I purchased the lifetime subscription thinking what if Roon goes under back in 2017 for $499. I sent an email asking what would happen if Roon folded. I was told it would still work but would not have the updates. I wanted to support them so I purchased the lifetime. I am glad I did.
Now in all honesty I was not using it for streaming then just to manage my music server. Now it has evolved and I have Tidal and Qobuz and there are a lot of updates that have to be made to keep up with Tidal, Qobuz and any other service they decide to add and connect to. But after 6 years of ownership my cost is $6.93 per month on the investment and still going down.
So if you are in your 80âs like someone on this thread I would not recommend the lifetime membership but if you are in your 30âs-70âs in good health and an audiophile it is a no brainer as Roon will keep evolving and eventually you will be happy you made an investment in the company also.
By the way of course Roon wants you to pay by the month. They make more money that way. They can raise your price. I am sure it will be $14.99 month 3 years from now. The current $699 lifetime is still fixed. Just food for thought!
The apparently weird sale of Tidal to Square last year was motivated by the fact that Tidal has a lot of customers who do not use regular banks and are therefore a ripe target for Squareâs transaction services. It did not have much to do with music.
Roon Lifetime was a bit like Kickstarter funding. I paid up. I have 30 units that are Roon Ready, at a considerable cost, so it would make more sense even now compared to someone with just a Naim Qb2 (like my son) that is Roon Ready, but Roon makes no sense as he just uses Spotify.
I would happy pay $100 per year just for the pleasure of using systems from several manufacturers with the same app.
Anyone looking at a Lifetime subscription today likely would prefer the monthly cost. When a Lifetime subscription was more affordable a monthly fee wasnât offered. So, I think this posting is moot.
IMO, the best play is the middle ground yearly subscription. You save 30%-ish and limit your losses if the service becomes unavailable for one reason or another.
Roon being such an amazing tool, Iâm not worry it goes out of business. However, it could be possible that one of the big player in the streaming industry decide to buy it to differentiate its offer. For an Amazon or Apple, buying Roon would be pocket change and it would make their offer drastically more interesting.
In fact, Iâm surprise it havenât happened yet.
I bought my lifetime subscription in Nov 2019, which was 499 USD at that time. I divided my credit card payments into 12 installments of 41.66 per month for one year.
I am happy with my decision of paying monthly installements of under 50 USD for one year and am now able to use Roon for a as long that it is and will be running. Looking at what I âinvestedâ for my audio equipment, the cost is fairly small for one of the best home streaming systems that is available.
(and I am very confident that it will keep running for many more years).
But with the higher fee for a lifetime subscription nowadays, the situation certainly has changed a bit.
Yeah, I hate this fashion⌠âyou will own nothing, and be happyâ. Pretty sad about Pixelmator Photo, I wonât be paying it, but unfortunately many probably will.
Itâs totally understandable why software providers prefer the subscription model - and equally, why those of us brought up on the one-off payment plus upgrades model tend not to be fans. I remember when Microsoft changed Office to a subscription model, that I moaned about it, but Iâve since come around to accepting it.
Edit: having said that, when Adobe dropped the one-time pricing of Lightroom and changed to the subscription model, I could not justify the ongoing cost to myself for my occasional use of the develop tools (I use Photo Supreme as my DAM). So I switched to Affinity Photo, which still has the one-time pricing model (for now?).
I donât think people get it. If everyone one bought a lifetime subscription, then think about what will happen, when there are only a few new customers a year? Whoâll pay the bills? Itâs because itâs software that you canât see or touch in real life, many people has a different view on subscriptions vs âowningâ a licens.
Lifetime subscription is like buying a TV, and with every new model that becomes available, youâd get a new tv for free⌠for the rest of your life. That business model can not keep a company alive.
If you really care about Roon and the future development and availability, everyone should go for a monthly subscription. But at the end of the day, many of us make decisions based on our wallets.
You innovate, improve your product, make a v2, attract new customers, there are lots of options. Selling a single product over and over again is lazy. Roon does not do this, thatâs not what Iâm saying.
Just food for thought! 
