Yessss - my library will stay where it is!

Not hi-res then, only red book quality.

It will take more than that to move me from Qobuz.

I'm not convinced 24/ this, or 24/ that is actually any better sounding.
Yes, the lights change and tell your brain it should be better 😄
It's all in the recording and mastering for me.
Plenty of CD qualify recordings sound way better than other 24/ .

Access to more remastered content is where is at for older stuff for me.

Spotify also has the better content over Qobuz and probably Tidal, Amazon and Apple.

In more ways than one....

Spotify to launch in 85 new markets, reach over a billion people

Spotify said on Monday that it would nearly double its market presence by launching in 85 new markets in the next few days, making the music streaming service available to more than a billion people around the world.

The company’s shares, which were down in early trading, reversed course to rise as much as six percent to a record high.

The Swedish company, which started its service more than a decade ago, is currently available in 93 countries and has 345 million monthly active users.

While Spotify is the leader in music streaming, entry in new countries across Asia, Africa, Europe and Latin America would significantly increase the gap with its rivals, Apple Music and Amazon Music.

“Together these markets represent more than a billion people, with nearly half of them already using the internet,” said Spotify Chief Premium Business Officer Alex Norstrom. “Some of the places we’re going like Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nigeria have the fastest-growing internet populations in the world.”

An earlier expansion drive in India, Russia and the Middle East has already brought in millions of subscribers.

While paid subscribers got a boost during the coronavirus pandemic as people locked in their homes opted for its premium service, the company is now looking to boost its advertisement revenue.

In a one-and-half-hour livestream featuring singing by Justin Bieber, Spotify released a host of new features for artists and tools for advertisers for better targeting its millions of users across music and podcasts.

Podcast play
In its efforts to make money from podcasts, Spotify announced the creation of a podcast advertising marketplace where advertisers can buy across a network of original exclusive and independent podcasts and target audiences both on and off Spotify.

Former United States President Barack Obama and singer Bruce Springsteen are launching a new show for Spotify called Renegades: Born in the USA
The company has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to boost its podcast range, which now has more than 2.2 million podcast titles, including The Michelle Obama Podcast and one by Prince Harry and his wife, Meghan.
Higher Ground Productions, Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, announced another new show with Bruce Springsteen for Spotify called Renegades: Born in the USA.

On Monday, Spotify announced a partnership with AGBO – a company led by Anthony and Joe Russo, creators behind films such as Avengers: Infinity War – for multiple podcast series. It also signed a deal with Warner Bros and DC for a range of narrative-scripted podcasts.

The first, Batman Unburied, will release later this year as part of a set of characters whose stories will be explored via audio, including Superman, Wonder Woman, Joker, and Catwoman, among others.

Spotify also launched a new subscription service, Spotify HiFi, with which premium subscribers in select markets will be able to upgrade their sound quality of the songs to “lossless” CD-quality music.

Shares reached an intra-day high of $387.44

It took some effort to get Qobuz to sound significantly better than Spotify, Jerry, but it's all about taking great care with the digital path when you're dealing with higher resolutions. Admittedly, I've been working on it for a couple of years.

Did I? I do know what you mean about Spotify sounding 'nicer', but it does lack resolution. Yes, the Ogg codec is very good.

On my system there is not a nicer.
Current Spotify just lacks a bit of detail, a bit of dynamic, a bit of attack that makes the music more involving and special to listen to.

I would not listen to 320kbps lossy OGG in preference to a CD. So why should I when I stream?
Engineers came up with 16/44 1411.2kbps all those moons ago for a good reason - it puts the division of analogue sound into a sufficiently fine digital resolution for us not to perceive a difference.

I'm not convinced that when making 24 96/192 etc they don't just as some audiophile fairy dust (cymbal boost) to justify / sell it😄

That resolution difference is not massive as OGG is good, but it is definitely there.

I believe 16/44 Spotify will sort that out.
That's what I hear in Qobuz and why I like it.

That is Spotify's Hi-fi res selling point too.

I don't believe Spotify hi-fi will muck the sound up, quite the contrary.

I do find the Scandi catalogue more limited on Qobuz. I personally don't need a more massive classical or Jazz, or French 🙂 catalogue than Spotifty has.

Other artists have albums missing too - for instance the most recent Reina Del Cid album from 2019 is only currently available on Spotify.

I agree with you, both are great and Spotify is always remarkable for what it achieves with 320bps, but Qobuz in 16/44 (bit-rate varies with FLAC efficiency but I see 550-900bps) has the edge in fine detail, background ambience, depth and retaining clarity when the mix gets really busy.  As I said before, higher res formats (I see anything from 1000-5000bps) enhance the fine detail, make cymbals/bells shimmer very realistically and give you even more vastness in the width/depth department.

I agree that there are great dynamics and attack from Spotify.
Listening to the Chandos recording of Malcolm Arnold's 1st symphony earlier on Spotify - there was nothing lost in the quite startling at times experience imho.
It's only with a direct comparison that sometimes I hear more with Qobuz and Tidal.
In blind tests I've chosen Spotify as superior on some occasions.

Confusing the issue somewhat is the tonal presentation. I hear Tidal as the brightest (too much so for me), with Qobuz in the middle and Spotify the least bright.
That can make Spotify seem lower rez and less dynamic in itself.
But tweak the system to provide Spotify with the same sort of tonal balance as Qobuz and the two become much more alike overall imo. I don't think I'm losing very much at all with Spotify and I find it an "easier" and more enjoyable (and tbh more lifelike) listening experience atm.

But then I'm with Steve as I've never heard rez beyond CD quality as being inherently superior. The huge overlap caused by recording to recording variability swamps it entirely for me. The best of each are superb.