If only the app worked better...

Neat! If they update the app I'd be well into this!

@Cowards said:

Neat! If they update the app I'd be well into this!

Spoke too soon! I'm now well into this!

I just emailed LivePhish customer service and asked what bit rate the new Live Phish Plus service would be streaming at, and this was their somewhat disconcerting answer:

"[LivePhish.COM] What bit rate does Live Phish Plus stream at?

I believe they are 64kbps VBR.

Please let us know if you require further assistance.
Thanks for supporting Live Phish Downloads.

> Tela-"

I really hope this is incorrect. They're charging the same rate as services like Spotify Premium or Google Play Music that offer tens of millions of albums, and not only is the library incredibly smaller, but instead of 320 kbps they're going to stream at 64 kbps?? I would have trouble justifying paying this price even if they offered a high quality bit rate, so this is just weird.

I would seriously consider this, if they included the webcasts in the deal... There are too many places to listen to every show for me to pay those prices

Subscribed as soon as I heard about this. Listening now, sound is great on my Sony MDR 7506 headphones. This is a great deal compared to buying a single show MP3. I have so many shows on my hard drive it was really bogging down my computer performance. Technology has come a long way since the trader tape days!!

$9.99 a month seems like a whole lot just to get the current LP catalog... considering most of the stuff that I want I've purchased over the years and is available in my stash. Maybe this would be worth it if you don't have any of the LP stuff already

If they'd made it $9.99 a month for the entire Phish catalog (all the stuff that hasn't been released already)... the internet would have broken with people trying to sign up

Also sucks they're no longer gonna let you listen to the most recent show for free, which was the best feature of the previous app

I feel like they are over-reaching at $10/mo. Also, I am very disappointed that the free service does not include the most recent show anymore. I probably used that feature as much as my own stash streaming. On a positive note, I'm psyched for scrubbing and gapless playback!

I will be holding out as long as i can on the update for my app. The ability to listen to the most recent show is the reason i bought and continue to use this app.

@baby_snakes_345 said:

Subscribed as soon as I heard about this. Listening now, sound is great on my Sony MDR 7506 headphones. This is a great deal compared to buying a single show MP3. I have so many shows on my hard drive it was really bogging down my computer performance. Technology has come a long way since the trader tape days!!

You signed the contracts?

Greed

Umphrey's have had this for a while and I don't begrudge the boys 10 bucks a month to listen to the entire back catalog....

They just need to sort it out so we can stream from PC's and Laptops.

I'd donate $10 to PhishTracks towards them making an app with better features than their mobile site. For example, when your phone goes to sleep the music stops because it's playing from Safari. Sure, I can turn the sleep mode off but why would I really want to do that to the battery. They need a real app.

A part of listening to shows for me is hearing an awkward conversation or annoying person on an audience recording. PhishTracks is everything LivePhish is not.

I'm definitely disappointed that the new LivePhish app doesn't feature the last show played. It was the only free high quality way of paying attention to each tour. I figured the thought process was they offer it for free for a limited time and if you want it then you'll buy it. Apparently that's not meeting the finance team's goals for the end of fourth quarter. Now Phish is getting in the ARPU game, getting a super marketing makeover. Woo!

Seriously though, only people with cash to burn should pay $99/year for this service. The band encouraged fans to create a community where this service is free. Like PhishTracks. People stream the live webcast streams for free. Is that wrong? Sharing their live performances is something they credit to spreading their music and growing their audience. Asking for a paid monthly subscription for essentially the same content seems to go against the "brand message" that was critical to their success in the first place.

I'm concerned about JEMP. Are they hard up for cash? Are things not going well? Is there a plan for an IPO? Should we get a KickStarter page going?

For just $0.34 a day, you can help save your favorite band from going hungry.

Meh

I'm not a complainer, but just to confirm, we cannot listen to the most recent show now?

Not happy that I can't listen to the latest show. That was best part of app. Phishtracks is what this community was built on. Its how we all started with this band, now the band is cashing in... I am confused

Not happy that I can't listen to the latest show. That was best part of app. Phishtracks is what this community was built on. Its how we all started with this band, now the band is cashing in... I am confused

@Adams said:

I just emailed LivePhish customer service and asked what bit rate the new Live Phish Plus service would be streaming at, and this was their somewhat disconcerting answer:

"[LivePhish.COM] What bit rate does Live Phish Plus stream at?

I believe they are 64kbps VBR.

Please let us know if you require further assistance.
Thanks for supporting Live Phish Downloads.

> Tela-"

I really hope this is incorrect. They're charging the same rate as services like Spotify Premium or Google Play Music that offer tens of millions of albums, and not only is the library incredibly smaller, but instead of 320 kbps they're going to stream at 64 kbps?? I would have trouble justifying paying this price even if they offered a high quality bit rate, so this is just weird.

I just received the same answer to that question. Confirmed at 64 kbps VBR:

"The audio quality is the same as the previous version and the free app functionality (streaming shows from your Stash, etc.) You can sign up for a 10 day trial of the new subscription service. Sorry for any inconvenience.

64 kbps VBR. If we make the streaming files higher quality the app uses too much data.

Please let us know if you require further assistance.
Thanks for supporting Live Phish Downloads.

> Tela-"

There is a PhishTracks app. It's called PhishOD @malachai said:

I'd donate $10 to PhishTracks towards them making an app with better features than their mobile site. For example, when your phone goes to sleep the music stops because it's playing from Safari. Sure, I can turn the sleep mode off but why would I really want to do that to the battery. They need a real app.

A part of listening to shows for me is hearing an awkward conversation or annoying person on an audience recording. PhishTracks is everything LivePhish is not.

I'm definitely disappointed that the new LivePhish app doesn't feature the last show played. It was the only free high quality way of paying attention to each tour. I figured the thought process was they offer it for free for a limited time and if you want it then you'll buy it. Apparently that's not meeting the finance team's goals for the end of fourth quarter. Now Phish is getting in the ARPU game, getting a super marketing makeover. Woo!

Seriously though, only people with cash to burn should pay $99/year for this service. The band encouraged fans to create a community where this service is free. Like PhishTracks. People stream the live webcast streams for free. Is that wrong? Sharing their live performances is something they credit to spreading their music and growing their audience. Asking for a paid monthly subscription for essentially the same content seems to go against the "brand message" that was critical to their success in the first place.

I'm concerned about JEMP. Are they hard up for cash? Are things not going well? Is there a plan for an IPO? Should we get a KickStarter page going?

In earlier stages of my life, I would not have subscribed. But at this point, I listen to these guys every day and really only send about $200 a year to the boys in return (couple/few shows and a CD or two). Given the amount of listening I do, I don't think it's unreasonable to pay them $10 a month, so I just signed up. Especially since the sound quality is so much better than the Phish OD app (which is awesome, don't get me wrong!!!). If I can hear Mike's bass clearly, that's worth $10 a month for me. But that's FOR ME. I totally get that others might not be into it. But I agree with someone above who pointed out that subscribers should get webcasts included.

OUCH!! I've listened to the latest show on my broke ass iPhone 4s for nearly two years now. Nearly every one, and that's not a joke. And today, I can't hear night two of SF. I'm not overly upset, just bummed out. A little more notice would have been appreciated.

10 bucks a month, or 120 bucks a year... IDK, that adds up quick. I'll just rely on audience phishtracks for now. But I can't hate on the phish community. They do good things, and that 10 bucks a month doesn't all go into their pockets.

If they need to "make it hurt" that people can't listen to the show immediately after the show by expanding their song list and starting to jam again, I for one welcome the new JEMP Business Model!

LAME!!!!!

my app updated automatically on my phone for some reason...

now I can't stream last nights show!

@The__Van said: [quote]There is a PhishTracks app. It's called PhishOD.

Thanks, I'll check it out.

http://forum.phish.net/forum/permalink/1375605598

@RobesPierre said:

my app updated automatically on my phone for some reason...

now I can't stream last nights show!

Well - mine updated, because I was dumb enough to expect just updated functionality not a whole new service. Poop. Would've totally just kept old app. Back to PhishOD!

I also listened to every show afterward on the app and this morning was a disappointment. But i bounced over to phishtracks and it was already up. Gonna be more like the old days!

Is anyone else having trouble fast-forwarding within a track? I can't seem to make this work...

I was also pretty disappointed this morning when my livephish app no longer performed the only task I used it for. I've been listening to pretty much every show the day after for the last few years. So I bounced over to phishtracks and it was already up and running (nice work whoever is behind that). It's kind of nice to hear the AUD. It's been a while!

64kbps VBR? I have a hard time believing that. That bitrate is virtually unlistenable. To me, LivePhish streaming has always sounded like the neighborhood of 96kbps. Pretty lousy, but just clear enough to be tolerable for the low upfront price of the app. 64kbps is awful, unless they are based out of Pawnee, Indiana and are using Altavista with their 14.4k modems. 320kbps is obviously great, but 192kbps would be perfectly fine. They aren't Google or Apple.

That being said, I'm not sure I can justify $9.99/mo when there are so many other ways I can hear this music for free. I still see them live, and I buy albums/downloads when funds allow, but I've been a fan for so long that I really only actively listen to them when they're on tour. In the off-season, I rarely listen to Phish unless it comes up in shuffle mode on my work iPod. It keeps things fresh for me.

I've done the trial period for Google Play All Access, and I realized that it just isn't how I listen to music. I'm still very much into my LP's, CD's, iTunes library, and putting music on my iPod for on-the-go listening. App-based streaming, the cloud, etc. is great in theory, but I always end up getting "matching" mismatches, dropouts in the middle of songs, not-quite-gapless playback, and other hindrances to the enjoyment of the music. I'm an archivist at heart, and it feels weird to not possess a copy of the thing I'm listening to. Funnily enough, I'm the exact opposite with TV and movies. No interest in owning shelves and shelves of DVD/Blu-Ray discs. Go figure.

I really hope they bring back the most recent "featured show" feature. That was the best thing about the app, by far. I hope they're listening to us. Based on how long it took them to update the app, I'm not holding out much hope.

The coolest band in all the land had the coolest thing with their fans.
They'd play a great show, you didn't have to go, but you'd soon have it in your hand.
"We got a new app but no more last show" was the decision made by Trey.
"Screw em all, we're in charge here - pledge $99/year to our 401k."

So, if you subscribe to LivePhish+ for $10/month, is the bitrate of your streaming music still 64kpbs? If so, that is downright ethically indefensible. Nobody in their right mind should pay for music with such poor sound quality. I still think it's a typo. There's just no way they would stream music at THAT low of a bitrate.

Here's hoping Kevin Shapiro will one day take on the ultimate project, the entire Phish vault available as downloads and/or streaming. Fugazi have done/are doing this with their Fugazi Live series. Ian MacKaye is literally transferring old DAT tapes of every available Fugazi show onto his computer, even taking tapes made by fans where the band's own recordings aren't available, encoding them as 320kbps mp3's and selling them for $5 each or whatever above that you want to pay. When Phish finally hang it up, I'd love to see this sort of thing happen. I'd gladly pay $10/month to have access to ... THE VAULT.

As for all the anger about this service, I don't really get it. I'm not itching to sign up, but let's face it. Phish still let people tape and freely trade/download/stream those audience recordings, as long as no money is changing hands. I don't see them ever taking that away. That's a pretty sweet deal. And let's face it, some people buy the official soundboard downloads, but many more pirate them. This is a way for the band to offer high-quality soundboard recordings, albums, and archival releases on their own terms for the people who want to pay for such a service. If you don't want to pay, cool. Hit up bt.etree or PhishTracks and have a blast. If you want crisp, superbly mixed soundboard recordings, it's not unreasonable to expect to pay. They even throw in a free download for any show you attend. Again, pretty sweet deal.

That being said, bring back the most recent show as the featured show!

Now that I've had it for a few days, here are my thoughts:
(1) it doesn't remember where you were in a song like Phish OD does, so if I pause in the middle of a 20 minute jam and then come back to it a few minutes later, I have to start at the beginning or find where I was with the little circular thing in the middle that doesn't really work well at all.
(2) it turns itself off sometimes when the phone goes to sleep. I was driving and using it with an aux plug into my car, and I had to wake up my phone every few minutes. Never had this problem with the Phish OD app.
(3) I'm paying $10 a month, and for that, I should have access to the webcasts.
(4) The sound quality is just stellar. As someone who is used to listening to the Phish OD app and am at the mercy of whatever sound quality of aud recording that gets uploaded, it is super refreshing to hear everything so clearly. Hearing the detailed nuances of Mike's bass on the Twist from 10/28 is exactly the type of stuff that makes this worth $10 a month for me.
(5) the 90s catalog is obviously lacking (2 shows from '99? really??).
(6) the "albums" section is great and includes everything.
(7) the fact that it includes so many TAB and Mike shows is a great bonus.

Guys (and Girls),

Note that Tela said VBR, i.e. Variable Bit Rate. That makes a HUGE difference, and why 64 kbps VBR is incredible sounding vs. CBR (Consistent Bit Rate). You audiophiles porbably already know this; I just did some research myself after reading the back and forth about it in the comments. Basically, with VBR you can have superior quality while keeping smaller file size.

This article is well-written by a guy in the know: http://www.digitalprosound.com/Htm/WebAudio/2000/Oct/MP3bitrates2.htm />
There are plenty of others too if you search "64 kbps VBR vs. CBR". Internet Archive has a few enlightening forums on the topic.

64 kbps VBR (Variable Bit Rate) is WAY better sounding than its CBr (Constant Bit Rate) counterpart. You audiophiles already know this; I just did some research myself after reading the back and forth in the comments.

This guy writes about it well and seems to have plenty of expertise: http://www.digitalprosound.com/Htm/WebAudio/2000/Oct/MP3bitrates2.htm />
There are also several forums about the difference on the Internet Archive.

Sorry for the overposting, I kept getting an error message when I hit submit.

Here is my suggestion for LivePhish+:
Create an xbox one and ps4 version of the app with the option of when playing, there's a visualizer options (like itunes). The visualizer would be developed with the complete oversight from Chris Kuroda, the long-term lighting director.

Latest show is up for playing right now... Policy change? Error?