I rely on my local music for the most part. And then, once in a while, I jump on a streaming service. In essence: Qobuz for a year (and buying lots of music). And then listening with no Qobuz. And then…
It would be convenient to have a discography presented for the user at all times, streaming service or not. I don’t see why not? This would make Roon the best music discovery service even if you are not signed into, say, Tidal. Today Roon feels empty if you are only using local files.
In conclusion, it would be nice from a user experience to have the information presented ‘continuously’ and not depending on online service or not.
Having music in Roon you can’t play isn’t a good idea knowing how people work. This would cause a lot of confusion and frustration and needless support tickets asking why they can’t play them.
To my knowledge no Music software shows what you could have only what you have available to play via local music or a service. They are not an online encyclopaedia of music and Roon should not try to be. Whilst I understand your desire for it, not sure it would work well or is a good use of Roons resources. Perhaps having links taking you to other services such as Discogs, Allmusic etc out of Roon to show this material would work better?
Maybe I am wrong, but I anticipated that Roon users were educated enough to understand the difference between accessible music and information about music?
Also, I disagree with you regarding the encyclopaedia aspect. The connected Roon is an encyclopaedia — the best one I could think of (where you can interact with the content)! At the flip side, Roon unplugged is, … , an experience that looses some of its charm. Sure, I understand the argument that if I don’t pay for a service, then the experience will be thinner. But I still think it is a good idea to keep the encyclopaedia aspect of Roon. Not a bad use of resources if you ask me.