Skip to main content

Tidal gives beta testers a live DJ feature

Tidal, the high-resolution music streaming service, announced today that it’s inviting members of its Early Access beta testing program to try out a new feature, dubbed “DJ”, that will allow them to share playlists, albums, and tracks with other Tidal members, live, at the same time, no matter where they are.

Three screens from the The Tidal DJ feature.
Tidal

While limited details of the DJ feature are available, a press release from Tidal says that U.S. subscribers to its HiFi Plus plan that are also enrolled in the Early Access Program can gain access to a beta build of the Tidal app that includes the new capability. These users can then create and name playlists (using text and emojis) for a “session” — be it for a road trip, workout, or party warm-up — to be shared with other Tidal users to listen in, live. Full albums and songs can also be shared, and it appears that listening to the DJ session is open to all Tidal members through the iOS and Android apps, while creating the sessions is currently limited to those on the HiFi Plus tier with the beta app, which is for iOS only at the moment.

DJs can create sessions from Tidal’s 90 million-song catalog and then create a link to share it however they see fit — social channels, chat, or text. According to the press release, “Tracks will play in normal AAC quality until high-resolution or lossless quality becomes available at a later date,” but it’s unclear if that means that the lower AAC audio quality is just for the beta testing duration or if any of Tidal’s better quality audio formats will be made available to the DJ feature in the future. Update: Tidal has clarified that the DJ will hear the quality they selected and listeners will just hear the normal sound quality (assuming this means AAC). The music playing doesn’t get interrupted.

To try out the DJ feature, you must be a subscriber to Tidal’s $20 per month HiFi Plus plan (which gives you lossless High Fidelity and Master Quality Authenticated (MQA) formats) and sign up for Tidal’s Early Access Program that gives users the opportunity to download and test early builds and features of the Tidal app.

Editors' Recommendations

Derek Malcolm
Contributing Editor – AV + Home Theater
Derek Malcolm is a Toronto-based technology journalist, editor, and content specialist whose work has appeared in…
Tidal brings Dolby Atmos Music to home theater systems
TV showing Tidal app and Dolby Atmos Music.

Dolby Atmos Music, which offers an ultra-immersive sound experience, will start rolling out today to Tidal subscribers' home theater speaker systems, Dolby Laboratories and Tidal announced Thursday.

Support for these new devices will be rolling out over the next few days via an update to the Tidal app. You can get Dolby Atmos on your home theater system if you have a Dolby Atmos A/V receiver (and the necessary speakers) or a Dolby Atmos-capable soundbar and a compatible media streamer.

Read more
Hulu + Live TV comes to Sony PlayStation 4, giving folks another option to PSVue
Someone relaxing on a couch watching Hulu.

On January 30, Sony closed the doors on its Playstation Vue, which for several years was the only live-TV streaming option for owners of Sony's PlayStation 4 and 4 Pro gaming consoles. YouTube TV was the first service to fill the void left by PSVue's demise, but now PlayStation owners have a second choice and it's bound to be a popular one: Hulu + Live TV is now available on PS4.

"Current PlayStation 4 users who already have Hulu can easily switch to Hulu + Live TV through their account settings on Hulu.com. Viewers who are already subscribed to Hulu + Live TV will also now be able to access and watch live channels through the Hulu app on PlayStation 4," said a Hulu press release.

Read more
Dolby Atmos Music is now available on Tidal HiFi via select devices
dolby atmos music on tidal  1

Dolby Atmos Music, the immersive music format that uses the same object-based technology as Dolby Atmos for movies, is now available on Tidal to subscribers of that service's HiFi tier. Tidal now hosts a growing library of music available in Dolby Atmos from Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group. The current library includes songs from some of the world’s biggest artists such as The Weeknd, Blondie, Ariana Grande, and others. Tidal says it is also working with its artist-owners, including Jay-Z, to mix their catalogs in Dolby Atmos, which are expected to become available in 2020.

To take advantage of Dolby Atmos Music on Tidal you'll need a HiFi level membership which normally costs $20 per month, and a compatible device. For now, that list of devices is limited to specific Android smartphones and tablets that Tidal has authorized to receive Dolby Atmos:

Read more