# Purchasing music from Qobuz



## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Tried this for the first time yesterday. It did not go well. Qobuz has a number of the HAT releases of Morton Feldman’s music - $5.99 for lossless files of each release (including e.g. the 5 hour String Quartet No. 2.). I was hoping to post this in the bargains thread, but not after my experience.

Actually, my first purchase/download (of the quartet) went rather smoothly. But when I tried to purchase and download “For Philip Guston” I had nothing but problems. I struggled through most of them only to discover that the files kept disappearing off my computer. To make a long story short, I discovered that whenever I signed out of Qobuz, the files vanished.

The only reason my first purchase worked is that I had moved the files to a different location before signing out (to add them to my music server location). Once I realized that, I downloaded “Guston” for the fourth time and moved the files. They remain on my computer.

These are purchased files. My credit card has been charged. I have the purchase summary. Is this “works as designed,” a bug, or “I have no idea”?

FYI - I do not have a streaming account with Qobuz, but I assume I can purchase files without that.


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## D Smith (Sep 13, 2014)

I've bought and downloaded quite a few lossless files from Qobuz over the past couple years and never had the problem of disappearing files as you described. I sign out of Qobuz all the time and the files remain. Definitely sounds like a bug to me. Good luck.


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## Eclectic Al (Apr 23, 2020)

Sounds like a bug of some sort. I've never had a Qobuz problem.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Just so you don't think I'm crazy, here are the before and after (logging out of Qobuz) screenshots of the music folder.


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## Oldhoosierdude (May 29, 2016)

jegreenwood said:


> Just so you don't think I'm crazy, here are the before and after (logging out of Qobuz) screenshots of the music folder.
> 
> View attachment 151607
> 
> ...


Wow. That is spooky.

My problem with download from them is doing it one file at a time. Sometimes having to manually enter the file data. I only purchase from them if it is a super bargain.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

I heard back from Qobuz support directly. I was quite surprised that the answer was works as designed (currently).

“If you log out of your account on our app, for legal reasons, all downloaded files are deleted. This eventually will only affect music downloaded for streaming not purchases. However, I don't have a timeline that I can currently share with you.”

My advice to them was that if this is the case, Qobuz should provide a notice to music purchasers determining how to download.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

D Smith said:


> I've bought and downloaded quite a few lossless files from Qobuz over the past couple years and never had the problem of disappearing files as you described. I sign out of Qobuz all the time and the files remain. Definitely sounds like a bug to me. Good luck.


I've heard from several people that downloading individual files does not create the same problem. I have not tried it myself. Right now, I have the files stored in several locations and copies of the tar downloads just in case.


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## Chopin Suey (Jan 3, 2020)

I think you could also avoid this problem by downloading your purchases through the browser rather than the Qobuz app. That's what I do (I don't have a streaming subscription), and I've never had any trouble downloading and keeping my purchases.


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## jegreenwood (Dec 25, 2015)

Chopin Suey said:


> I think you could also avoid this problem by downloading your purchases through the browser rather than the Qobuz app. That's what I do (I don't have a streaming subscription), and I've never had any trouble downloading and keeping my purchases.


I tried that. No difference. You can download the music in a tar file or move the files out of the target directory, but if you don't, the files will vanish.


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