Is ROON able to run a library of 1,000,000 tracks?

[Jeff_S (Jeff)]

One of my friends is having a large collection of music, over 1 million tracks. He is thinking about using ROON but asked me or this is possible with ROON before he goes this direction?

As more users are encountering problems with large libraries, I didn’t want to reply to him before asking ROON Support to know or this is possible and if so, what kind of hardware do you suggest? I can imagine a Nucleus Plus is reaching it’s limits with a library like that, correct?

Looking forward for a reply,

Jeff

[Suedkiez (Just a fellow user like you)]

I edited the number format in the title so that you don’t get answers about 100,000 tracks

See the help pages:

I.e., probably yes but it is good that you asked. Apart from a strong machine, there will also be best practices for the organisation of the files on disk. We have seen some cases where specific folder layouts caused performance issues. Roon is working on this, but still.

[Jeff_S (Jeff)]

@Suedkiez
Thanks for the “correction” although in Europe it was correct

Yes, probably it could work but in my opinion a fair question. Also good to know how those files need to be and best hardware to use or at least the specifications.

I might learn some myself and adjust my own files or hardware

[Suedkiez (Just a fellow user like you)]

@Jeff_S

although in Europe it was correct

It was written 1000.000 IIRC, with the first separator missing, which seemed very confusing and not correct anywhere, whether the conventional separator is a period or a comma

@Jeff_S

Yes, probably it could work but in my opinion a fair question.

It is definitely a fair question and encouraged to ask by the help!

The issue with performance seems to be around this:

@benjamin

Do you have at least one artist in your library with over 1000 tracks?

Do you have at least one artist in your library with over 1000 albums?

@connor

We have ongoing work to address the underlying problem here, which has to do with low tolerance for certain ratios of album/artist/track within file storage directory. Specifically, too many Artists with a large volume of sub-contained locally stored Albums is a possible mechanism for throttling performance in Roon.

Hi @Jeff_S,

This is an excellent question you’ve posed and, while delayed, I wanted to make sure you saw an official staff response in full detail.

What matters much more than the library size is a) the breakdown of content within the library and b) the associated storage file structure that Roon indexes during use. If your machine has sufficient processing, RAM, and storage, then 1,000,000 tracks in a library is completely possible.

Users who have large libraries with highly customized file directories are currently experiencing issues with performance. Roon expects subdirectories to be loosely structured according to a general music taxonomy, something similar in ratio to Artist - Album - Track. While flexible in its handling, Roon will currently struggle when a directory is taxonomized too far outside that expected structure. To give an example, a single folder containing (possibly hundreds of) live performances of one jazz standard by one artist across two dozen albums isn’t a far-fetched taxonomy. However, under certain conditions, building that directory:subdirectory ratio can bottleneck Roon’s backend processes.

Since users with large Roon local libraries tend to catalog and organize their local libraries, these users have encountered symptoms first.

We’re working to resolve the underlying symptoms to restore functionality in full to these users. Much of this can be fixed to make large libraries and custom taxonomy work better.

However:

Roon is not professional file management software. It is essential that your friend considers how they are organizing their local library and the work that taxonomy will demand of Roon. Keep in mind that TIDAL itself advertises a 90-million track catalog.

With the proper management of storage, Nucleus+ is a wonderful candidate to meet their needs and, with the above notes in mind, can certainly handle large libraries. Your friend can also trial Roon on their current machine, opening access to Community, where they can pose questions to #support directly as well.

[Jeff_S (Jeff)]

@connor
Thanks for your detailed reply and clear to me.
Although I am not sure what the specifications should be for such a machine, besides a Nucleus plus.
Can you please give some more details/specifications for a machine which can handle a library size like this with ease?

I will pass your answer, thanks again.

Jeff

[connor]

Hi @Jeff_S,

All of this depends on how your friend has actually organized their library, their network setup, and what other software they’re using on the same machine. We can’t guarantee any Core will function well if their setup is in disagreement with the best practices we recommend, and the elaboration I provided above should be taken quite seriously before investing.

I recommend you post this question over in #roon, as users with similar setups to your own (or your friend’s) will have the best recommendations.

You’d need something with high processing power, at least 16G of RAM, and sufficient local or network storage accessible to host that library. We don’t make specific brand recommendations other than Nucleus+, but users will have recommendations for you for all of our supported operating systems.