Is there a LMS-style Random Play feature?

Roon Software Discussion
21

Thanks for flagging us here. The current “Play All” behavior is based on the same algorithm that Radio uses for making selections, the difference being that Radio selects from an algorithmically generated set of similar content, whereas Play All is playing from an explicit group of content you’ve selected (ie, the Focus, your whole library, etc). Play All shouldn’t get stuck on the same artists and tracks over and over, and we’re going to address this when this area of the product gets overhauled.

As I mentioned in the post linked above, we are planning to devote proper attention to the Radio feature, and for now we’re avoiding making changes here piecemeal, or implementing quick fixes. This feature deserves first class attention, and it will get it. I don’t have firm timelines on when that’s going to happen, but we have seen all the recent questions about random playback, and we’re aware that this is a important use case for a lot of people.

What we hear from you guys really does drive how development resources are allocated, so thanks in advance for the feedback, and please keep it coming all.

One more thing:

One thing you might want to look into is our recently-redesigned Tags feature. An easy way to think about Tags is that it’s like a playlist, but with two major departures: 1) it has no order, so playing a tag is always shuffled; and 2) tags can include way more than just Tracks, including Artists, Genres, Composers, etc.

If you tag 10 artists, you can just play the tag and it will include albums by those artists, tracks they’ve appeared on, etc. Same with genres, etc. One thing you can’t do is selectively remove content from the tag. So, if you have 10 Miles Davis albums, and want them all included, you can just tag Miles. If you want all but one album, tag all the albums. If you want all but one song, go to Miles’ page, View All Tracks, and tag all but one.

It’s not yet possible to tag a Focus, but we are hoping to include that in the future, to provide “smart playlist” like functionality.

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22

Mike, many thanks for the feedback. Very glad this is on the development team’s radar. I think all who have participated in this and other related posts are looking forward to the revision and the improved functionality it will bring.

I for one will explore Tags more in the meantime.

@carl Carl, again, many thanks for the positive and constructive voice you brought to this discussion.

@mike

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23

hmm, if it is working with tag’s, a workaround could be to create a tag “all tracks” ore something like that und add this to every song. But I did not found a feature to add this easy to every song…

for me by the way a must feature, and I’ve currently a trial license, first thing what I’ve noticed. Lot of media management has this problem with a library > 200’000 songs.

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I haven’t had Roon very long, but shuffle keeps repeating the same songs over and over…what a joke!

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You may be referring to Radio rather than Shuffle. I find that banning an album that Radio gets stuck on can help.

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Hi Andrew,

Thank you for your reply.
I selected 2 specific Genres and afterwards selected “play all” and enabled the "shuffle " icon. Although Roon is only playing songs from the 2 Genres I selected, the same songs keep repeating randomly over and over again mixed into the shuffle. I also have “radio” turned off. Am I missing something?

Thank you,
Joseph

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Hi Joseph,

Your findings are right. Both Random Play and Radio are flawed. Please read the investigation above for details and specifics on the difference between Play All, Shuffle and Radio.

I - and others - are hoping for significant improvements.

28

@hshrader,

Thank you for your reply, I didn’t even receive an e-mail notification to your reply, which is why I’m now replying.

All I can say is that I’m so very glad I didn’t buy a life time membership to Roon. It’s ridiculous how many times I need to skip over the same damn tracks since I first posted my initial question about this. This is a huge floor to say the very least. Think I’ll be going back to using JRivrer or checking out Audirvana +3 and asking for a refund. This is a feature I enjoy using the most. This is absolutely unacceptable.

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I understand your frustration with Radio. It needs major attention from the Roon team. Being a recent trial member, I assume you haven’t had the experience that us long time users have - the Roon team is very responsive to requests and feedback from the user base. They’re continually working hard and providing significant updates to multiple aspects of the application.

They are aware of the issue and I’m confident that they will address it. Consider keeping an eye on Roon in the future as it has a lot to offer that I haven’t found in any other product I’ve seen.

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So, I found that adding 1 track to my “queue” from a Genre I would like to shuffle, then clicking “focus” with the “radio on” shuffles that Genre correctly without repeating any tracks. I’m very glad I’ve at least found that there is an alternative to the actual “shuffle” mode which keeps repeating tracks. I’ve yet to try this with multiple Genres, though.

I’m also not receiving any e-mails to the threads I’m subscribed to I’ve gone over my personal preferences and everything seems to be correct. Does anyone else have this issue?

Thank you,
Joseph

EDIT: My mistake. My e-mail settings were incorrect.

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That’s typically the issue, though sometimes overly aggressive junk email filters consume them.

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32

@support,

Don’t mean to raise this from the dead. but anyone care to comment on the state of the current Radio, Shuffle algo?

Lack of decent desktop touch screen support (Jukebox style) and a really despicable shuffle algorithm prevented me from purchasing Roon the first time around.

Linked thread: Shuffle Problem.

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33

Still the same. Radio is garbage currently plays only a few artists and repeats a lot.

Wealsi need a feature like all the streaming services have that will introduce you to new music based on listening habits or your collection

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34

+1
The lack of a good recommentation system is imho the biggest flaw in Roon at the moment.

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