I’m about to pay for a subscription on the understanding that I can have Roon installed on multiple computers/cores but only use one core at a time. Is this correct because I have also read that you can only have one main core/library.
My situation is I have 3 iTunes libraries set up on 3 computers in 3 places home-work-cabin.
I don’t ever need to run more than one at a time, but if I can only have one then I don’t want it.
You can move your lic from any core to another easily as many times as you like…but your library will be separate to each core - but if your iTunes libs are all the same then it should be close on each setup if not identical
I have two locations, each has a separate copy of my music and back up to each other regularly, so the files are the same in both locations.
It’s very easy to switch my licence between the two. All that differs is the Roon library edits I make in one location do not transfer but I can always take a back up of the Roon library and restore it in the other location.
Yes, on my trial I see when I don’t have access to the core (It’s asleep) it says “switch to another core” so I figured it would be pretty easy to do, but often my assumptions get the better of me.
if i only use roon for tidal integration and have no locally stored music on a hard drive or server and my current core is an imac if i then want to use a windows laptop as core is it a simple matter of authorising the laptop and deauthorising the imac?
in this case will all of my saved tidal album/artists/fav. tracks automatically appear on the newly authorised laptop core? will any information be missing? finally in this case could i just uninstall roon on the imac if i wanted to make the new laptop a permanent core or does it make sense to keep a core ‘backup’ on the imac in the case the laptop gets corrupted in any way/.
many thanks mohab
Very easy to switch cores, yes.
If you are only using it for Tidal then all your Tidal favourites will be there. These are driven by Tidal, not Roon. Any playlists created in Roon would be missing though.
No sense in having a Core “back up”. It would be easy enough to reinstall the latest Roon to your iMac and authorize it in the event that your laptop died. You should back up your Roon library anyway, and this could be restored to your new Core if necessary.
thanks for the lightning quick reply dps.
a couple of things i’m uneasy about:
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if i’m using roon with tidal only are my tidal album/artist choices taking up any physical hard disc space in the same way real physical music files do? or are they only stored on tidal’s servers? when roon state 2gb/1000 albums is that referring to tidal albums or just locally stored albums on hard disc/nas or both? if tidal albums/artists take up physical space where on my core are they stored ie where on my hard drive?
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AFAIK roon database refers to the supplementary info concerning tidal albums/artists i’ve saved. am i right in saying these are stored on my roon backup folder and if so is roon database the same as roon library or is library referring to locally stored music?
if i can get these points sorted it will go a very long way to my overall understanding of roon.
- TIDAL is a streaming service - no digital audio files are stored locally. Only the Roon metadata about the TIDAL tracks/albums is stored locally - in Roon’s database. So when Roon state 2gb/1000 albums that is referring to your library, which may include both the metadata of your locally stored albums on hard disc/nas and the metadata of the TIDAL albums that you have added to your library.
- The Roon database is what is handled by Roon’s Backup function. Your collection of your own digital audio files is not handled by this Backup function. You will have to backup these files separately.
many thanks. i’m on a steep learning curve but the roon experience is stunning as compared to the 2-D world of the tidal app.
one important point. as a user who uses only tidal/roon integration if i change cores i understand all my tidal favs will automatically appear on the new core. however what about metadata on artists, the albums i’ve saved in roon, fav. tracks will all that third party info also be saved? or do i have to do a backup and then restore it to the new core. so what is saved what is lost from one core moving to a new core? i’m quite worried as someone new to music streaming software all my hours spent identifying favs tracks etc on roon will be lost. my backup is on a WD my book studio HD but i’ve also read about the need for ssd backup externally? thanks mohab.
i’m trying to simplify the roon input so i can just get on with enjoying the GUI and music.
All of that needs to be backed up and restored – the favorites are stored with TIDAL, but everything else is kept in the Roon database.
thanks mike ultrafast replies…
so is the back up and restore process straightforward and is there anything i can do to cover myself if it all goes horribly wrong? this is a question of absolute first time trials here and i’m sure once i do try it and the process is simple i will wonder what i’m worrying about. finally is an external HD not ssd ok here? i’ve even considered taking screenshots beforehand even though i have only around 800 albums. so only fav. artists/albums from tidal server are carried over. many thanks
We strongly recommend an SSD for the hard drive Roon’s database is running on (meaning your system drive), since it’s probably the single biggest factor in Roon’s performance.
That said, it’s not required or necessary for the drive you’re backing up to.