When comparing Digitally Imported [DI.fm] vs TIDAL, the Slant community recommends TIDAL for most people. In the question“What are the best music streaming services?” TIDAL is ranked 5th while Digitally Imported [DI.fm] is ranked 13th. The most important reason people chose TIDAL is:
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.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Dozens of genre-specific channels
DI.fm currently lists 89 distinct channels, each representing a different sub-genre of electronic music.
Pro Cross-platform
DI.fm has apps for iOS, Android, Blackberry and Windows phone.
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 You have to sign up
You can listen to DI.fm for half an hour before you're asked to sign up for a free account.
Con Advertizements with the free account
If you have a free account, the music stream is interrupted fairly often (every few songs) suggesting you upgrade to a pro account.
Con Occasionally the channels won't connect
Every once in a while, the channels won't connect and you have to wait some time and try again.
Con Electronic only
DI.fm is electronic-music only, so you'll be limited to exploring within that genre.
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.