Re:Spotify weighed redirecting white noise podcasts to talk ...
by danielbarla on Sunday August 20, 2023 @04:33AM
(#37197232)
It's not that they were simply smart and didn't de-duplicate identical songs; at some point they simply replaced instances of various recordings of songs with a single one. I could not be further from being an audiophile, yet I still understand the anger this could cause. Even at a basic level, there can be relatively major differences.
Re:Spotify weighed redirecting white noise podcasts to talk ...
by threeseed on Sunday August 20, 2023 @07:54AM
(#37198263)
I don't think this has anything to do with de-duplication.
It's likely referring to iTunes Match which is a paid service that allowed you to upload your own MP3 files to Apple who would then serve it to you alongside any purchased/streamed music.
I believe that by default (but able to be disabled) your songs would be "upgraded" to the master-quality equivalent in Apple Music if they were identical. But then over time artists have been replacing those song with different versions/mixes.
Is this actually true? I don't know. I don't think consumer file hosting services would be viable at their present price points if they were storing every single file byte-for-byte.
Certainly some of the value capture belongs to the company, but if you're not particularly concerned about security it seems like a win-win.
If you are concerned about security, encrypt your files and everyone else with deduplicated files will subsidize the cost of your service.