I ask out of curiosity, and because ...., well, I'll explain that in a minute.
I'm curious as to what (if any) streaming service you use, and why you use that one. Is it range of music, is it what they have (or don't have), is it cost, is it quality of the bitstream, usability of app .... what?
To put my cards on thee table, it is JUST curiosity. I asked a similar qustion a couple of years ago, and am still using Amazon. In the interim, they seem to have added in their "HD" service to the basic (paid) service. Anyways, in line with my general detestation of subscription services, I have a 12-month subscription which only renewed in December, so I'm not looking to change. Come next December, however, my plan is to cancel and just rely on my own 'streaming' service, of my LPs, CDs, etc which should by then all be ripped to my NAS.
Is this legal? To be honest, I've given up caring. Or more to the point, as i'm not on the mod team, I no longer have to care, but if a mod thinks this goes too far ... fair enough.
My attitude, and it dates back to the 70s, is that copying an LP (or latterly, CD) that I own onto a portable media (tape, Minidisc, Walkman/personal player) for use in the car or out and about, is morally defensible, should be legal (for personal use) and in some jurisdictions, is legal. By that same logic, ripping music that I paid for, often in more than one format,to my NAS for use at home, is just another format-shift. Is it strictly legal in the UK? Dunno, but it should (IMHO) be. I know there were proposed changs to the CDPA to enable this, but I haven't checked current status.
Anyway, back on point, I'll probably cancel Amazon once I have my CDs, LPs etc all digitised. Meantime, I have until December anyway. So, I'm not changing streaming service at this point. The question is sheer curiosity.
I said there was anothr reason. I'm curious about people's thoughts on MQA, and have been trying to work out what I think about it. My conclusions are :-
1) I like the concept. Which, if I understand it, is that every single recording methodology applies 'colourings' to a recording. This applies right back to RIAA curves and encoding for vinyl to cope with the limitations of that media, and is still true today, to cope with the colourings of AD/DA's, filters, normaliation, and .... whole legions of 'processing'. So to try to apply a colouring to the final result to simulate that original studio master? Great idea. If it worked.
2) Marketing MQA as "lossless" might embed that philosophy of getting back to the master, but is technically .... misleading. What the motivation for misleading is .... deceit, or over-simplifying? Dunno.
3) I not only don't know, but I don't care.
4) Re: 3), I have sadly reached the conclusion that my decades-long chase for .... if not audio-perfection, then the best I can get in my budget range, is pointless these days because the inevitable, relentless march of time has done it's thing. That is to say, my ears aren't up to hearing it any more.
5) My 'ideal' sound system, therefore, is one that is good enough to sound pleasing to me, and I'm pretty easy to please. Audiophile-grade gear? Oh, please. I wish.
So MY ideal streaming service is the one that'll be running from my NAS (and hence, not outside my home), and I'll put my music on a memory card, and carry my phone and earbuds when I'm out and about.
But .... in the hypothetical situation that I did actually want a good, high-end streaming subscription .... what do the group use, why do you use what you do, and are you happy with it?
And .... what do you make of the MQA controversy?