Most industry types agree that 24-bit/48kHz is the threshold for high-resolution audio, and those streamers that support it deliver high-res streams all the way up to 24-bit/192kHz.īut Spotify never said anything about high-resolution audio in its initial Spotify HiFi announcement all it promised was “CD-quality” audio, which qualifies as “hi-fi” but not “hi-res.”Īs for the “Spotify Platinum” rumors, the purported survey makes mention of a “Studio Sound” feature in addition to HiFi. Plenty of Spotify’s streaming music rivals, including Amazon Music Unlimited, Apple Music, Qobuz, and Tidal, offer “high-resolution” music streaming–that is, audio that’s encoded at a higher resolution and sampling rate than CD-quality 16-bit/44.1kHz audio tracks. (Apple was completely new to lossless and spatial audio streaming, while Amazon had previously been charging extra for lossless and spatial tracks.)įollowing the Amazon and Apple announcements, the prospect of paying extra (most likely) for only CD-quality music and (probably) no spatial audio began to lose its luster, so perhaps Spotify chose to retreat and regroup. Just three months after the Spotify HiFi announcement, Amazon and Apple both announced (separately, but on the same day) that they would begin offering lossless, high-resolution, and spatial audio music tracks, all for no extra charge. There is another reason that Spotify might have delayed Spotify HiFi: because it got caught flat-footed by Apple and Amazon, a development that Spotify’s Söderström referred to (“the industry changed”) earlier. “So I can’t really announce any specifics on this other than to say that we’re in constant dialogue with our partners to bring this to market.” “Many of the features that we talk about and especially that’s related to music ends up into licensing,” Ek told investors. Here’s the exact quote, as reported by TechCrunch: Back in February 2022, Spotify CEO Daniel Ed blamed “licensing” issues when asked about the fate of Spotify HiFi during a company earnings call. Previously, a “HiFi” icon was spotted in the Spotify app back in May 2021 and a leaked “Hi, HiFi” video that made the rounds a few months later. Well, those 30 days came and went without any sign of Spotify Platinum actually appearing. The Redditor said the survey asked if they would switch back to Spotify “in the nest 30 days” for “one of features.” According to an October 2022 post on Reddit, a longtime Spotify user who had recently switched to Apple Music claimed they got a survey detailed a new plan–“Spotify Platinum”–that boasts HiFi, as well as other features such as “Studio Sound,” a “Headphone Tuner,” “Audio Insights,” “Library Pro,” “Playlist Pro,” and “limited-ad” podcasts, all for an extra charge (more on that in a moment). There have been other hints about Spotify HiFi’s arrival. Spotify again failed to mention Spotify HiFi during its Q2 2023 earnings report on July 25, although it did raise Premium prices the previous day. Later, Spotify CEO Daniel Ek dodged a question about Spotify HiFi during the streamer’s third-quarter 2022 earnings call in October 2022, while the feature went entirely unmentioned during Spotify’s most recent “Stream On” event in March 2023. We reached out to Spotify shortly after that announcement, but a rep would only say that the company did “not have anything further to share on HiFi beyond the excitement for the future launch.” We will of course update you here when we can. But we don’t have timing details to share yet. We feel the same, and we’re excited to deliver a Spotify HiFi experience to Premium users in the future. We know that HiFi quality audio is important to you. Söderström didn’t offer a timeline for when Spotify HiFi might finally arrive, beyond a vague “at some point.”Įarly last year, the company offered a vaguely worded statement that offered scant details about Spotify HiFi’s fate: Speaking with The Verge in March, Spotify co-president Gustav Söderström said that the company is “still going to do” Spotify HiFi, but that “we’re going to do it in a way where it makes sense for us and for our listeners,” adding that “the industry changed and we had to adapt.” We’ll discuss exactly how the industry changed in a moment. Spotify has yet to confirm the Bloomberg report, but Spotify execs have previously insisted that Spotify HiFi is still coming. The new tier, which Spotify is calling “Supremium” behind closed doors, would become Spotify’s priciest plan, and it could arrive later this year, albeit in “non-U.S. The short answer is that we don’t know when Spotify HiFi will arrive, but there are hints that it may arrive later in 2023.Īccording to a June 2023 report from Bloomberg, Spotify is prepping a new and pricier tier that will “likely” including Spotify HiFi, along with “expanded” access to audiobooks.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |