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Any Updates on why Tidal Albums appear Multiple Times in Sonos Controller?

  • 23 February 2022
  • 11 replies
  • 334 views
B

I see this question was posted over a year ago, but no one seemed to know the answer (unless I missed it?). So I figured I’d ask again!  As an example, if I go into the Tidal Android app or the Tidal desktop app and look up Elvis Costello’s King of America, it is listed exactly one time. But in the Sonos app, it lists three times, and each one looks identical:

Clicking on them, there is no difference in track listing. On Tidal, this album is listed as “Master” quality. So one possibility is that Tidal, behind the scenes, has three different steam types available for this same album. Perhaps, that’s why Sonos shows it like it is three different albums? Maybe each one sound a bit different? I’m curious if Sonos or Tidal has addressed why this is happening. (I realize this is probably Tidal’s issue, but since it makes it harder to use Sonos, it would be great if Sonos could pressure Tidal to fix -- or at least tell us what is broken so that Tidal users like myself could approach Tidal to fix!). Thanks.

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Best answer by Ken_Griffiths 23 February 2022, 22:46

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11 replies

jgatie

All content is displayed as received from the service, in the manner the services dictates via the Sonos Music API.  So Sonos doesn’t have any control over what is displayed, that would be up to Tidal. 

Ken_Griffiths

Online, in the now-distant past, there has been mention of this issue on Tidal and it was said that some Albums were issued/re-issued by the record labels and in some cases they were for availability in different Countries and that it was down to Tidal to consolidate those that had no difference, but I guess, if that is indeed the case🤔, that it’s ‘perhaps’ an on-going issue for Tidal.

G
Userlevel 7

The album appears three times because there are three versions of the album on TIDAL. Two are in MQA, but I can’t tell what the difference is between the two.


Unfortunately, the Sonos app does not differentiate between the three albums. But it wouldn’t really matter in this specific case since Sonos doesn’t support MQA audio. There might be a difference in audio quality between the three, but I doubt you would hear much of a difference on your Sonos speakers.

"Receive with simplicity everything that happens to you." - Rashi
B

Thanks everyone for the answers. Those all sound like very credible theories. I do wish Sonos could definitively chime in on why this is happening. That way, I could contact Tidal and point them to a post from Sonos so they understand the issue. (Otherwise, I suspect Tidal’s customer service will just point a finger at Sonos and nothing will get fixed.)

I agree that it probably doesn’t matter which of the three I listen to in terms of what I can hear. But I do think it really clutters up the interface, seeing album after album appearing two or three times. 

Ken_Griffiths

Thanks everyone for the answers. Those all sound like very credible theories. I do wish Sonos could definitively chime in on why this is happening. That way, I could contact Tidal and point them to a post from Sonos so they understand the issue. (Otherwise, I suspect Tidal’s customer service will just point a finger at Sonos and nothing will get fixed.)

I agree that it probably doesn’t matter which of the three I listen to in terms of what I can hear. But I do think it really clutters up the interface, seeing album after album appearing two or three times. 

It’s a case that Sonos publish an API for all developers, including the Tidal devs to access/use and add their services to Sonos. That API is presumably the same for all the Music services that we see in the Sonos App, so I don’t see how the Tidal Support Staff can deny ownership of the issue, as it’s clearly their data that they are feeding into the Sonos environment - it’s surely a case that Tidal need to clean up their data-feed, as I can’t personally see the Sonos devs wanting to interfere with their data in any way, shape, or form. I also can’t envisage Tidal asking the Sonos devs to do the work to clean up their data for them.

J

Thanks everyone for the answers. Those all sound like very credible theories. I do wish Sonos could definitively chime in on why this is happening. That way, I could contact Tidal and point them to a post from Sonos so they understand the issue. (Otherwise, I suspect Tidal’s customer service will just point a finger at Sonos and nothing will get fixed.)

I agree that it probably doesn’t matter which of the three I listen to in terms of what I can hear. But I do think it really clutters up the interface, seeing album after album appearing two or three times. 

If I understand @GuitarSuperstar‘s post correctly, the three versions are on the Tidal service itself, irrespective of the platform being used - it is not specific to Sonos.  Sonos cannot possibly judge whether or how this should be consolidated, and would be criticised if they attempted it. 

You should be able to go into the Tidal app and confirm this for yourself.  I don’t have Tidal so cannot take a look myself.

B

Thanks everyone for the answers. Those all sound like very credible theories. I do wish Sonos could definitively chime in on why this is happening. That way, I could contact Tidal and point them to a post from Sonos so they understand the issue. (Otherwise, I suspect Tidal’s customer service will just point a finger at Sonos and nothing will get fixed.)

I agree that it probably doesn’t matter which of the three I listen to in terms of what I can hear. But I do think it really clutters up the interface, seeing album after album appearing two or three times. 

If I understand @GuitarSuperstar‘s post correctly, the three versions are on the Tidal service itself, irrespective of the platform being used - it is not specific to Sonos.  Sonos cannot possibly judge whether or how this should be consolidated, and would be criticised if they attempted it. 

You should be able to go into the Tidal app and confirm this for yourself.  I don’t have Tidal so cannot take a look myself.

I agree that Sonos probably can’t fix this by themselves. But I’d sure love to hear that they are in contact with the developers at Tidal to try to get it resolved, because in the end it make the Sonos product (and Tidal itself) less usable.

jgatie

I agree that Sonos probably can’t fix this by themselves. But I’d sure love to hear that they are in contact with the developers at Tidal to try to get it resolved, because in the end it make the Sonos product (and Tidal itself) less usable.

 

Sonos pays no money to Tidal, therefore Sonos has no influence on them.  I’ll leave it to you to figure out who does pay money to Tidal.  

B

I agree that Sonos probably can’t fix this by themselves. But I’d sure love to hear that they are in contact with the developers at Tidal to try to get it resolved, because in the end it make the Sonos product (and Tidal itself) less usable.

 

Sonos pays no money to Tidal, therefore Sonos has no influence on them.  I’ll leave it to you to figure out who does pay money to Tidal.  

I must disagree. Sonos brings customers to Tidal. Customers who pay Tidal. In fact, they bring the kind of customer who Tidal is trying to reach -- folks who care a lot about audio fidelity. The kind of customer that will pay for a premium level of Tidal. So I do think they have influence and that Tidal’s developers would absolutely take a phone call from them. 

Lastly, as I noted earlier, as a paying Tidal customer, I would like to put pressure on Tidal too.  But their devs won’t take a phone call from me. And if I contact customer service at Tidal (I have) they don’t know what I’m talking about (they aren’t metadata experts on the customer service line). But if Sonos described the problem in a public forum, I could point to it and say “hey Tidal -- can you fix this technical issue that Sonos has found.” Similarly, tech journalists could cover it and point to the Sonos post and put additional pressure on them.

J

I am not sure there is a technical issue here.  There might be a valid reason for this.  But anyway as it has been over a year since this was first raised, it is hard to believe Tidal are unaware of it.  There may be any number of ways in which Sonos might think Tidal’s offer to customers might be improved.  Likewise for all the other streaming services.  But I think Sonos employees’ time would be better spent improving Sonos than trying to influence streaming services’ development priorities for the benefit of Sonos and all its competitors.

I am sure that Sonos work with the streaming services to make their implementation on Sonos as good as possible, and if an issue came up it would be mentioned.  But I don’t see it as Sonos’ role at all to suggest changes to the services’ own core offerings.

Just a personal opinion, so we can agree to differ.

 

jgatie

I must disagree. Sonos brings customers to Tidal. Customers who pay Tidal. In fact, they bring the kind of customer who Tidal is trying to reach -- folks who care a lot about audio fidelity. The kind of customer that will pay for a premium level of Tidal. So I do think they have influence and that Tidal’s developers would absolutely take a phone call from them. 

Lastly, as I noted earlier, as a paying Tidal customer, I would like to put pressure on Tidal too.  But their devs won’t take a phone call from me. And if I contact customer service at Tidal (I have) they don’t know what I’m talking about (they aren’t metadata experts on the customer service line). But if Sonos described the problem in a public forum, I could point to it and say “hey Tidal -- can you fix this technical issue that Sonos has found.” Similarly, tech journalists could cover it and point to the Sonos post and put additional pressure on them.

 

And as always with these issues, you have no idea if Sonos has already put pressure on Tidal.  They may have, and been rebuked.  This has indeed happened in the past, as admitted by Spotify.

Next you will ask Sonos to inform on their partner service if they have been rebuked, and I reply they would never throw a music partner under the bus like that, and we are back to square one.

Get in touch with Tidal.

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