Tidal and Qubuz are blocked in mainland China. To use those two services, I need to set up a VPN on the router. And to make sure the music stream go through the VPN, I need to change the network gateway of Bartok to the IP address of such router running VPN. so here is the question, how to change the network gateway of a Bartok?
Unfortunately it doesn’t work quite as you are imagining it. Qobuz is not available in China . That is quite different to being blocked by a government. Qobuz enters into licensing agreements with the recording rights owners in each country that it serves. So, for example, although Qobuz is available in the UK and France the service for each is not identical. Qobuz is not yet available in many EU countries even though it is a company in the EU. It is currently only available in 18 countries.
You need a VPN, not to receive the service, but to obtain a subscription by fooling Qobuz that your computer ( which is where you subscribe from) is in a country that is served by them. This has nothing to do with Bartok or any receiving device. However I am advised that these days for new subscriptions Qobuz not only checks your DNS to verify your location but also your credit card. Your credit card has to be drawn from a bank in the country that the service applies to. This is of particular importance to Qobuz as it is not just a streaming service but also a download vendor ( though Mosaic does not have a “buy” button unlike Qobuz’ own apps) and sales rights are geographically limited. So if you wanted to subscribe to the Australian Qobuz service ( which I think is the geographically nearest to China) it seems that you will need to have a credit card from an Australian bank.
Tidal appears to work differently in regard to subscriptions but, again, if you can’t get a subscription then you can’t get the service.
Once you have a subscription then you should be able access the service wherever you are so long as you have the app installed on your device and log in ( subject to local government restrictions?).
Thank you, Pete.
Currently, I do have Qobuz and Tidal account and once subscribed to Tidal for several months but due to the Great Fire Wall, the service is very unstable in mainland China and it is almost impossible to listen, which means a VPN is required not only when you register and subscribe but also when you listen the music.
I ask this question because I need to change the IP settings of Bartok to let the streaming music go through that VPN.
Page 26 of your Bartók’s manual:
Once you have access to the Bartók’s settings, choose Network Settings (right hand tab at the top).
There you can override and change its wired settings.
Haha, there it is. Thanks a lot!