Idagio - IDAGIO – Free (AAC/MP3 192kbps); Premium (MP3 320kbps) €9.99/month, 14 day free trial; Premium+ (16-bit/44.1KHz Lossless FLAC) €16.67/month, 14 day free trial
Product Description: IDAGIO is a specialist classical music streamer with high quality recordings from Warner Classics and Deutche Grammophon.
Overall
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Audio quality
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Content
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Music discovery
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Features
Summary
Specialist CD Quality classical music streamer. Good catalogue of top recordings.
Pros
IDAGIO Free (192 kbps MP3/AAC)
Specialist Classical Music catalogue
Dedicated Classical Music search
Access to exclusive audio and video concerts
CD Quality Streaming
Cons
Lossless streaming requires Premium+ plan
No desktop offline ability
Requires registration and credit card details for free trial
Relatively limited HiFi and device support
No Lyrics
No podcasts
History
Launched in August 2015 the name ‘IDAGIO’ was formed from ‘I’ for tech start-ups, and ‘adagio’, the tempo marking in music that means ‘slowly, leisurely’ according to Till Janczukowicz, the services co-founder. In September 2018 the streamer claimed 250,000 registered users but the number of paying subscribers is unknown. IDAGIO has partnered with all the major classical music labels including Warner Classics and Deutsche Grammophon to provide classical music enthusiasts with access a wide variety of quality recordings. Mobile and desktop apps are available for CD Quality lossless FLAC streaming with MP3 and AAC streams available for mobile and restricted bandwidth usage. In October 2018 the company raised €10 million from its existing investors and launched in the US and Canada. The service has now expanded to more than 190 countries.
November 2019 saw the reorganisation of its subscription tiers with IDAGIO Free – a radio like service with 192 kbps MP3 streaming, Premium – on demand streaming at 320 kbps and Premium+ – on demand streaming in lossless 16-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC.
In December 2019 TIME magazine included the classical music streamer in its list of ‘100 Best Inventions of 2019’.
In May 2020, IDAGIO launched its Global Concert Hall. This is an online concert venue often showcasing exclusive concerts in both audio and video formats. Concerts are streamed live and for Premium+ subscribers past concerts can be viewed either live or on demand. For Premium and Free users these concerts can be accessed via a Pay per View facility.
There are currently no student or family subscription plans available.
IDAGIO’s main rival in the classical music streaming market was Primephonic which was bought by Apple and closed in August 2021. Apple have stated that they intended to relaunch it as part of Apple Music. Whether this will be at an additional cost is unknown but if this Classical Music add-on comes included in a standard subscription or at a modest premium it will put IDAGIO at serious risk of either being bought out or having to directly compete with Apple Music.
Services
Note: Prices are via the IDAGIO website. Subscribing via the Apple or Google app stores are slightly different. Go here for a complete list.
Free
A radio like service which allows you to select and play any album, playlist, recording or composer, and IDAGIO will play you recommendations based on that selection. There is no on-demand streaming and concerts are not included.
Premium
€9.99/month 14 day free trial
On demand audio streaming in MP3 320kbps. Connect to Sonos, Burmester, Bluesound and more. Music can be saved for offline listening on iOS and Android devices.
Premium+
€16.67/month. 14 day free trial
All the Premium benefits plus streaming in 16-bit/44.1kHz lossless FLAC, access to all upcoming video concerts and all available Global Concert Hall performances.
Availability
IDAGIO is available in English, German, French, and Spanish in over 190 countries. It is currently not available in Mainland China or Hong Kong. If you’d like to get updates on this, please click here to add your email address to their contact list.
Audio Quality
There are three different audio quality settings available on IDAGIO: Normal, High, and Lossless.
IDAGIO Free users only have access to the Normal audio setting. Premium subscribers can opt for a maximum of High which delivers audio in MP3 320kbps format and Premium+ subscribers can additionally stream in 16-bit/44.1kHz lossless FLAC.
By default, IDAGIO plays in the Normal setting — with slight differences in bitrate and format between platforms:
- iOS app: AAC format at 160 kbps
- Android app: AAC format at 192 kbps
- Web player and desktop apps: MP3 format at 192 kbps
You can change the audio quality settings within the music player or by visiting your Account Settings.
IDAGIO’s Global Concert Hall is streamed via Vimeo and you play these via Airplay, Chromecast and Apple TV.
Content
Specialist Classical music streamer.
IDAGIO claims over 2 million tracks complete with metadata providing information on each track, album and recording. Labels available included Deutsche Grammophon, Sony Classical, Decca, Warner Classics, Erato, ECM and harmonia mundi.
According to a recently updated support page they are adding 7000 new tracks per week.
Music Discovery
The usual search and playlist functions are available and users can browse by composer, performer, genre, period, instrument, or even mood. A record of recently played items is also maintained.
IDAGIO offers a unique ‘Works Page’ on both Web and Desktop apps which combines browsing and search to allow users to find different recordings of composers’ works.
On the Discover page, you can browse through featured new releases, curated playlists and recommendations. Your Weekly Mix is an automatic selection of pieces based on your personal taste. Your listening history and favourites are paired with metadata from IDAGIO’s catalogue in order to find new music for you.
You can also discover new music with the IDAGIO Moods player which has carefully selected pieces for moods ranging from relaxed to powerful.
Features
There are apps for Android, iOS and desktop. The MacOS app can be downloaded here and the Windows app here. For mobile users the iOS app can be downloaded from the Apple App Store here and the Android app from the Google Play Store here.
Offline playback is available on the Android and iOS apps and supports offline listening of Tracks, Recordings, Playlists and Albums. Offline playback is not available in its desktop apps with no plans currently to introduce this functionality.
CD Quality via the web player is restricted to those browsers such as Chrome that support lossless FLAC streams.
IDAGIO can be streamed wirelessly through any AirPlay, Bluetooth or Chromecast enabled device. On iOS you can connect directly from the player by clicking on ‘Devices Available’ at the bottom of the screen.
Dedicated audio equipment integration is not as extensive as some of the more mainstream streamers but IDAGIO has recently introduced Sonos, Burmester, Bluesound and Nativ Sound integration.
In Car Entertainment integration is supported via Apple CarPlay.
