Turn on repeat and I think it stays…just make it long enough so that you don’t run out unplayed tracks or have enough variety 
How many extra taps is that? Jesus…
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Configurable seems like a great way to please everyone.
I get that everything shows up in the “recent” category, but I’d still like the option.
Just a work around at least for now
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I’ve been using Roon off and on for over a year and I have to say that between the consuming play queue and the classical metadata issues I was initially turned off. In the case of Classical metadata time has paid dividends and the situation has gotten vastly better (thank you for that).
Please… pretty please… make the consuming play queue a configurable option!
I can absolutely see a benefit to the default behavior, but there are many times that I would like to jump around in the list without reordering the tracks or having them disappear into oblivion. I understand all of the pro and con arguments, but ultimately this doesn’t seem like a big deal or something that will dilute the overall mission of the platform.
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Likewise want it left there as if I suddenly decide I want to repeat the album I don’t have to replay just select repeat
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I used Sooloos for many years which never destroyed a play queue. Massive play queues were quite clumsy. I can see why Roon didn’t choose to stay with that design. On balance I find it better to use as-is and either re-select an item to play or use history to save playlist.
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I’m sure that we all have previous experiences with various systems & applications but, I guess, the majority of enthusiasts couldn’t afford the Sooloos hardware so wouldn’t be able to make the comparison.
The lesson from this thread is that there are those who think that “play queue track loss” is fine and others that think it is a right pain.
As there are no obvious benefits to removing tracks from the play queue, why not make it optional? I’m sure that it’s not a major coding exercise to create a configurable option for the end user. Increased flexibility of the (excellent) product can only win more customers.
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As a new user, the vanishing play queue is odd. I expect the playlist to remain intact with a option button to clear the play queue.
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The Queue isn’t a Playlist; Playlists are permanent. Once a song has been played it appears in History, which is Permanent and which can be made into a Playlist. The Queue can also be scrolled back using the rewind transport button.
Setting out the above again to ensure everyone knows existing functionality. It is different from some other applications.
The reasons given for change appear mainly to be unfamiliarity. Does anyone have a use case where they want to do something but the current implementation doesn’t support it ?
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I’ve been following this thread since it started (mostly to see if there’s an indication that behavior will change) and I think that you’re partially correct here.
Indeed people aren’t familiar with the functionality as it’s somewhat different behavior than most other playback products on the market. To date I’ve used the streaming and file-based playback offerings from Aurender, dCS, Boulder, Linn, Simaudio, Naim, Cambridge, Sonos, JRiver, Audirvana, and several others that I’m forgetting. None of these products exhibit the playback queue behavior of Roon (a consuming playlist is an option on Aurender).
Specifically, most other products utilize a playback queue which must be managed (cleaned) by the user either manually, or by making a playback selection that clears the queue and inserts new content. Furthermore, with most other products selecting a track in the queue starts playback from that point without moving the position of that track or wiping out the contents above it.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with the way that Roon works (and I do understand the logic behind it), but I often throw a bunch of tracks into a playback queue and then jump around manually depending on my mood or what I’m trying to accomplish. With Roon I can still do that, but it’s with the side effect of reordering the queue or wiping out the tracks above the point that I’ve selected.
For those who like the way that Roon currently operates that’s fantastic and good for you. For those who would appreciate the Roon queue to operate in a similar manner to many other products then why not provide a configurable option?
As far as use cases go, one which is near and dear to me is setting up a system or evaluating a new component. I don’t rely on “reference tracks” and instead mostly use the music that I’ve been enjoying recently. The nature of the process requires jumping around in the queue and often replaying something which has already been eaten. Sure would be nice to be able to do that without having to go back into history and re-add the track.
Beyond that, there are several occasions where I’ll start a session with something and decide that I’d rather listen to different material so I’ll jump down in the queue. Inevitably I’ll later want to hear those first tracks but since they were never played they aren’t in the history list. End of the world? No. Moderately annoying? Yes!
Finally, putting the queue on repeat partially solves this problem. The only issue is that if I don’t want to re-order the queue and, therefore select “play from here,” the prior tracks still get eaten AND since they were never played they don’t get reflected in the history.
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I think you’ve succinctly summarized key issues I experience with the current queue implementation. Like you, I work around them, but would prefer not to have to.
This from Mike in another thread is relevant here.
While I appreciate getting a response from the team about this matter, which I and many others indeed do care passionately about, I fail to see how the implementation of this request would be as difficult as Mike has described.
The request is for an option for a passive queue or “list behavior”. Put very simply, the primary requirement would be to, at the user’s request, bypass the existing code that automatically modifies the queue. If it is your perception that significant new development would be required, then perhaps there isn’t a clear consensus on the specifics of the request. I welcome a discussion of that. Perhaps a compromise or a clarification could be reached.
I’m glad the team has given consideration to this request. The current behavior is both highly unusual and disliked by a portion of the user base. For us, there are “things wrong in the playback system” now. Offering the user a choice in this matter should please everyone. It is absolutely a worthy investment of the development team’s time.
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+1 for an option to have a non-destructive queue. When playing an Album, I may decided to play a track I really like first but when that happens, every track preceding it disappears.
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Just noting that you can reorder the Queue using handles on the right or use Play Next in this case.
Edit: I’m not trying to dissuade people from expressing a view about the current Queue mechanics and requesting any change; simply noting aspects of existing usage to assist with the current mechanics.
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I wanted to report back (10 months after my request for a non-destructive queue) to say that even though I have used Roon exclusively for my listening navigation I have never managed to get used to the queue mechanics.
Clearly that could indicate that this dog is too old to learn new tricks but I’m not that old and I’m not a dog.
Perhaps it is more indicative of a variety of different playback use cases:
- explore some new stuff
- need to listen to some cracking old tunes
1 is served well by the current queue behaviour although the inability to search the history makes it a nightmare to find any gems you’ve come across. Its good because your relationship with the tracks is ephemeral.
But for use case 2 a non destructive queue I would be much better (and also decent playlists).
For a track to move between 1 and 2 perhaps what is actually needed is a better/simpler way to add to a playlist and that would solve it.
So, after some meandering perhaps it doesn’t matter what the queue does if we can easily store the track away for next time?
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Another +1 for an option of more standard non destructive queue behaviour.
In simple terms for my daily listening I like to click and select a few albums from various artists. The First can be added to the current queue - but the subsequent don’t have an ‘add to queue option’. In order to add this onto the queue requires a lot of clicks… then when I get to the end of the list we get onto Radio mode - which is fine, but not in every situation.
Playlists are fine - but I prefer not to have to make a new one everytime I get to the end of a list!
In the Android app the repeat button is not easy to find and requires a LOT of clicking.
The more Sonos like - ‘add to queue/Play now/replace queue’ makes a lot more sense!
Is Play Album/Add to Queue not working for you ?
+1 for an option to have a non-destructive queue.
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