This is a bit of a frustration, I have been chatting with my dad, who can’t upgrade to Roon 2.0 on his Mac laptop as its too old, but has previously purchased a Roon lifetime membership, he can use legacy, but only for a year with support.
The upgrade seems incompatible with those people who have purchased lifetime membership as it is making older computers obsolete.
So, unless Roon are going to gift him a piece of kit, he needs to buy a new machine to continue using his lifetime membership.
This is a wee bit dramatic, don’t you think?
A (1) year of support doesn’t mean that it will stop working after 1 year, it means that Roon won’t support it anymore by adding new functionality or providing bugfixes. It will keep on working the same way it’s been working for you now.
Doesn’t the lifetime offer include support?
Tom, I’ve moved your posts out of the (now solved) support thread into a new thread of their own.
Not in the way you’re implying. It’s not dissimilar to using a mobile phone from 2011 and complaining to Apple/Google that you’re not getting security updates, even though you’ve fully paid for the phone.
The phone still works fine; you can still make phones calls, send messages and play Angry Bird –– Only if you want the new shiny things like 5G, you’re going to have to get a new phone.
It does - support of the current (latest) version. Roon Labs have never supported previous versions in parallel with the latest version.
Roon 2.0 obviously is a new situation, and Roon Labs for the first time are supporting a legacy version until at least the end of this year. The software will continue to work beyond the support cutoff date, obviously.
How old is it? Roon 2.0 requires macOS 10.15 (Catalina), which runs on a 2012 MacBook Pro. If his MacBook is older than that, I’d say its had a good run, and Christmas is just around the corner 
Hi Mike, it was used exclusively as a core, but, can’t do that anymore due to a change beyond his control.
But, that is drifting from the issue, that you (the user) can pay to fix the issue is to ignore the issue.
Roon 2.0 has changed the lifetime offer.
Perhaps a limited lifetime.
As for Christmas being around the corner, that’s my inheritance you are spending 
You seem to be confusing hardware and software.
You need to update your hardware in order to enjoy your life time subscription to roon. Evidently a 12 year old mac is now too old, this is not unreasonable. I have a 2012 Dell laptop, it has Firewire 400 on it an everything, at the time it was cutting edge. Its useless for even low end modern tasks.
Hey @Tom_Moore1
I have a 2009 MacPro that has been hacked to look like a 2010 MacPro. I have installed OCLP OpenCore Legacy Patcher and I am running MacOS BigSur on an unsupported legacy Mac.
It took a little bit of work to get it running but now that my machine is running BigSur I have no issues running Roon 2.0.
I hope that this can help you and your old chap.
Mr.Macintosh is a great resource and he does some excellent tutorials that helped me: https://youtube.com/c/MrMacintoshBlog
Hi Mark,
That is very helpful, I will pass it on to dad.
So, are you saying that Roon 2.0 is a new product, and that lifetime subscription was only for what went before.
I understand that lifetime applies to the product or service and only whilst it is still available, that Roon 1.8 was being discontinued would have been good to know, as this seems to be what we have, a new product not an update. Does that seem an accurate summary?
Tom
Nothing lasts forever. Limitations of legacy gear prevent implementation of newer software features. Developers have to balance everyone’s interests but inevitably older computers and OS’s will be deprecated. Ten years is a very good trot.
Thanks for your opinion on hardware lifespan Andy. Do you have a view on the components of a lifetime subscription to a service / product that gets terminated without proper notice. That’s the issue not the age of a computer.
So true.
Tom
Not at all. Your father has a lifetime subscription to Roon - and that covers the version extant at the time he purchased the subscription, and future versions of Roon.
The issue for him is that the new (and subsequent) version of Roon requires MacOS 10.15 to run, thus he cannot upgrade to Roon 2.0, but he can continue to run Roon 1.8. While Roon Labs have said that they will stop support at some point after the end of 2022, this means that they will no longer be issuing any fixes or patches to 1.8. The software itself will not stop working and your father can continue to use it.
As Roon Labs themselves say in the FAQ on migration:
Roon will provide ongoing support for 1.8 installation for some time after the release of 2.0, depending on the Roon 2.0 adoption rates. However, if you are more comfortable using Roon 1.8, you can always continue to run it on your own after the official support period ends.
A lifetime subscription to Roon gives you the current version and support for it. It does not give you lifetime support for obsolete versions.
Hi Jim,
We have got that, thank you. I’m going to give lightning ds a try for my hi fi andI have just found that the naim app can access the music stored on my Auralic device so will save myself the subscription fee and make use of what I already have.
I do feel sorry for those people who purchased lifetime and now find it obsolete, but will personally vote with my feet.
Lifetime Roon or anything about lifetime Roon is not obsolete. Roon constantly updates their product with fixes and improvements. I’ve been on lifetime Roon for almost 3 years and have received quite a few updates over that time period. As Roon advances, sometimes old equipment is no longer able to work effectively with Roon, so the equipment becomes obsolete for use with Roon.
I used to have a Compudyne 386 SX16 running Windows 3.1. I doubt it would run Roon.