Qobuz – 15 Years Of Passion & Musical Discovery

https://www.qobuz.com/ie-en/info/News/QOBUZ-15-Years-of-Passion-and186483

7 Likes

Other streaming options are available of course, but Qobuz is the best of the bunch in my experience. I’ve been a user for the last 8 or 9 years. It’s not an exaggeration to say that it’s transformed my (music listening) life.

3 Likes

Still no Qobuz in Canada

I did not know, sorry to hear that.

Maybe it gets added to the list sooner than late:

https://help.qobuz.com/en/articles/10128-where-is-qobuz-available

Gotta admit, I love Qobuz.

French hifi is underrated :wink:

Too bad as it looks like the best service out there. Bureaucracy and market size may be the issue, but who knows for sure. A little research suggests that Qobuz is NOT the kind of service that tolerates VPN workarounds. So a dead end for now.

I did the same research, hoping to be of help to you, but unfortunately found the same. You are not alone in your search for Qobuz in Canada:

Thanks for the link Ermos, that was very kind of you!

I can see why some many like Qobuz, the combo of a first rate streaming platform that plugs into Roon and digital downloads store is very attractive.

2 Likes

Exactly. Hope it gets to Canada soon!

1 Like

You can open an account in the US with a VPN.

From higher up this topic.

A priori In May 2023

4 Likes

This is good news for Canadians. Looking forward to hearing more. My guess is the delay into the Canadian market is due to ensuring Qobuz meets Canadian content requirements stipulated by the CRTC.

On a different note I see Presto Music (UK based) is entering the streaming service marketplace. https://www.prestomusic.com/subscriptions. Bit of a dead end for most here if they don’t partner with Roon and dCS to tie to Mosaic.


I spent tooooo much money on that platform :roll_eyes:

1 Like

I hear you! When I look at my digital download purchasing run rate at Presto, ProStudioMasters, eclassical, High Res downloads etc, the Qobuz subs cost is reasonable. By changing my purchasing habits to ‘yearly favourites’, I think I’d come out ahead!

1 Like

I expect that is true to some extent but AFAIK similar considerations apply to every territory that Qobuz serves. I suspect that the reason for delays is the same as the reason why Qobuz is available in a limited , albeit expanding , number of countries. Unlike others Qobuz is significantly a site selling recordings by downloads. This aspect means that virtually all of their catalogue nay be bought. In fact they started out in France with the download store, streaming coming later. In fact for the recently added Japan service only downloads are offered - there is no streaming.

The right to sell recordings is territorially limited. Aside from the potential of infringing existing agreements with licensees and distributors what is owned by a company in one country does not necessarily mean that it has the same owner elsewhere. Thus the distribution of royalties in each country varies.So outside of any worldwide agreements Qobuz has to negotiate individual agreements in each territory. One reason why the catalogue offered both for streaming and sale is not the same for each country’s service. This is complicated moreover by the laudable aim of Qobuz to offer repertoire that has special significance in the country served. For example the new Canadian service will have much francophone repertoire that is not offered on the USA service.

Incidentally the new Qobuz online magazine seems to add further aspects and gathers much of its supporting curation in a more usable form.

I had mine for well over a year from the US to the UK. Maybe they changed something.

When it was introduced in the US I couldn’t simply switch my account to a US account. I had to export and reimport my favorites with Soundiiz.

I also only purchased my account via VPN. Once purchased I didn’t use a VPN.

Quick update for Canadians, I just upgraded my Qobuz to sublime and many of the record labels I mentioned above are now available in the Qobuz Canada download store. the 50-60% discount is fantastic!

For those who buy a lot of music, the sublime package is a good deal. I had a look at my download purchases and I can still buy the same number of downloads + the sublime subscription for less than the download cost from other vendors.

I couldn’t agree more. As I mentioned elsewhere I have just renewed my Qobuz subscription( Sublime) and am now in my eighth year.

1 Like