Qobuz taken over by Xandrie.

[jdandy]

French digital-music service Qobuz has a new owner: “digital culture and entertainment specialist” Xandrie.

The new ownership comes after troubled financial times for Qobuz, which has focused on high-resolution downloads and streaming, but which was recently in the commercial court of Paris as the subject of a potential takeover from two companies: Xandrie being one of them.

http://www.xandrie.com/wp-content/up...obuz_vF-EN.pdf

This caused me confusion when I saw a $24.99 charge from Xandrie USA in my notifications for one of my credit cards. Not recognizing the name I thought perhaps it was a fraudulent charge, and that my credit card had somehow been compromised. A quick Google search for Xandrie USA showed me the charge was authentic for my Qobuz streaming service. I must admit it is a bit disturbing that Qobuz nor Xandrie made any attempt to let me know of the billing name change.

[2fastdriving]

Same exact thing happened to me, I saw that and googled it...I need to cancel, I think I'm sticking with Tidal.

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by 2fastdriving

Same exact thing happened to me, I saw that and googled it...I need to cancel, I think I'm sticking with Tidal.

Marc.......I canceled Tidal a few months ago. Now I'm considering doing the same with Qubuz. They just billed me today for a month, so sometime around the 1st of June I think I will say adios to them, too. I spend a lot more time listening to my own library than streaming.

[W9TR]

That was not a great PR move on their part for sure.

Looks like Qobuz has again gone through some sort of bankruptcy or court ordered reorganization. This is at least the second one if not the third. Tidal has its own set of financial issues. While I'd like to see both succeed, I'm not sure the business model works for them.

[Poppyhome]

I signed up in February and my bill always said Xandrie.

Dan, your PDF says this happened in 2015.

This is not an issue for me.

Ron

[Poppyhome]

Yes, this takeover happened over 3 years ago — "Alongside Denis Thébaud, the Chairman and CEO of Xandrie SA, who took over Qobuz in January 2016............"

Ron

[jdandy]

Originally Posted by Poppyhome

I signed up in February and my bill always said Xandrie.

Dan, your PDF says this happened in 2015.

This is not an issue for me.

Ron.......I didn't notice the date. Thanks for pointing that out. I signed up for the 30 day free trial, so this was my first billing cycle. I was expecting the charge to say Qubuz. When I didn't recognized Xandrie in my credit card notification earlier today I naturally thought it might be fraud. I am not disturbed by who owns and operates Qubuz. I simply did not access the streaming service more than a half dozen times during the free trail period. It was the same for Tidal. No use paying for something I'm not taking full advantage of using.

[Poppyhome]

Originally Posted by jdandy

Ron.......I didn't notice the date. Thanks for pointing that out. I signed up for the 30 day free trial, so this was my first billing cycle. I was expecting the charge to say Qubuz. When I didn't recognized Xandrie in my credit card notification earlier today I naturally thought it might be fraud. I am not disturbed by who owns and operates Qubuz. I simply did not access the streaming service more than a half dozen times during the free trail period. It was the same for Tidal. No use paying for something I'm not taking full advantage of using.

I still like the service for now and see no need using HDtracks anymore.

Ron

[crwilli]

In a few years we will all be crying about the latest policy that our hi-res Amazon and or Apple streaming services have instituted.

[W9TR]

Originally Posted by crwilli

In a few years we will all be crying about the latest policy that our hi-res Amazon and or Apple streaming services have instituted.

Yep - if you're not the lead dog the view is always the same. I'm loving Tidal and Qobuz. But they are too small in the overall scheme of things to survive. That's my opinion of course and I wish them well, but the best option for them is to merge with a player that has enough scale to negotiate the best rates for content and bandwidth.