It’s not far out to wonder if Roon are struggling financially. Thank you for explaining something that we are all already aware of.
If Roon are financially stable, they could have absorbed a hit with a surge of lifetime subscribers coming from their loyal annual subscribers. Then said from X date forth, lifetime subscriptions are gone or are now X dollars.
Everyone would have understood and it would have been fair all round. But they have chosen not to take that approach.
So either they couldn’t weather that storm or they could have but don’t care and have put their own interests above loyal customers.
Roon have to make the move sometime, and whenever they do, it is Now. So the objections will have to be faced sometime, so it may as well be Now!
They explained it fully and openly and is £2.50 a week really so much to pay for world class innovative software designed by people passionate about it, so much to ask in a world where people pay £££‘s on USB cables? I don’t think so.
Yes I agree, they had to make the move sometime, I personally am not arguing with that. They could however have been transparent about it and given those users who have already shown themselves to be loyal an option to move to a lifetime subscription, whether they want it ideally or not.
It is not transparent to after you have hiked the price up, write a post saying why you’ve been underhand. To be transparent would have been to say “listen guys, this price increase is coming next month, and the reason is…”
Roon are a business, that’s fine. They are acting like a business right now. That’s fine. But tomorrow they will be harping on about how much they care about users and the Roon community. They seem to want community loyalty while operating as a hard nosed business. The reality is, ‘engaging with their users and community’ is just the most effective form of marketing for them.
They are not the first and will not be the last. It’s making them very wealthy so good luck to them. It’s clearly working very well for them.
mjw
(Here I am with a brain the size of a planet and they ask me to pick up a piece of paper. Call that job satisfaction? I don't.)
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Maybe Roon should have simply said Lifetime Membership is no longer available? Where would you be then? But you’ve a stay of execution, so take advantage why you can.
I’ve worked with many startup businesses, many likely larger than Roon. I’d be amazed if the founders are anywhere close to wealthy from Roon. I hope they become very wealthy with this business (as that means success for Roon). But I’d guess any of these folks could make way more money currently working for another company than from their compensation from Roon. Of course they hope in the long run that this is true (wealth), which is why they are willing to make the trade offs now, likely just getting by…
Edit: and to be fair, most entrepreneurs I know really want to change the world, if in only small ways. They want financial success, but are also driven to make a difference in whatever area they are interested in. Music streaming in the case of the Roon folks.
The end of Roon lifetime has been an open secret for some time now. They have always said it won’t last and I expected a sudden cut off.
This is at least a phased cut off.
They are damed if they do and damed if they don’t.
If they are not confident that they could secure enough additional annual subscribers in the 4 years that would have bought them upfront, I think we should all be worried, lifetime and annual subscribers alike.
But I am clearly in the minority here so I am off to do other things. Good luck everyone.
Wow. You are really reaching here to make things fit your narrative that Roon is somehow in trouble. The reality is that your are upset because Roon did something you don’t like. It’s not a good look…
Jamie, the management group at Roon Labs are smart people, as well being passionate about their craft; Roon being a follow up to Sooloos. Passionate people without good business acumen don’t stay in business long.
The increase make total sense for a subscription model. And thanks for a transparent explanation!
As I’ve stated previously I’m in the Roon ecosystem for the long run but with no intention of ever going “lifetime subscriber”.
For me the idea of paying yearly both provides Roon with a steady cash flow, at the same time as it gives Roon extra incentive to always be on their toes for customer satisfaction and keep up with competition.
I would like to point out that since I purchased a Roon lifetime subscription about four years ago, electricity prices in my home country of Brasil have risen by more than 50%. Nobody warned me those increases were coming, although in Brasil we’re conditioned to expect annual 20% hikes in energy costs from time to time. I bought a stock the other day for the equivalent of US$12 a share. It used to be $1. Nobody told me it would cost me 12x the price of a few years ago, but I’m convinced it’s good value (and I have a pretty good investment track record).
I’m not sure the increase in the lifetime cost of Roon, which was a relative bargain when compared to the annual sub, should come as a great surprise, either. But it still seems like good value compared to the annual sub—unless you’re approaching extreme old age.
Long story short, price increases happen. People seldom receive a warning. And price hikes don’t necessarily wipe out value.
“Everyone here spends an irrational part of the income on music.”
“I certainly hope that is not true.”
Lol. Like beauty, it’s all in the eyes of the beholder, isn’t it? I’m sure my wife would agree with you. I’m not sure my niece, a concert pianist who just spent a great deal of money out a grand piano, would. I like to compare it to the cost of cars over my lifetime. I’ve spent a lot more time listening to music at home than I have spent in cars, Yet I spend a great deal more money on automobiles than on audio gear and music purchases. And music doesn’t put me in the midst of traffic jams. Which of the two seems irrational?
What you continually fail to understand is that we do indeed do ask, but we also don’t listen to every request. The chip you feel is because priorities are chosen based not onky on demand but also where we want to take the product. So while features like UPnP and folder browsing are/were in high demand, we refuse to do them. Same goes for your search request to not show multiple data types.
If we can’t meet your demands, it’s not because we aren’t listening; it’s that you don’t agree with our priorities.
