This streaming audio service you never heard of is a better iTunes

But, if you miss having ownership over your physical media in the day and age of streaming, there's a streaming music platform you need to check out. Qobuz not only gives you access to tons of streaming music, but it also lets you download music and keep the files yourself. How about that in this day and age?

Qobuz sets itself apart from others

There are a few ways it does this

Qobuz is ultimately a streaming audio service. But it is also so much more. The amount of features that this service has is kind of unlike any of the other streaming audio platforms. Ultimately, its main selling point is that it has the largest collection of hi-res audio of any streaming service. It has over a million lossless audio tracks.

This means it's a better form of audio than, say, a CD has, as the sampling frequency is higher, giving you a purer sound. If you're listening to music on Qobuz, you're pretty much guaranteed to be listening to the best version of that music from a streaming platform.

Qobuz lets you buy your music

There can be discounts with the subscription

When you're downloading music from Spotify to your device to listen while you're offline, you still don't own those files. If you were to unsubscribe to Spotify Premium, you would lose access to those files. They are only yours while you're still a member of Spotify. You'd then have to go out and buy the album yourself physically or download it from another subscription.

The same goes for Apple Music, although it's even an additional step because you need to involve two apps to do this. You can download music from Apple Music to stream from your device at any time, with the right plan. But, if you want to own the music, you need to open up iTunes, just like you used to in the mid-2000s, to purchase the music. Not to say there are people that don't use iTunes frequently now, but it's not as popular as it was.

It's like adding Rolling Stone to your Deezer subscription, except it's all under one app.

Qobuz lets you handle all of this in one app. But the kicker is you own the tracks that you've downloaded. There isn't a set limit on whether you have to download music, because you're actually paying for it. With the Sublime subscription, priced at $14.99 per month, you get discounts on many of the hi-res albums you can purchase. Once you purchase an album, it's yours and you own the files. There's no encryption that prevents you from listening to it. It's the same as buying physical media and uploading it to your devices, except this is likely an even better version of the audio.

More unique features from Qobuz

Why not add in a reading subscription too?

Qobuz has you covered from multiple entertainment angles. If you want to keep up with what's going on around the music industry, you can not only download or buy to try new artists, but you can read about them as well. A Qobuz subscription, either Sublime or the Studio package, which is $10.83 per month, gives you access to the Qobuz Magazine. This provides a wide array of music coverage, highlighting some of the very best that's going on in the industry.

Whether it's sit-down interviews with artists, a panoramic look at the careers and albums of bands, reviews of hi-fi audio equipment, or news articles about the industry, you'll find it in Qobuz Magazine. Qobuz keeps the content coming, highlighting the best albums each week and feature articles every week. It's like adding Rolling Stone to your Deezer subscription, except it's all under one app.

I've been impressed while using Qobuz

There's a free trial

You can try Qobuz for free for a month, giving the Studio package a spin. WIth the Studio package, you don't get the bigger discounts on the hi-res albums that you're purchasing like you do with the Sublime package. But every other feature is at your disposal. Depending on how many albums you want to buy to own, you can opt for either package. If you're going to be buying a lot of albums, the Sublime package will likely pay for itself with those discounts.

I've mostly been using the web player for Qobuz, although the mobile app works well too. I do really like being able to listen to music and then read an article about the band in the same app. You can definitely tell the audio is cleaner and crisper when you're listening to the hi-res audio. This works with my AirPods Pro or with my over-ear Sony headphones as well. The interface is clean and simple to read, and I really enjoy that Qobuz provides suggestions for new artists based on what I've listened to. Not that other streaming services don't do that, but these seem to be more off-the-beaten-path suggestions, helping me discover artists I never knew about. Plus, being able to download an album and play it on a number of devices may not feel like I'm putting a record on a record player, but it's about as good as you can get with a digital version of the album. While Qobuz has been around since 2008, it hasn't gotten the recognition it deserves for what it offers. Apple Music and Spotify offer a lot, but Qobuz's unique features make it a worthy consideration for your streaming audio platform.