I gave up on Spotify after the Neil Young debacle. I've tried Deezer and Qobuz both really weren't as good as Spotify they lacked the range of songs and creating playlists was really awkward -- any other alternatives people would recommend?
I use NTS radio for on the go stuff and discovering new music. I pay for their membership which is very reasonable.
Once you've listened to an album a couple of times, you have to pay for it and then you get unlimited streams.
If there's an artist that isn't on bandcamp (many artists on major labels aren't) then I use plexamp. The monthly bill for that server has effectively replaced my streaming bill.
I get discovery via Youtube and some friends, but it's way less than before with Spotify. I don't mind it though, as I've always tended to listen the same artists over and over again instead of new ones.
Considering that the Airsonic server also hosts bunch of other stuff for me, I think that the cost is similar to the 12$/month cost of Spotify (6$/month + buying 5 CDs per year). Also I get to own my bought music.
I have a Spotify subscription and it is great for the depth of the catalogue and playing your favourite music when you get the itch, but algorithmic playlists suck. Humans do discovery much better, and just leaving radio playing broadens your taste.
However, they are in the process of adding better APIs for developers to use, so at least that's a plus in my books: https://github.com/orgs/tidal-music/discussions/categories/i...
The default recommendations were pretty hip-hop-based for me, though, but nowadays it's better. I also subscribe to di.fm, which probably tells a bit about my music taste.
Well, people bought Windows Phones probably to avoid buying Android or Apple phones, so I guess it's still the same?
When I joined they had some social features, and searching for user created playlists seems possible. The last couple of times I've tried I've only gotten Qobuz's official playlists in search results. I've had to make do with syncing playlists from Spotify with Soundiiz.
When combined with how inaccurate the metadata is (including the lack of ability to report the inaccurate metadata) and the lack of any new features in the past year (including lack of copying pre-saves from every other platform), it really seems like investment in Qobuz has stalled.
It's too bad, because it seemed pretty promising. I really miss Rdio. :'(
For listening to Navidrome on the go I use the "substreamer" app on Android. The "Podcast Republic" app also works well for listening to college radio streams to find new artists.
Disclaimer: I was previously at Grooveshark.
Deezer has FLAC streaming: https://www.deezer.com/en/offers/premium
May or may not be available in your locale. I don't actually use Deezer (I use Spotify) so I don't know how much of their catalog is available in FLAC.
Happy listening ~
Plus, I run a navidrome server, so I can stream (some of, I have a lot of vinyl) my own music when I'm out. I'm a lot happier with this arrangement.
If I'm setting the bar too high, just playing audio without freezing or bugging out constantly would already be a huge improvement.
> there is no successor, so unlikely in the near future
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