Scrolling through my Tidal track library I noticed that 20-30% (thousands!) of title headings have gone to a light gray shaded print (see yellow checks in attachment)meaning ‘the record label no longer allows streaming of this track’ This has happened before occasionally, but not on this level, the same track/same album is still available if you search it again and save it back to the playlist. Now this was a minor inconvenience but now is a major inconvenience and will take many hours to rectify. There seems to be no contact email for tidal on my home page and its seems to me if the tracks are still going to be available but just expired due to contract negotiations Tidal should automatically update the songs affected !?
Anyone know of a workaround to keep this from happening in the future, setting maybe overlooked? Would downloading the playlist solve it (you can download as long as your subscription stays current) ?
This is a major pita!
thanks
Bob
Anyone know of a workaround to keep this from happening in the future, setting maybe overlooked? Would downloading the playlist solve it (you can download as long as your subscription stays current) ?
This is a major pita!
thanks
Bob
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I guess that either they have new masters, replacing yours, or they have an aging policy on your local cache
Not sure if there’s an easy solution, and yes, it’s a PITA.
I think it’s an album-by-album or even track level licensing thing with the studios, i have found in some cases that the tracks are still available, but on a different “album” and so the track or album you have saved goes grey ,as you mention.
There’s not an insignificant amount of tracks that have no replacement, and that’s a shame.
I think it’s an album-by-album or even track level licensing thing with the studios, i have found in some cases that the tracks are still available, but on a different “album” and so the track or album you have saved goes grey ,as you mention.
There’s not an insignificant amount of tracks that have no replacement, and that’s a shame.
Have your own files and less worries.
This is the issue I was expecting with streaming services. Everything volatile AND depending on internet. Terrible. I admit is is hard to keep up with new stuff and to filter out the 80..90% stuff you don't like. New music can be found at various websites. Visits to friends that have (always more than 1!) streaming services also result in new stuff. Less "convenience" but I don't care.
This is the issue I was expecting with streaming services. Everything volatile AND depending on internet. Terrible. I admit is is hard to keep up with new stuff and to filter out the 80..90% stuff you don't like. New music can be found at various websites. Visits to friends that have (always more than 1!) streaming services also result in new stuff. Less "convenience" but I don't care.
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Very true.
However… The streaming services are how I’m finding new (to me) music these days, and it’s wonderful. Some of the lost tracks in my collection are not immediately available somewhere else on tidal, and will have to be found either on LP, or will require real searching to determine how they were released.
However… The streaming services are how I’m finding new (to me) music these days, and it’s wonderful. Some of the lost tracks in my collection are not immediately available somewhere else on tidal, and will have to be found either on LP, or will require real searching to determine how they were released.
I don‘t mind the not ‘owning’ it part as I knew going into it there would be some amount of fluctuations in content over time, but this has gotten to the ridiculous stage! As to aging out? The latest addition to go gray was 6 months old, so probably not that or they’d all do it at some point.
I’m with 6L6, my musical horizons have expanded in leaps and bounds finding music i’d surely never have gotten to experience otherwise. And like said, I can search the same title/same album that has been grayed out and most of the time it is again available. In this world of AI you’d think a bot would be smart enough to replace it automatically or offer choices for a different version or even just let you know every month that this,this,and this has expired, address as desired……something!
I’m with 6L6, my musical horizons have expanded in leaps and bounds finding music i’d surely never have gotten to experience otherwise. And like said, I can search the same title/same album that has been grayed out and most of the time it is again available. In this world of AI you’d think a bot would be smart enough to replace it automatically or offer choices for a different version or even just let you know every month that this,this,and this has expired, address as desired……something!
You technically don't own the music either if you buy a CD or LP. What you own is a licence for personal playback of the music. But at least you can do that as much as you want until the medium is worn through.
Tom
Tom
Technically you are then not dependent on quirks of a content provider and/or internet 🙂
Call it local files if you like. The dependency on content providers is something one has to accept when choosing the streaming model. Like a jukebox needing a dime for a song.
Call it local files if you like. The dependency on content providers is something one has to accept when choosing the streaming model. Like a jukebox needing a dime for a song.
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I really had nothing but good things to say about Tidal (except like mentioned the occasional track going dead) before now.
I wonder if MQA having financial issues (bankruptcy) has something to do with it ? Tidal is/was big into MQA and I did download a-lot of ‘masters’ tracks which many of are MQA.
edit; so i’ve been reclaiming tracks and so far out of 30 only one was not available for the exact replacement (it was a song from a movie soundtrack) But……..now my whole catalog has gone double, and if you delete one of them the other goes away too! 😳
I wonder if MQA having financial issues (bankruptcy) has something to do with it ? Tidal is/was big into MQA and I did download a-lot of ‘masters’ tracks which many of are MQA.
edit; so i’ve been reclaiming tracks and so far out of 30 only one was not available for the exact replacement (it was a song from a movie soundtrack) But……..now my whole catalog has gone double, and if you delete one of them the other goes away too! 😳
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Unfortunately I see this on Tidal tracks and albums as well, although not as much as some other posters. Stuff I really like I either purchase the tracks online from HDTracks, HighResAudio or Bandcamp, and if they are not available I will purchase the CD and rip it for upload it to my music server. (Roon based)
That seems to be the problem with pretty much all software and pay-to-play models anymore: that "before now" issue always shows up - either through the constant desire to upgrade things, the voracious appetite to attract new users, company mergers, bankruptcies, software standards that can't stand still, hacks, etc. Everything is in a constant state of flux that excites some people and exhausts others.
I agree that for general listening/music discovery, most of the streaming services are interesting and useful. I can't see putting much energy into them or assuming any particular one is going to be a long-term, stable source though. I use them more like radio stations.
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Finally got it sorted, of the 157 tracks that went gray 152 were able to be restored, so that leaves 5 that were no longer available in any capacity……..acceptable attrition for 5 years worth of collecting tracks (singles)
157 out of 1600 is almost 10% so not as bad compared to my earlier estimate of “20-30% of thousands” (must have been the adrenaline!) 🙄 In my defense i’d never counted them before…….just seemed like thousands when scrolling through it.
I still think they need to get their act together!
157 out of 1600 is almost 10% so not as bad compared to my earlier estimate of “20-30% of thousands” (must have been the adrenaline!) 🙄 In my defense i’d never counted them before…….just seemed like thousands when scrolling through it.
I still think they need to get their act together!
I have a similar problem with Spotify.
A few albums in my playlist were greyed out and wouldn't play and when I clicked on the album title the whole thing was the same.
However when I searched for it the same album came up perfectly normal so I had to erase the greyed out ones from my playlist and replace them with same but searched for ones and everything is now back to normal.
A few albums in my playlist were greyed out and wouldn't play and when I clicked on the album title the whole thing was the same.
However when I searched for it the same album came up perfectly normal so I had to erase the greyed out ones from my playlist and replace them with same but searched for ones and everything is now back to normal.
If you really like something perhaps you should buy it, and this has at least two benefits; 1. Artist gets (or got) some royalties at the sale of that recording, and 2.) avoid replacement of the master you choose for one you didn't that is likely heavily compressed and sounds less good than what it replaced. (Lots of streaming services are doing this.)
I guess I buy around 5 - 10% of the new music I discover, so not a large dent in the budget.
I guess I buy around 5 - 10% of the new music I discover, so not a large dent in the budget.
10% went gray (as in no longer playable/available in its previous state) as I stated in post #13 I restored 152 of them.
I had to manually replace each track one by one (to a updated version) only 5 of the 157 were gone for good (as in cannot be found on Tidal in any version) so 5 out of 1600, only 0.3% loss……….It was a major pita though. And then there‘s the question of will this continue?
Kevin, yes the quality of the replacement track is in question but it has to be at least 16/44.1 according to my upgraded hi-res plan. Is there a hi-res service that sells just single tracks? Many of my saved tracks are just one off songs that I happen to enjoy from albums that I don’t otherwise.
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As far as I know most of these are available only as full albums. I tend not to buy the recordings when I don't care for most of the tracks.
In terms of mastering I wasn't thinking about the resolution so much as a remastering with reduced dynamic range and possibly a change tonal balance of the recording + other processing not part of the original.
In terms of mastering I wasn't thinking about the resolution so much as a remastering with reduced dynamic range and possibly a change tonal balance of the recording + other processing not part of the original.
"As far as I know most of these are available only as full albums. I tend not to buy the recordings when I don't care for most of the tracks."
I understand the imperative. However, and here I am talking about my experience with the majority (over 50%) of albums issued in the 50s through the 80s that I knew, I would say that listening to the "non-hit" tracks were a great exploration of the vast range of musical compositional styles and production approaches/techniques. Some examples: Bob Lind's first album, any of the Byrd's albums but esp. Younger Than Yesterday, Beach Boy's Surf's Up, Rascals' Peaceful World, Led Zepp I and IV, Jethro Tull's Stand Up, Dusty Springfield in Memphis, Pink Floyd's Meddle, The Band's second album ("brown cover"), Bonnie Raitt's first album, etc. etc., etc. Someone might say these are all great albums which should be bought complete, but it has been my experience that significantly younger listeners are not of that ilk and therefore are missing out on expanding their musical horizons.
I understand the imperative. However, and here I am talking about my experience with the majority (over 50%) of albums issued in the 50s through the 80s that I knew, I would say that listening to the "non-hit" tracks were a great exploration of the vast range of musical compositional styles and production approaches/techniques. Some examples: Bob Lind's first album, any of the Byrd's albums but esp. Younger Than Yesterday, Beach Boy's Surf's Up, Rascals' Peaceful World, Led Zepp I and IV, Jethro Tull's Stand Up, Dusty Springfield in Memphis, Pink Floyd's Meddle, The Band's second album ("brown cover"), Bonnie Raitt's first album, etc. etc., etc. Someone might say these are all great albums which should be bought complete, but it has been my experience that significantly younger listeners are not of that ilk and therefore are missing out on expanding their musical horizons.
I generally give an album a full listen and often find the best songs (IMO) are not necessarily the ones that received the most air play. If there are a few such cuts it greatly increases the likelihood of me buying a copy.
Currently my library consists of several thousand purchased recordings and probably as many Tidal offerings. Not enough time to listen to it all.. LOL
Currently my library consists of several thousand purchased recordings and probably as many Tidal offerings. Not enough time to listen to it all.. LOL