Due to the horrors <insert every Canadian news article here>, and the orange moron’s blatant threats against our country’s sovereignty and financial stability, I’ve started cancelling subscriptions to American services.
It’s a drop in the bucket, to be sure, and I don’t believe for a second that my cancelled subs are going to make a difference overall.
I’ll pause here to clarify a couple of things:
- Yes, I’m also buying Canadian (and/or non-American) as much as possible.
- No, this is not going to be one of those sanctimonious posts about how we should ALL do all of the boycotts. I suspect your facebook feed, if it’s anything like mine, has you covered for those kinds of posts 😉
Live your life.
This is just a little overview of my own experience.
Generally I’m happy to be rid of some extra fees, and I’m not really missing any of the things.
Netflix? Actually, I turfed that one a year ago and haven’t missed it.
Amazon Prime? Done.
Paramount+? Gone. I was sad about this one because I love Jon Stewart and think the whole cast of The Daily Show is doing an incredible job these days.
I assumed cancelling Paramount meant no more TDS. However, I have a smart and thoughtful partner who is recording it daily on cable (I didn’t know you could do that) so I still get to watch it. The world needs Jon Stewart right now! It also needs more smart and thoughtful partners/people.
Strava? Sort of. No longer paying for it, still going to use it until the Fall so I can take part in some fun challenges with friends.
And now for the big one, and probably the hardest tie to cut… Spotify? No longer a subscriber! Axed!
But what about music? What about RUSH?!
Don’t worry. I stumbled on French-based Qobuz, and things are going well there.
They offer some high quality listening options which Spotify does not. I don’t fully understand it all but, based on the sound quality options, I sense Qobuz would be the go-to music streamer for true audiophiles… if true audiophiles believed in streaming music.
Me? I’m no audiophile, and I love convenience. So Qobuz is working great. And you know what? I do notice a difference in sound quality through my headphones when choosing “CD” over “MP3”. It’s a nice bonus.
I haven’t tried the higher grades yet, as I’m not sure how that may affect the efficiency of my not very powerful four-year-old phone.
Is Qobuz a viable Spotify replacement?
Maybe.
If you’re someone who heavily relies on algorithms, Qobuz may not be for you.
Their algorithm is not great–I honestly don’t know what to make of it.
In fairness, I have picked up a few new songs that I enjoy and probably would not have stumbled across otherwise, but I have no idea what they found in my library to suggest any of it.
What about playlists?
I was always too indifferent to care about playlists. On Spotify, I had one that I shared with friends (I will now pass along my song adds to said friends.) I also had the default “liked songs” which was around 150 tracks mixed between all genres and, of course, I had my Rush playlists.
So it was simple for me, and that made switching easy.
Even if you’re a devout playlist curator with a collection you’ve built up for a decade, Qobuz may still be a solution for you (if you’re looking for a music streaming replacement. Again, live your life.)
When you sign up, they provide you with a free login for Soundiiz which is a service that will migrate all of your playlists, songs, and albums, from Spotify, over to Qobuz.
I was transferred in less than 4 hours. I think I lost about 10 songs in total, but I can’t say I’ve missed them.
What’s left to cancel?
Disney… probably going to keep it a while. When your shareholders reject a kakistocracy’s anti-DEI initiatives, I’m going to love you a little bit, even if you are Disney.
Sidenote: hey, Costco? Kudos to you.
I am still seeking a Google Photos alternative for hosting my albums…
To be continued.
Here’s a “new to me” song, by Melanie De Biasio, courtesy of the Qobuz algorithm:
Life is good.
W.
Photo: Iconic Canadian landscape, ftw. Circa 2019