Like many others I assume my journey into a digital file music library began with iTunes. I still use Apple Music (iTunes) as my primary tool for importing, editing, and organizing my files. But, for the past several years Roon has been my playback tool of choice and I much prefer the look and functionality of its interface. I want to switch, if I can, to use only Roon for importing, editing, arranging and playback of my music library.
If anyone has any experience or opinions on using Roon to replace iTunes I would love to read what you have to say. Are there any drawbacks?
I keep a copy of my Roon library in Apple Music. My opinion is that when Qobuz, Tidal, and Roon are all gone AM will still be there. I have the Apple One plan for my family so may as well use it. It’s also my back up when Arc won’t work.
It was 10 years ago now, but I pretty much just pointed Roon to my iTunes music folder and didn’t look back. Apple Music launched in June 2015, the same time I purchased my lifetime Roon license, but I haven’t ever made much use of Apple’s streaming service, opting for Qobuz and Tidal instead, specifically because of their integration with Roon (and, at the time, the CD quality streaming that wasn’t available through Apple Music). The only thing I regret about not using Apple’s Music app and their streaming service is that providing tech support for my 84 year old father, who is a user, is much more challenging because I’m just not that familiar with the interface anymore!
With a reasonably well-curated library of local files, it should be a pretty easy transition.
I have Apple One and therefore get Apple Music as part of that. It’s definitely worth it to me to keep both Apple Music and Roon+Qobuz. When traveling I have a huge collection of downloaded content on my devices (for offline) and like Spatial Audio tracks that are doing innovative mixing, whether on home theater systems or my Apple listening devices.
While Roon+Qobuz+ARC can do offline, the Spatial Audio remains interesting to me, so that’s a drawback to eliminating Apple Music.
OTOH, I really prefer the understanding of signal paths, playback details, OPRA settings, Binaural emulation, and PEQ available with Roon+Qobuz when at home.
I’m actually curious: how could you do the tagging of files if wholly using Roon? My understanding is that Roon won’t tag discreetly, but use the existing tag/s and overlay it with its own metadata. In that sense, you’d need to stick with iTunes or use another tagging application, which may defeat the streamlining attempt, no?
I may also be off topic, but I’ve gone the other way and headed back to iTunes as I’ve found Apple Music to be a cheap way to stream on the road (Arc has never worked for me). But the files were already tagged (MediaMonkey) and there are lossy versions for portability.
Their cloud-based storage (iTunes Match) is further insurance.
I still use iTunes as the on-ramp for Roon. I import music into iTunes and have Roon watch the iTunes library folder and use it as the Roon core. ITune’s outline file structure makes it much easier for me to find things in the library if I’m looking for missing tracks or albums. ITunes is easier for simple changes to file tags, too, though I’ll use dBPowerAmp for batch changes or multiple fields.
If it’s a new to me cd, I rip in iTunes to .aif format and I purchase digital music in the same format. I don’t think iTunes will play flac files. I have been doing this for years and haven’t had any problems with Roon keeping tabs on the iTunes library.
I have an iPhone that holds a 900ish song playlist that I sync with iTunes. The phone won’t hold my entire library but the playlist will go a long time before it repeats.
I also use iTunes for ripping CDs, basic editing and file organisation. Roon watches the iTunes folder which is on a NAS drive. For more complex editing I use Yate.
Roon edits apply only to the Roon internal database and are not written back to the file’s metadata. Although you can export the library details as an xlsx file, it is limited and has issues.
iTunes drawbacks: Not all iTunes edits are written to the file. This includes sort-by names. In this situation, iTunes will read what is on the file and replace the iTunes table data with the file tag data. Any edits in iTunes, will be replaced by what is on file. For these tags, I use Yate, which reads and writes directly to file, including Roon specific tags.
A big plus for iTunes is that it is applescript compliant. Using an external database, I can instruct iTunes to update tags with my specified data.
Yate drawbacks: There is no search or editing available unless the file has been read and loaded. If I need to correct the spelling of an Artist’s name, I need to load the relevant tracks, - if I know which they are. When working with tens of thousands of tracks, these types of edits are not functionally possible. Yate does not support applescript or an API. However, externally sourced changes can be made through file imports.
NAS drawbacks: The volume containing music must be mounted prior to opening iTunes. Failure to do so will cause rips to go to your local music folder. The NAS is a case-sensitive system, and I have experienced file renaming going haywire when the file name contains non standard characters.
In short - different programs for different purposes and altogether it works well.
I had a large 60,000 track iTunes library that I transferred to Roon Nucleus Titan via “Tune My Music” and Tidal. This improved my whole home music availability but more importantly it improved sound quality. This also allowed me to retire my old Mac Book Pro and Mac Mini to occasional use. Roon features that allow you to know the quality of the source and hand offs is very important. It took some time to complete this transition but was well worth it.