I’m still in the honeymoon stage and, even though I wish it was free, designers, developers, test engineers and support staff all need to be paid. I’m on a tight budget so I was extremely prudent about subscribing to Roon.
I would also add that this genre of software is still rather niche. Sure, iTunes and other products provide some of the same features but they operate under different models. iTunes, for example, began as a tool to rip, sync and consume music but evolved, from a business direction, to a commerce engine and now as a streaming app. Furthermore, Roon is, in my opinion, extremely elegant and is designed around the customer.
In the end, it all boils down to if you’re happy with what’s on offer with Roon, in relation to your investment. I was initially concerned/frustrated by some shortcomings and was refunded with a promise that I’d rejoin when things had improved. With a new iPad purchased this summer, I had another trial and was sufficiently impressed with the ironing out of bugs and elimination of some basic feature own goals that I decided to get on board again on a year to year basis.
Right now I think Roon represents good value at, what, less than 10 bucks a month, and I’ve no intentions of quitting unless a major disaster like losing Roon integration, always a threat if they are bought out, ever occurs.
Roon is now sufficiently mature and rounded that, to me at least, it’s no longer a matter of waiting for the apps to arrive etc.
Quite simply if you’re not satisfied don’t renew. It’s a totally personal decision based on your level of happiness with the service as is.
I agree. I paid $500 shortly after Roon was introduced. I’m two years from being approximately even with the Subscription cost and then Roon is “free” for me. The lifetime subscription is a great “investment” once you are pretty sure Roon is for you.
Exactly, Sub with an offer for lifetime is a standard online gaming revenue setup, especially for new games, to offer long-term value for those supporting them initially and to get an immediate boost of cash for continued development. Usually, the lifetime offer goes away though. The longest I’ve seen it last in a game environment is 3 years for The Secret World.
I must respectfully disagree with this poster. First, I believe
that Roon is doing an above average job of keeping the community informed of
the roadmap and of soliciting and listening to feedback from customers.
Secondly, to the extent that this message implies some concern about the value
of the Roon service for the money – I bought a lifetime subscription some time
ago and would make the decision to do it again in an instant.
Its not free, no-one ever said it was free and the pace of development and refinement is significantly ahead of most “free” software solutions. The community is active, its needs considered and the company responsive
What I find surprising is that people think nothing of spending more than the cost of a lifetime license on a USB transport, secure in the knowledge that they can hear their rationale in action everyday, but balk at the prospect of shelling out a lesser amount for software that sits at the heart of their user experience, evolves daily and actually has a very real impact on the quality of what they hear when pressing play.
I usually use free software though I did shell out for JRiver Media Player for a while. My budget is limited at this time and I recently revised my set up to account for this.When I trailed Roon, I thought it was the best interface I had ever used. The price did make me hesitant but I thought of it this way. I had an old Vortexbox I could convert(free), I had a Dragonfly Dac(cheap and brilliant VFM) and good Broadband. So I would pay £150 for a top of the line streamer with the best and most progressive interface around (£350 with Lifetime) and great sound. No brainer. Though I quite understand the need to get money up front, one request I would have is that Roon allow affordable access by charging a monthly subscription as the streaming services do. Maybe you could work out a VFM deal that includes Tidal Subscription.
I’ve used JRiver MC for a few years too, both MAC and PC…certainly its functional with the jremote app. Always seemed to be in a state of perpetual beta though. Rarely have used it since subscribing to Roon. Roon / Tidal has changed the way I listen (and explore different music) for the better. A game changer for me…
The same logic applies to Kickstarter or crowdsourcing. If you really need the item or service you’re backing, just buy it as currently available from a retail outlet. If you like the idea of supporting something you would prefer exist down the line, back it, like a donation. Just don’t confuse the latter for a purchase.
All that being said, I’m a lifetime supporter, love the product as is, and look forward to future development (and hope my suggestions are incorporated in some form). To me, the devs seem very communicative and transparent.
Agree whole heartedly with your sentiment - essentially getting open source experience with arguably the best software for audio playback in the market - I was using XBMC / Kodi and J River previously- Roon is streets ahead in terms of audio software - I was actually suprised that they offered a lifetime membership at quite a low price - and not proportionate in my view to the software development time these guys put in.
Thanks for your response Mike, specifically concerning the issue of the queue.
The matter of the queue is a very clear case of “different strokes for different folks”. Obviously, a significant number of users like it or at least don’t mind it. For others, such as myself, it is a major irritation that marrs what is otherwise an excellent user experience.
I find it hard to understand your contention that providing an option to simply (?), leave the queue intact would be a major development exercise. Your response makes me question whether we’re all on the same page about what this feature request actually is.
Though it’s not on your current schedule, I’m glad that you are open to addressing the matter in the future. In the meanwhile, thanks for all you and the team do.
Very odd and amusing original post. For a guy like me it’s always interesting to see what sort of discourse takes place online.
I bought the lifetime Roon subscription as soon as I had the opportunity, and have never regretted it for a moment. I had 3000 burned CDs that were immediately given new life and made infinitely more accessible and enjoyable. For the first time, I was able to enjoy them in multiple locations throughout my house, effortlessly. This, combined with Tidal integration, makes for an unbeatable experience, and one that is, for me, unprecedented. While Roon is still more technical than I’d like, it’s much easier than anything else I’ve seen, and has brought me into a new technological world in the process.
Now for the cost: Since my subscription is for the rest of my life (that’s what I choose “lifetime” to mean), I’m going to (hopefully realistically) assume 40 more years. That’s 480 months, during which Roon will cost me about one dollar per month per month (less than that, actually, because I’ve already had it for a year). And, for my dollar, I get frequent enhancements, robust support, and constant new functionality…in addition to a great interface and user experience. Not to mention the value of the time I don’t spend on file management strategies. All for less than half the cost of a tall Americano at Starbucks.
With Tidal integration, I’m up to about $21 per month. Think how many new albums this means I will get to enjoy in a month for the cost of a single download from HDTracks!
You get the point. Roon has revolutionized my four-decade-long audiophile hobby (and incidentally I’ve already spent over twenty times the cost of my lifetime subscription on hardware since getting the subscription.) So Roon is helping the industry too.
Hell yes, it’s worth the money. I challenge anyone to find a better deal anywhere, on anything.
I have a funny feeling lifetime means the lifetime of the product…but hey I’m still happy even it’s 5-10 years…you don’t get the hardware for free…you should not expect the software for free either…or the music for that matter
