So there’s a few things that confuse me right now. I’m running a TIDAL trial and I have a plex pass.
When I go to my plex server via plex.domain.com, I don’t see TIDAL integration and I don’t even get the option to create 2 different music library types. If I go to my plex server via plex.tv/desktop, then I do see it. Why doesn’t it work in the first case?
I thought TIDAL integration would be more seamless: Especially in the Android app, I have to switch between TIDAL and my music library in the drop down box at the top. There’s not one centralized view, it treats TIDAL the same as a separate Plex server. The whole user experience just feels tacked on and it’s hard to find out how to do anything. For example, I just want to find a way to start a Dance or Electronic radio, which would automatically shuffle and include songs from TIDAL (for discovery) and my library. There’s just information overload everywhere.
Offline vs online: What if I really like a song on TIDAL? Part of music discovery, in my opinion, is about finding ways to get MP3s added to my physical MP3 collection I already have in my Plex library. If TIDAL bites the dust one day, I don’t want to lose half of my playlist. Part of this being integrated and seamless is finding ways to get physical albums and tracks on my server. How do you do this?
Because you are loading the web app from your local server in this case. And this one is not updated to the version number which is necessary to have the Tidal integration.
You need a server version update to get an updated web app with it.
Tidal integration could be more seamless. Other users have expressed the same desire and I can agree with most of these suggestions. Now whether they can be fulfilled is another matter. But this is just an initial release of the feature. A first step towards integrating media from different sources.
If you visit an artist’s detail page in your own local library, you can already see a bit better integration. Tidal will show you a list of albums from this artist which you don’t have. Tidal also fills in music videos of this artist.
And you can add Tidal songs to playlists that live on your server. So you can mix Tidal content and your own music in a playlist.
This is the question you can throw at every music streaming service that is not also selling all their streaming catalog.
Tidal is (almost) an streaming-only service. (They do sell a very limited number of albums on their website).
You are paying a fixed amount per month to stream all of their catalog.
Of course access to this catalog goes away if Tidal gues bust.
I see Tidal as a way to check out more music by my favorite artists. I also get in contact with artists and music I didn’t knew before. If there is some stuff among there that I really like, I will get a local copy of that album for my own library.
I will not rely on Tidal or any other streaming service to keep that music available for me indefinitely.
There are many reasons to keep a personal music library on your own devices. This is one of them.
So Tidal is in no way suitable to totally replace your own local music library. But it can augment it and can bring you in contact with other music you may enjoy.
And this cannot be totally done for free.
Because you are loading the web app from your local server in this case. And this one is not updated to the version number which is necessary to have the Tidal integration.
You need a server version update to get an updated web app with it.
So you’re telling me that the actual UI of Plex changes depending on which URL you access it from? That makes no sense to me. I thought the web app served to the browser was the locally installed version, and going through plex.tv versus my own domain name is just a networking/DNS detail. What am I missing? I’d love the technical details.
My web client version is: 3.69.1
Server version is: 1.14.0.5470
I’m on the plex pass update channel. There’s no new upgrade for me, and I still see this weird difference in behavior. At this point I am still just as confused.
And to your other responses, thanks for the feedback. I think it helps to set the right expectations.
Because there are more often new versions of the web app released, than there are new server versions.
The web app version that is bundled with the server, is bundled with it at the beginning of the release process of this particular server version. So it stays unchanged while this server software goes through all its testing phases (which often take several weeks).
That’s why there is such a relatively big version difference between the ‘local’/bundled web app and the ‘hosted’ web app.
It has almost no relevance from where you are loading the web app into your web browser. Because once it is loaded, it will behave the same in regard to the data flow between your Plex server and the web browser.
In other words, the address that is shown in the address bar of your web browser is no indication whatsoever, of which path the data from your server take to arrive in your web browser.
