My love affair with Tidal nears dissolution. The second month’s renewal is five days away, and divorce is nearly certain now. Mid-month I asked: “What Good is Tidal HiFi if Content won’t Play?” Matters are better and worse since. I no longer have the song stalls in the webapp running from Chrome OS. But track jumping behavior now afflicts Nexus 6—not just its tablet sibling.
On the phablet late this morning, I switched over to Google Music for a quick refresher comparison between identical tracks. I most certainly can hear the difference between 320kbps MP3 and Tidal’s 1411kbps Free Lossless Audio Codec. But the aural benefits are valueless if I can’t listen. Google Music invited me to resubscribe, with half a year free; it’s some kind of promotion for Nexus 6 buyers. How could I refuse no billing until after Thanksgiving? November feels forever away.
I sent Tidal Support email seeking last-minute resolution before cancellation, presented in italics rather than blockquotes:
My service renews May 31. I plan to cancel on the 29th.
I have an ongoing problem with the Android app on Nexus 6 and 9, where songs skip ahead and do not complete. This anomaly started soon after my second month of service, which is my first as a paying subscriber. The places where songs skip to the next is fairly consistent. Today, listening to Rolling Stones classic “Sympathy for the Devil”, the track abruptly ended about halfway through the 6:18 play time.
There is no pattern I can discern. The problem occurs with some albums and not with others. It might occur one day consistently with every song on an album but on another day play just fine. I do not see the errant behavior using the webapp in Chrome on my laptop.
Your FAQ section isn’t helpful, and I see no support forums for subscribers. I was in the process of canceling service when making the decision to send this email first. But without resolution, I must use another service, which is tragic. I will truly miss Tidal. Lossless listening is joyous, but useless if songs skip.
Can we fix this? Seems like a service-side problem to me. Otherwise, I must cancel, but in two days, so you can respond.
Even if Tidal resolves my problems, and no matter how much I enjoy the HiFi streaming, cost for 6 months will be nearly $120, when Google Music is free.