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Add to SafariWhen comparing Last.fm vs TIDAL, the Slant community recommends Last.fm for most people. In the question“What are the best music streaming services?” Last.fm is ranked 4th while TIDAL is ranked 5th. The most important reason people chose Last.fm is:
Last.fm scrobbles music from wide range of devices and music players, not just from official apps such as [Scrobbler for Windows and Mac](www.last.fm/download), [Scrobbler for iOS](https://itunes.apple.com/app/scrobbler-for-ios/id585235199), [Last.fm for Android](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=fm.last.android) and [Last.fm for Spotify](http://open.spotify.com/app/lastfm), but also a wide range of 3rd party Last.fm apps that are available on many platforms, built using the [official Last.fm API](www.last.fm/api) such as [ScrobbleMe for Windows Phone](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/store/apps/scrobbleme/9nblggh0dg4r), [Simple Last.fm Scrobbler for Android](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.adam.aslfms&hl=en), [Last.fm Scrobbler for Chrome](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/lastfm-scrobbler/hhinaapppaileiechjoiifaancjggfjm?hl=en), [FoxyScrobbler for Firefox](https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/foxyscrobbler/) and the built-in Last.fm scrobbling in Deezer.
Specs
Question Ranking
Pros
Pro Supports a wide range of platforms, music players and browsers
Last.fm scrobbles music from wide range of devices and music players, not just from official apps such as Scrobbler for Windows and Mac, Scrobbler for iOS, Last.fm for Android and Last.fm for Spotify, but also a wide range of 3rd party Last.fm apps that are available on many platforms, built using the official Last.fm API such as ScrobbleMe for Windows Phone, Simple Last.fm Scrobbler for Android, Last.fm Scrobbler for Chrome, FoxyScrobbler for Firefox and the built-in Last.fm scrobbling in Deezer.
Pro Scrobbling
Last.fm checks what you listen to the most, they're calling it scrobbling, and streams songs based on that information. It works via your computer, smartphone, iPod and other music services.
Pro Last.fm Tag/Artist radio
Play songs similar to "X" from Youtube.
Pro Amazing quality
The Tidal music streaming service has a maximum streaming quality of 1,411Kbps bit rate with FLAC-formatted lossless files. This is quite an upgrade compared to most music streaming services, which go at about 320Kbps bit rate.
Pro Pays artists more
As of March 2018, TIDAL pays the artists 2/3 more than Apple Music and 3 times more than Spotify, for an equivalent catalog and subscription price. (40M songs on TIDAL and Apple Music vs. 30M on Spotify, $9.99/mo for all 3). Napster is the only service that pays the artists more than TIDAL.
Pro Discounted student subscription
Tidal offers a 50% discount on monthly subscriptions for students with a valid university email account.
Pro Awsome desktop app
Pro Built-in audio search
The Tidal music streaming service mobile app has a built-in audio search, similar to Shazaam and Soundhound.
Pro Military/veteran discount a BIG plus
Pro Get one-month free Hi-Fi (FLAC, 24-bit music)
Almost all if not most songs are 24-bit FLAC files, "Master" is an ever higher quality
Cons
Con Lack of compositions
The most popular are there, but forget about something unique.
Con There is no one-time life subscription
Con Low audio quality
Con Songs may take some time to load
the Tidal music streaming service may take up to 10 seconds of buffering to load and play a song, sometimes even stopping a song mid-way to buffer.
Con No free tier
The Tidal music streaming service has no free tier available. Only a 7-day trial. While the trial is helpful for learning what the service has to offer, it may not allow for a complete picture due to the time limit.
Con Offline isn’t offline and mobile data is consumed in one song
Con Hi-FI Can be expensive for some
