We have already shown how to play Apple Music on Raspberry Pi. Maybe you are considering enjoying higher audio quality music on Raspberry Pi. How about Tidal? We can say Tidal is the pioneer of music audio quality compared to other music streaming services.
Thanks to Tidal Connect, there are several ways to help you connect your Tidal with your Pi through some available software. Volumio, MoOde Audio Player, DietPi & RoonBridge. Of course, these three ways are complex to set up on Raspberry Pi. Under the following post, we will detailed guide you how to play Tidal on Pi through these ways. Also, we provide you with an easier and quicker way to obtain Tidal music on Pi. Let’s scroll down.
Part 1. Play Tidal on Raspberry Pi via Volumio
Volumio is designed to be a multifunctional software to help you play music seamlessly. Also, the system will improve your listening experience as it streams all your music services and formats with bit-perfect Hi-Res playback. I know Tidal has superior audio quality; however, it’s normal that lose the audio quality when played in your headphones or other wireless streamer. Therefore, using Volumio to stream Tidal on Raspberry Pi is a good option.
How to get Volumio on Raspberry Pi
- Step 1. Connect your SD card or USB device to your computer.
- Step 2. Copy the URL to enter the Volumio downloading page. Remember to extract the downloaded .zip file. After extracting, you can get an .img file.
- Step 3. Enter Raspberry Pi Imager, click the Operating system option > Customizing image. And you will find the extracted Volumio .img file. Choose it.
- Step 4. After locating the file, tap on the Internal SD Card Reader and click the Write to transfer Volumio .img file to your target SD Card or USB device. And now, Volumio is flashed to your SD Card or USB.
- Step 5. Insert the SD Card into your Raspberry Pi. Wait for a moment to allow Raspberry Pi to read all the Volumio files. And then you will see the login screen, the username and the password are all set up as volumio. And then you can navigate to http://volumio.local on your web browser to control the remote interface.
How to Play
Congratulations, once you successfully download Volumio on your Raspberry Pi, you have already finished the most difficult part of playing music from Tidal on your Raspberry Pi. Then, you need to subscribe to the Tidal HiFi plan ($11.99/mo) to get the Tidal Connect functions. Plus, subscribe to Volumio Premium ($5.98/mo) to get the feature of supporting Tidal Connect.
Step 1. Activate your Volumio Premium on your Raspberry Pi.
Step 2. Click the Volumio menu at the top left screen.
Step 3. In the menu section, hit the Source icon. Scroll down to the Tidal section. Tap on the Connect button.
Step 4. Connect to your Tidal HiFi account, and then you can stream Tidal on Raspberry Pi.
- Pros
- Official support to directly stream Tidal via Tidal Connect
- Easy steps to stream Tidal
- High-Quality playback
- Cons
- Clucky integration of managing and navigating to Tidal playlist
- Unstable connection between Tidal and Volumio
- Missing Tidal’s content
Part 2. Play Tidal on Raspberry Pi via ViWizard
From the steps of downloading Volumio to the Raspberry Pi, we can know that Raspberry Pi can read the file directly. So, it will be an easier and more convenient way to directly upload the Tidal music files to Raspberry Pi. So here is another topic: how to remove Tidal’s DRM to play music from Tidal on other devices?
Try to install and use ViWizard Tidal Music Converter. It is an efficient and useful tool designed to help you remove DRM from Tidal easily. Also, it provides many audio conversion formats for you to choose from. MP3, FLAC, M4A, M4B, WAV, and AIFF. Just choose one format that suits your Raspberry Pi. The original ID3 is also kept to help you better manage the download files.
Download music from Tidal to MP3, FLAC, M4A, M4B, WAV, or AIFF. Works for all users. Listen offline anytime.
Step 1 Add Your Tidal Library to Conversion List
Open ViWizard on your screen. Once you enter, you need to log in with your Tidal credentials in the built-in Tidal web player. And then you can tap on your collection to select tracks, albums, or playlists you want to play on Raspberry Pi. After selecting, click the Add to List button on the right screen. ViWizard will recognize the content and automatically write it to the conversion list.
Step 2 Set up the Audio Format
After adding, click the three horizontal lines at the top right, and choose the preferences option. And you will enter the next small window to set up the audio format, bitrates, and sample rate. If necessary, you can save the lyrics if Tidal provides.
Step 3 Start to Download
After setting, head back to the conversion page, check the list again to ensure the tracks you want to download. If not, you can tap on the delete icon to remove it. And then you can hit the Convert icon. And ViWizard will work for you to download them to your designated folders.
Step 4 Transfer the downloaded Tidal Music files to your Raspberry Pi
You have 3 ways to transfer files to Pi. USB or Network:
Via USB
- Connect the USB drive to your computer, and you can copy or drag the downloaded Tidal music files to the target USB drive.
- Then, you can insert the USB drive into your Pi initially and copy the files to Pi, then you can enjoy playing Tidal on Raspberry Pi.
Via Samba
- Install and configure the Samba server on your Pi to make a shared network.
- Access these shared network locations on your computer, and then you can copy or paste files to the shared folder from your PC. You can then enjoy the music from Tidal on your Raspberry Pi.
Via Network
- Enable and run SSH service on your Raspberry Pi. Just run the sudo raspi-config in the external you can enable it on Pi.
- Then you need to install and set up an SFTP client (FileZilla or WinSCP) on your PC.
- After installing, enter your Pi address with username and password.
- Select SFTP as the protocol and click Connect. Then you can drag or drop downloaded Tidal music files to Pi.
- Pros
- Easy and efficient uploading of files
- Stable playing Tidal music
- No need for Tidal Connect
- Superior Audio quality
- Cons
- Not stream Tidal content
- Music Updating depends you upload files to Pi
- Extra cost for ViWizard
Part 3. Play Tidal on Raspberry Pi via MoOde
Despite the two options mentioned earlier, you can also try moOde audio player, a free, open-source audio player that is ad-free.
How to get moOde audio player on Raspberry Pi
- Step 1. Connect your microSD card to your computer.
- Step 2. Enter the moOde audio player website to download the newest version of moOde audio player for Raspberry Pi.
- Step 3. Enter the Raspberry Pi Imager, click the Choose OS, and pick the Use custom icon. And choose the downloaded zip file from the file chooser.
- Step 4. After selecting, click the Storage, and choose the microSD card you designated.
- Step 5. Tap on Next, and the OS customization screen will show. Then, click the EDIT SETTINGS to enter the OS customization screen. On the GENERAL tab to paste your hostname, userid and password, and optional WiFi SSID and password.
- Step 6. Tap on the SERVICES tab and enable SSH with password authentication. Then, click the SAVE button and return to the OS Customization screen. Choose Yes icon to apply the customizations.
- Step 7. Click YES again to proceed. Raspberry Pi Image will automatically write and flash moOde audio player image file to your target microSD card.
- Step 8. Insert your microSD card into your Raspberry Pi. Power on your Pi and connect it to your network via Ethernet or WiFi. The first startup will take a minute. MoOde audio player will reboot 3 times after initially converting from Raspberry Pi Imager to complete moOde startup configuration.
How to Play
Step 1. Enter your moOde audio player.
Step 2. Click the moOde menu, scroll down to Configure, and choose Audio.
Step 3. Enable UPnP Client for MPD and hit the SET icon.
Step 4. Click the EDIT icon to UPnP config. Then you can enter the next window to save your Tidal account. Navigate to the My music in Tidal, and then you can play music from Tidal on your Pi.
- Pros
- Free open-source software
- A light-weight system to minimize the background process
- Adjust the audio quality and format
- Cons
- Unstable connection caused Tidal login failure
- Dedicated installation
Part 4. Play Tidal on Raspberry Pi via DietPi & RoonBridge
How to Get DietPi on Raspberry Pi
- Step 1. Connect your SD card to your computer.
- Step 2. Enter the DietPi official website to download the suitable files of DietPi according to the system of your Pi.
- Step 3. If you install 7zip for Windows or The Unarchiver (Macintosh) to extract the DietPi xz-compressed file. If you are a Linux user, you can download and install xz-utils to unzip the file.
- Step 4. Download and install balenaEtcher to flash the file to your SD card. Windows users also need to install Rufus to flash image.
- Step 5. After installing the balenaEtcher, click the Flash from file to locate and select the DietPi image files you downloaded.
- Step 6. Then, tap on the Select target to choose the SD card you designated.
- Step 7. After selecting, click the Flash icon to confirm the process to flash DietPi image to your SD card. It will take you a while. And then you need to insert the SD card into your Pi.
- Step 8. When you first log in to DietPi on your Pi, the hostname of the system is DietPi if you have not changed the name from the configuration file dietpi.txt. Following the instructions on the screen, or you can connect Pi via the network. And a login prompt will appear on your screen. Paste the initial credentials.
- Step 9. Then, DietPi will automatically begin to search for and install updated DietPi software packages. Then follow the DietPi guide to edit the password and username. Until now, you have finished setting up DietPi on your Pi.
Login: root
Password: dietpi
How to Play
Step 1. Run dietpi-software and install DietPi Optimised Software. Return to dietpi-launcher and select DietPi-Software tool.
Step 2. Enter the DietPi Software Options, scroll down to the media system section. Click to install Roon Bridge. Wait for seconds to root the Roon Bridge system.
Step 3. Once you set up the Roon Bridge on Pi, plug your external DAC into your Raspberry Pi. Roon Bridge will automatically detect it.
Step 4. Open the Roon on your Core, and you will find your Pi appears in a new endpoint.
Step 5. Now you can open the Roon on your Raspberry Pi web browser. After launching Roon, click the menu icon at the top left, then tap on Settings > services.
Step 6. Click the Log in button next to Tidal to connect your Roon on Pi with Tidal. After connecting, you can play Tidal on Pi through Roon Bridge.
Read More: 2 Easy Ways to Play Tidal on Roon [Free]
- Pros
- Rich music metadata
- High audio quality
- Multi-room audio control
- Cons
- Missing Tidal content
- Expensive paid for Roon ($14.99/mo)
- Complex setup
- Need a separate DAC
- Unstable connection caused Tidal login failure
Conclusion
There are all the methods and detailed steps on how to play Tidal on a Raspberry Pi. Comparing all the methods, we truly recommend playing Tidal on Raspberry Pi via ViWizard. Easy and quick, no software flash, directly enjoying Tidal with simple upload files to Pi.
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Adam Gorden, the digital media specialist at ViWizard, is dedicated to providing the best solutions for digital media management, including audio and video conversion, file optimization, and media workflow enhancements.
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