

 

I don't believe this is country regulations. The app doesn't allow in-app purchases or anything else that could be country specific.

 

As a comparator, the offline usage and downloads of the Netflix app, who has similar licensing complexities, works flawless. 

[rando]

Thanks, I wasn't trying to pull this off on some tangent or personal bugaboo.  Hopefully their launch and app both go over well here.

[Richter Di]

Oh I am getting so angry.

Downloaded the latest Android version 4.0.11 on my Sony NW-ZX2 today, now I can not import anything and also can not listen to anything new. All the files I imported so far are usable but nothing new. Why am I paying for a streaming service=

[Snowmonkey]

I subscribe to and stream Qobuz, although I am almost sure they have no presence in Australia. It's the miracle of the interweb (and yes, the app is somewhat buggy and unreliable).

[sockpit]

Am surprised to see complaints concerning the app.  My iOS version of the app works like a charm and has zero bugs.  This has been true for maybe a year.

 

In the latest update,  the word on the Play button is the French “Lire” but that’s the extent of it.

 

Way way better than Tidal app, and the curation, album notes, articles are terrific.

[hsmeets]

On 25-1-2018 at 5:59 AM, sockpit said:

Am surprised to see complaints concerning the app.  My iOS version of the app works like a charm and has zero bugs.  This has been true for maybe a year.

 

In the latest update,  the word on the Play button is the French “Lire” but that’s the extent of it.

 

Way way better than Tidal app, and the curation, album notes, articles are terrific.

 

Same experience here, the (iOS) app is stable. 

[rodrigaj]

For the past four years, when I went to the qobuz page, I would get the "do not do business in your country...leave your email and we will keep you informed..." pop up. I never received anything.

 

Now I hear from other sources, including CA, that streaming to the USA is to begin in 2018. I still have never received anything. But the pop up has changed and after you enter your email address you are sent to UK page where the pound sterling is requested for subscription.

 

So, has anyone from the USA tried to proceed with the subscription now prior to the actual USA introduction?

[sockpit]

@rodrigaj

 

I pay in pounds at the British website monthly.  But in order to initially sign up about a year ago, I had to establish a VPN connection via TunnelBear.  Once signed up, payment via paypal is automatic and I have not had to use VPN again, certainly not to login into the app and use the service!

[rodrigaj]

Thanks sockpit. I knew about signing up via VPN, but I was wondering if they are purposely diverting the USA inquiries to the UK in order to begin signing up USA customers.

 

It seems odd that for four years all you got was "thanks" after submitting the email address, and now they send you to the UK site which appears to allow signup without the VPN.

[sockpit]

Give it a whirl and see how far you get!  I love it.

[timbo]

Just a thumbs up here for the app and the Qobuz service, I find the app (iPad and iPhone) absolutely stable and often updated with new features. The Mac OS desktop app is brilliant and reading the articles (somewhat strangely called Panoramas?) then playing albums and tracks from there is  great way to discover new artists and music. I did moan to them when I first took on the Sublime Plus service as some of the  albums marked Hi-Res will only stream Hi-Res if you buy them first, but that is becoming rarer now as more labels get accustomed to the idea to allowing Hi-Res streaming. I actually cannot praise Qobuz enough, I can't stand Tidal's over emphasis on urban dance music, whereas Qobuz invite me to an eclectic range of new music discovery. I find their app feature development (OK it's not Roon but it's getting there!) quite astonishing considering their size and market reach - I wish them every success for the future.

 

(Of course they are French, there is that, and sometimes I can spend a while explaining a problem in an email that simply doesn't translate all that well - but maybe that will change with US integration! ?)