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Serious Problems with Qobuz

About six weeks ago I started having trouble with Qobuz. Many recordings that are available to stream suddenly appeared as "Unavailable" in Roon and as "Sample" in Qobuz own app (in this last case, you can stream only about a minute of each track and nothing more). I contacted Qobuz on several occasions and they emailed me saying that it is a "rights" problem. The labels affected are Chandos, BIS, Naxos, Capriccio, and CPO, and not all of the recordings are affected but mainly high resolution ones, and featuring certain composers, orchestras, conductors and performers. According to Qobuz, Naxos is the culprit as it owns all of those labels. Qobuz mentioned that the "are working with the labels to solve the problem", but up to now nothing has happened and the list of unavailable recordings is growing. In fact, some labels, like BIS and Chandos, have told some customers that have contacted them about this problem, that they are not the ones doing this.

Interestingly, this is not affecting the same recordings in Tidal, which are only available in CD resolution (44.1/16). This raises the question, at least for me, how viable is Qobuz when the recordings I want to listen to are being made unavailable. Mind you, recordings that were available before and which I listened to and marked as "favorites". Customers are paying for this service, which is not cheap, and it seems that Qobuz is reneging on the recordings it made available when one signs on.

I asked some very well known reviewers, some who had featured Qobuz reviews and interviews with the company's CEO, but none answered, and one is "sponsored" by Qobuz.

Qobuz has to answer to its customers and be forthcoming about the real problem and let us know if this problem can be solved or not. If not, they will be losing a lot of customers to others. A very bad way to run a business.
brucknermahler

Showing 3 responses by cleeds

Ag insider logo xs@2x
cleeds
5,644 posts
 
I don’t think what the OP describes is a "serious problem" at all. It sounds like a licensing issue. This frequently happens with CATV providers who get into a spat with a local station or cable channel about licensing fees, and channels are sometimes removed from a lineup - for a period of time - until the matter is resolved. As @jjss49 noted, Qobuz itself doesn’t own the music and neither do you.

Qobuz does offer the option to purchase and download its files so if there are some albums that are especially important to you, you might want to consider that. I like Qobuz a lot, but I’m not giving up my LPs and CDs anytime soon. Your experience is just one reason for that.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
cleeds
5,644 posts
 
big_greg3,201 posts09-24-2020 8:35am
This "serious problem" may be a matter of perspective.  Every once in a while, I’ll run into a song that isn’t available ... 99% of the time I can find and listen to anything I want on Qobuz. That 1% (or less) of times that I can’t hear a song I want to is NOT a "serious issue" ... I think you’ve blown this way out of proportion.
I agree. I've actually found a few major artists totally missing from Qobuz (there's no Bob Seger, for example) and of course there's plenty of more obscure music that it doesn't have. So what? For a single payment of $150/year it's a pretty good deal.
Ag insider logo xs@2x
cleeds
5,644 posts
 
brucknermahler
"Matter of perspective" is not.
It isn't? Do you mean we all have to think and feel the way that you do?
... When I signed, all those recordings that are now missing were available, thus, this was one of the main reasons to join. Qobuz made the offer of giving me that music in order to have me sign to their service.
Yes, and they initially provided those recordings, correct? Now they don't, apparently, but you are free to cancel at any time, right? So I don't understand your complaint.
... there are more persons mad at this state of affairs ...
And of course they are free to comment here.
As a paying customer I have the right to voice my concerns ...
Of course!
... yes this is a serious problem because it could mean that all those recordings will not be available anymore from Qobuz if they do not reach an agreement.
You're free to think it a serious problem but frankly, I don't understand the problem. Neither Qobuz or Tidal guarantee the availability of any specific files, as far as I can tell. If you've now decided you no longer like Qobuz, just cancel your account.
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