Tidal vs YouTube Music Detailed Comparison

Nowadays music streaming is a special part of the entertainment. When it comes to talking about premium music streaming services, we remember lots of music streaming apps. Today we are going to compare Tidal vs YouTube Music. YouTube Music and Tidal are going in different ways and it is too hard to compare these services. Let’s see the essential features.

YouTube Music is an app by Google

YouTube Music officially took the place of Google Play Music after Google announced that they decided to stop the Google Play Music service. Now YouTube Music is the only app that comes with pre-installed on Android for music streaming. Not only that, but also YouTube Music is the only app for playing local audio files in pure android. The best of all is YouTube Music is a part of YouTube Premium and Music Premium included in the YouTube Premium plan. YouTube Music is the default app to play songs with Google Assistant. (You can change this to any streaming service at any time.)

Tidal is the best option for HI-FI Steaming

Tidal is the brand name that people recognize when they looking for a high-resolution audio experience. Tidal has a separate plan for HI-FI streaming and it includes studio-quality audio. Master quality is the highest quality in Tidal and compared to Qobuz or Deezer, the audio is very clear and loud.

Tidal vs YouTube Music Pricing

You have two options to buy YouTube Music Premium. Music Premium also comes with the YouTube Premium and if you subscribe to YouTube Premium, you can access YouTube Music Premium with no additional fee. It is the cheapest way to get YouTube Music.

YouTube Premium plans

• Individual – US $11.99
• Family – US $17.99
• Student – US $6.99

If you don’t want YouTube Premium, you can buy YouTube Music Premium separately.

YouTube Music Premium plans

• Individual – US $9.99
• Family – US $14.99
• Student – US $4.99

Compared to YouTube Music, Tidal brings more subscription options. The noticeable difference is Tidal has discounted plans for military and community heroes. Also Tidal sells their Hi-Fi plan separately as mentioned above.

Tidal plans- standard quality

• Individual Premium– US $9.99
• Family Premium– US $14.99
• Student Premium-–US $4.99
• Military premium and Community Heroes – First Responder Premium– US $5.99

Tidal plans- Hi-Fi quality

• Individual Hi-Fi– US $19.99
• Family Hi-Fi– US $29.99
• Student Hi-Fi– US $9.99
• Military Hi-Fi and Community Heroes – First Responder Hi-Fi– US $11.99

Tidal vs YouTube Music Steaming Quality

Talking about Tidal vs YouTube Music sound quality, Tidal is the overall winner. Tidal’s Hi-Fi plan isn’t the only reason for the victory. The Premium plan of Tidal allows to stream music at 320kpbs. (That bit rate is the same as the highest quality of Spotify.) Talking about the sound quality of Tidal Hi-Fi, it has two different qualities. HiFi quality brings Lossless quality audio from 1411kbps or 16bit / 44.1kHz. Master quality brings High Resolution to Ultra High Resolution audio from up to 9216 Kbps or 24 bit / 192 kHz. The other best thing is Tidal has a partnership with Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) to deliver more natural sounds from their original studio qualities. Dolby Atmos and 360 Reality Audio are available in Tidal Hi-Fi. Keep in mind that the Tidal Hi-Fi plan costs about US $10 extra money.

YouTube Music streaming quality is going on a different way. It streams AAC files from 256kpbs. (The file type and bitrate are the same as Apple Music.) There is no reason to report that the sound quality isn’t good in YouTube Music. But if you want to have a next-level audio experience, Tidal is the best option for you.

Tidal vs YouTube Music: Music Library and Discovery

YouTube Music has more music than Tidal. Tidal has more stories than YouTube Music. When it comes to talking about music videos, both Tidal and YouTube Music have a large library of music videos. Both of these have behind the scenes, live performances, interviews, and documentaries. But the noticeable thing is Tidal is popular for video content than YouTube Music. Both Tidal and YouTube Music have original content that available only on their platforms. YouTube Music gets music directly from YouTube and because of that, YouTube Music offers more videos than Tidal. But sometimes we noticed that YouTube Music brings some incompatible suggestions when searching for a song. But it isn’t noticed much in everyday use. Tidal brings official interviews, short films, and docu-series and it is too good for YouTube Music. Tidal includes a separate tab for Videos and that describes how much they cares about its video contents.

Both Tidal and YouTube Music create personalized mixes for you. Also, they have categorized music by mood, country, and genre. Both of these have charts and new releases mixes. The difference from other streaming services is both YouTube Music and Tidal create music video charts. Also, YouTube Music shows lyrics.

Tidal vs YouTube Music: User Interface and available platforms

Tidal and YouTube Music is available in both Android and iOS, Windows and macOS, Android wear and Apple Watch, Android TV and Apple TV and Android Auto and Apple CarPlay. Not only these but also YouTube Music and Tidal available on other TVs, Sonos wireless speakers and work with Chromecast and Airplay. Both of these services have web players and also support Alexa, Google Assistant, and Siri.

When it comes to talking about user interfaces of the mobile apps of YouTube Music and Tidal, the YouTube Music interface is very closer to the YouTube app. YouTube Music has three tabs and subscriptions can be found in the library. The home tab is the place to find your recommended music and Explore tab is the place to see whats is trending and whats are the new releases. In additionally YouTube Music has lyrics and you can switch between song and video quickly in the media player.

Tidal has an interface with older fonts and icons but it is unique from others. Tidal has a separate tab to discover videos and it has a search tab like many other music streaming apps. The search icon has been moved at the top of the app in YouTube Music like YouTube app. My Collection is the place to find your saved music in the Tidal-like Library tab in YouTube Music. Tidal’s media player shows some extra information than YouTube Music. The noticeable difference from many other kinds of music streaming apps is Tidal shows the streaming quality of the playing song.

Tidal vs YouTube Music Social Sharing Features

Unfortunately Tidal hadn’t thought much about social sharing. The only social feature of Tidal is to integrate with Facebook and find friends who subscribed to Tidal.

But there are so many things to talk about YouTube music social sharing. Collaborative playlists are an awesome feature in YouTube Music. Before Google add this to YouTube Music, Spotify is the only service with collaborative playlists. You have three choices when you creating a new playlist.

• Public- anyone can search for and view
• Unlisted- anyone with the link can view
• Private- only you can view

YouTube Music automatically creates a channel for you when you start using it. This acts like your profile in Spotify or Apple Music. Your public playlists will be appearing there. Anyone can search for your profile, follow you, or your playlists.
Tidal vs YouTube Music: which is better for you

“Which music streaming service is better for me?” The answer to this common question is the choice completely depends on you. In this article, we compared two of the best and popular music streaming services. If you want to listen to the music of high quality, there is no option like Tidal. YouTube Music is packed with the power of YouTube and it is an app from a leading software company. But it isn’t much reason to move to YouTube Music. The best of all is YouTube Music is the most supported app for Android. Lyrics added some extra value to YouTube Music. Both Tidal and YouTube Music have to video content but so many cover songs available in YouTube Music than Tidal. On the other hand, Tidal has more exclusive videos than YouTube Music. If you care a lot about music discovery features, think twice before choose one.