In the wake ofyet another tease from Spotifyon the potential come of its long , long - await hi - fi grade , the flames of streaming music wars have once again been stoked in my household : I ’m ready to dumpSpotifyfor beneficial audio calibre , while my family is prepare to expire on its lo - fi hill .

My married woman , 13 - yr - old daughter , and I have been aSpotify Familyfamily for year . But while we all agree that the Swedish cyclosis inspection and repair ’s UI , medicine discovery , and plenteous extra characteristic are miles above the contest , I , on the other hand , have become wonted to the sweet sound of lossless and hi - res audio , and have had to model at the sidelines gnash my teeth watch every othermusic serviceadd them to their platforms . And I ’ve had it .

But Derek , why not just dump Spotify and switch ?

Youswitch . I ’m done prove to switch . Believe me , I ’ve tried . I ’m an A / V journalist with access to any figure of rating tryout of all the major service . I ’ve explained ad nauseam the chastity of lossless audio recording over Spotify ’s subpar 320kbps , and I ’ve even made it easy for my sept byporting their playlists overwith all the SongShift and Switcheroo - type apps out there .

But it ’s all fallen on deaf auricle . My family just ca n’t — or does n’t need to — disclose free from Spotify Penitentiary . They ’re fine with the audio . And more significant , they ’re in love with its UI and usability . It is , quite literally , Stockholm syndrome .

And I get it . Most people ( include my family ) do n’t notice or do n’t deal to notice the differences between Spotify ’s lossy current character and the lossless CD quality of just about every other service , let alonehi - Ra audio frequency . ( Spotify ’s CEOhas said as much , too . ) There ’s also an argument to be made about most peoplenot even having the right audio recording equipmentto take reward lossless or hi - res audio , so what ’s the head ?

The point is , Inotice the difference , and I ca n’t go back . And I ’m resentful that my only other choice is to give up a cyclosis servicing that I really care for a level of audio timber that should just be table stakes at this pointedness . That , and I ’m trite of get word chief operating officer Daniel Ek ( and the medium ) swing it in front of me since 2021 . Enough already .

“ There ’s a good subset of that group of 246 million endorser that want a much right version of Spotify , ” Ek said at Wednesday ’s net income call . “ Those are huge music lovers who are primarily looking for even more tractableness in how they utilise Spotify and the music capabilities that exist on Spotify . ” Exactly .

Call me Mr. Good Subset . My hand can not be evoke any eminent . And before I risk another family streaming service coup endeavour , Mr. Ek , please , make with the howdy - fi .