![]() ![]() There’s a greater emphasis on playlists that have been curated by artists and live performances that are exclusive to the platform, but the total number of songs available is roughly the same. Unless you’re convinced you’ve got superpowered golden ears, though, it’s going to be hard to tell the difference. Tidal offers up to CD quality on its base HiFi tier, which exceeds Spotify’s highest levels. While figures can be murky, Tidal has a reputation for higher royalties and direct artist payouts compared to its rivals. It struggled to dominate the streaming world when it was owned by Jay-Z, but Tidal – still the plaything of billionaires after passing over to ex-Twitter boss Jack Dorsey in 2021 – is still a top choice if you want a step-up in audio quality and want to know your cash is supporting the artists making the music. The free version is good if your budget is, well zero, but we prefer uninterrupted listening. ![]() You get ads every few tracks, can only skip six songs per hour and can only shuffle songs from an album or playlist, but you do get Daily Mixes. Is there a free version or trial? Oh yes, there is a free version of Spotify and a month trial of Premium. A family plan of up to six accounts costs £16.99, and the university student plan is £5.99. How much does it cost? We use the individual plan which costs £9.99 per month, but you can also get a Duo plan for “a couple under one roof” for £13.99. There’s a greater emphasis on podcasting than rivals, but luckily no-one is forcing you to listen to Joe Rogan and we still think it’s worth the monthly fee. There’s no spatial audio support or hi-res music, but we’ll be honest: we've never had an issue with Spotify’s sound quality for casual browsing. So if you’ve been on a White Stripes binge it groups together similar bands, and every year it collates your top songs into one massive playlist. We’ve used the Premium tier for years, and love its Daily Mixes that surface music based on the artists you like. There’s even a new AI tool in beta that acts as a real-time mixer, which literally talks you through music that has been picked based on recent listening, going as far as to introduce tracks before they play and tell you what’s coming up. There’s a reason Spotify is the nation’s favourite music streamer: it has tons of music, the app is easy to navigate, it lets you download to listen offline and deploys algorithms that are great at helping you discover new artists. ![]()
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