Spotify's HiFi tier could finally be about to launch

I’ve been with Spotify since the beginning but only used it for auditioning music before buying the physical copy. I was sent a message a couple of months ago about my subscription not being able to paid through Apple anymore so I did nothing about it.

Honestly since subscribing to Qobuz I haven’t missed it. The interface was cool but I never took advantage of any of the recommendations or automated playlists anyway. As for the Hifi higher res thing- they’ve cried wolf one too many times on that.

it's uncanny how many times spotify's algorithim has drudged up and recommended to me some fantastically obscure record i might have heard once and liked 50 years ago. its playlist and radio station functions are also extremely prescient. amazon and tidal, by comparison, are pretty rudimentary in these regards, although amazon's catalog (at least in the genres i listen to) now seems to be virtually on a par with spotify's. i just wish spotify was more forthright about this hirez thing.

So, assuming it does eventually roll out and the quality is up to Qobuz standards — a big if I’d submit — at $20/month it’s at an 85% premium to my annual Qobuz subscription.  All else being equal I’d be willing to pay a little more for better playlist creation and music search/discovery capabilities (Qobuz search function sucks IME), but not 85% more.  We’ll see how it shakes out I guess. 

I will happily pay them $20. Their UI is unmatched. Spotify recommendations are also so much better than Tidal and Qobuz, at least for my listening preference. Best of all, their Connect feature rocks! It is so seamless.