TIDAL, the new music streaming service that offers lossless high-fidelity streaming, is now in Malaysia. The service that’s now owned by international music icon Jay Z is available for Malaysians looking for a premium music streaming experience from as low as RM14.90 per month.
With a library of over 25 million songs, TIDAL closely matches other music streaming services currently available for Malaysians today. There are key differences, of course. For instance, TIDAL not only offers a library of songs, but also over 75,000 music videos that can be played on demand.
In addition, playlists on TIDAL are curated by an editorial team and not by a computer algorithm, while users will also be able to access playlists created by artists, journalists and other personalities.
Most importantly, TIDAL offers lossless high-fidelity music streaming. With 16-bit FLAC/ALAC 44.1kHz tracks streaming at 1411kbps, TIDAL offers a richer streaming experience compared to Spotify’s 320kbps and iTunes’ 256kbps maximum outputs. If you identify as an audiophile, this lossless streaming will very much likely mean a lot for you.
Subscribers can also create playlists, while mobile users can download tracks for offline playback – which could be useful because at such high bitrate playback, those on lower-quality connections may not be able to fully experience the hi-fi streaming (TIDAL also offers lower-bitrate playback). Also, those on limited mobile Internet quotas would be wise to use the offline playback feature, too.
As with other services, TIDAL can be accessed via the web, and on dedicated apps on Android and iOS. It also natively supports a wide range of home music network players, which lend a hand to its premium status.
Surprisingly, the subscription prices for TIDAL is quite competitive for what it offers. There are two tiers: RM14.90 and RM29.80 per month. Both rates offer ad-free access to all TIDAL services, where the higher tier unlocks the lossless high-fidelity streaming, which is uncompressed.
For more information, check out www.tidal.com. Those who are using iOS and Mac devices should subscribe via its official website instead of iTunes, to avoid the additional 30% surcharge from Apple.
