Elusive Spotify Lossless Option May Arrive as Paid 'Music Pro' Add-on

[MacRumors]

Spotify's elusive lossless music experience is being teased again, this time based on code uncovered by The Verge in recent builds of the Spotify app for Android.

More than three years have elapsed since Spotify announced its intention to offer a "HiFi" premium option that would give users access to a catalog of CD-quality music tracks. Originally the company said the tier would go live by the end of 2021, but a shift in the wider streaming market upended that idea.

Apple Music has since rolled lossless listening into its standard subscription price, while Amazon stopped charging extra for its lossless music library. The moves effectively kiboshed Spotify's original strategy of marketing an exclusively lossless HiFi tier.

That said, it doesn't sound as if lossless is coming as a free perk. The latest rumors suggest that Spotify now aims to offer lossless audio playback in an optional "Music Pro" add-on that will also include new DJ remix features, which let subscribers "speed up, mash-up, and otherwise edit" tracks from their favorite artists, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Spotify will likely make some basic remixing tools available as part of its Premium subscription (currently $10.99 a month, or $5.99 for students), but more powerful tools will be part of its "Music Pro" add-on. Where recent rumors of a new top "Supremium" tier fit in is unclear.

• Apple Music vs. Spotify Buyer's Guide

The intended price of the premium add-on has not been revealed, but given that major rivals include lossless in their standard plans, expecting subscribers to pay anything more than a nominal fee may be a big ask.

Article Link: Elusive Spotify Lossless Option May Arrive as Paid 'Music Pro' Add-on

 

[ladodger5]

Airplay 2 would be nice

 

[Squuiid]

Native HomePod integration would be nice.

[iOS] Implement Native HomePod Support

Details Just this week at WWDC (June 22, 2020), Apple announced support for third party music services on the HomePod. I'm requesting that Spotify implement native support for the HomePod such that one or even multiple HomePods will appear in the "Connect to a device" menu on any Apple device...

community.spotify.com

 

[SpaceMagic]

I'd pay for this

 

[vertsix]

effectively kiboshed

Huh. Kiboshed? Never heard that word before lol.

 

[Kabeyun]

More than three years have elapsed since Spotify announced its intention to offer a "HiFi" premium option that would give users access to a catalog of CD-quality music tracks.

Misleading to suggest that “CD-quality” is lossless because it typically isn’t.

 

[dominiongamma]

Airplay 2 would be nice

Honestly I think they gave up on the idea

 

[krspkbl]

And most people still won't notice any difference in quality. I'll stick with the standard tier because I do my listening through AirPods and my desktop speakers aren't good enough for lossless.

 

[JeffPerrin]

Industry rumors point to spatial audio as well (aka Dolby Atmos for music).

 

[zach-coleman]

When is music pro max coming?

 

[cgs1xx]

This strategy didn’t work for Tidal so not sure it can work for Spotify. I mean how much more expensive can all these subscription services be..?

Also, Spotify, where are we with being able to save partial albums? 🤔

 

[bunce66]

"CD quality"??

I thought we were way past that since 2003 or so.

 

[fakestrawberryflavor]

And most people still won't notice any difference in quality. I'll stick with the standard tier because I do my listening through AirPods and my desktop speakers aren't good enough for lossless.

I have a dac and 2000$ speaker setup and I can't tell a difference between apple lossless, my Flac cd rips, and Spotify high 320kpbs

I'm sure technically there is somewhere but I'm hard pressed to find it

 

[lenningj]

after many years, better late than never.

 

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

Airplay 2 would be nice

Yes and Spotify Connect.

 

[gatorvet96]

Misleading to suggest that “CD-quality” is lossless because it typically isn’t.

Wav files ripped from a CD are lossless (not always great with mastering - especially early on). They are only compressed if ripped into Mp3,AAC,etc.

 

[JippaLippa]

At this point Spotify has become just laughing stock...

 

[jmarsh5]

*Coming Soon...









...2031*

 

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

It would be nice with DJ sets (Audio only or with video), like Tomorrowland, Boiler Room, Mix Mag, Ultra music Festival and Drumcode Radio etc.

 

[GrayFlannel]

More audio hype being peddled from companies like Apple and Spotify to appear to be providing improvements that matter. But in reality to almost every user these features are completely meaningless not lossless.

Spend your money the way you wish but smarten up. Just be realistic enough to admit you can not distinguish the difference with these micro changes. Everyone thinks they are part of the 1%… a connoisseur. People are gullible beyond belief. Nothing pains them more than actually having to actually think.

 

[WatermelonSugarHigh]

And better audio for Apple TV App.

 

[bodhisattva]

And most people still won't notice any difference in quality. I'll stick with the standard tier because I do my listening through AirPods and my desktop speakers aren't good enough for lossless.

Right! I won a pretty awesome pair of Sennheiser headphones in a hackathon, and even the best lossless audio is barely perceptible as better. But I'd have to be focused and concentrating to make out the small differences that otherwise would go unnoticed. I constantly see friends asking for lossless, and all sorts of premium audio options, but listening to their music on base model Beats. 🙃

 

[jlc1978]

More audio hype being peddled from companies like Apple and Spotify to appear to be providing improvements that matter. But in reality to almost every user these features are completely meaningless not lossless.

Spend your money the way you wish but smarten up. Just be realistic enough to admit you can not distinguish the difference with these micro changes. Everyone thinks they are part of the 1%… a connoisseur. People are gullible beyond belief. Nothing pains them more than actually having to actually think.

Back when I was in university, people obsessed and argued incessantly over audio specs that made no difference to the listener; much the same as with computer specs today. As you point out, it's simply marketing.

 

[mach]

"CD quality"??

I thought we were way past that since 2003 or so.

MP3 compression is excellent but there is absolutely still a difference between MP3 and WAV/FLAC.

 

[hovscorpion12]

And yet, Spotify complains Apple is stealing their business. No S**T. Apple Music is $10 and offers Lossless. This further proves why Apple Music and in general remain king.