The lifetime is a perpetual annual subscription. If the feature comes with the annual, it’ll be available to lifetimers.
Hypothetically, let’s say we added Dirac’s room correction, which would be an add-on cost to annual due to licensing (Dirac cost approx $500 in the past). That would not be included in the lifetime nor would it be in the annual. But if we built our own room correction and included it in the annual price, then it’d be available to lifetimers for no extra charge.
Note that the above is a hypothetical, and says nothing about future Dirac support. I only used it as an example since many of you are familiar with their product. Try to stay on topic here and leave Dirac support out of the conversation.
Serious question: If “$120 is a lot of money” and you are “out of work”, are you really in the market to spend $499? I’m not trolling – I’m genuinely curious as to the mentality at play here.
Just because I ain’t working doesn’t mean I have an issue with paying 499 but the sudden unexpected increase in price is a considerable jump for me personally at this time. I was talking with reference to the wider population in a similar circumstance to myself. I definitely ain’t into it for the current price for lifetime and talking to other friends who already have it and where considering swapping across I’m not on my own!. As I mentioned elsewhere I have
Considered Roon for a few months now but have been saving up for my actual physical hifi products during this period. A lot of people working or not may find a jump from 499 to 699 unsustainable for them personally and I’m in that bracket. But with respect many people won’t bat an eyelid whatever the price increase is they would still pay it. I would think that is exactly the case, those who may have sat on the fence may now be thinking purchase now before it goes annual only !.
Sorry if I missed it above (a lot of posts to read and personalities to keep track of); Is the lifetime your only option for you and if so, why? Why not pay far less at $119 for the annual?
I was thinking exactly that but if the annual increases in price to what the lifetime is currently over the period of four years it’s a difficult prospect. Will the Roon management say that the annual price is going it be fixed for the next few years I doubt it?. I was going to go lifetime after receiving the email on Thursday but I didn’t realise the hike was imminent!!. Sadly I wasn’t in an active trial at this time or I’d have gone for it !!, just my luck really!.
Yes but we all know there’s nothing out that faintly approaches the Roon experience , if there was any warning of this I’d have took out a lifetime. Once your experienced the immersive experience that Roon gives you everything else seems a tad boring !!. Got the email about 1.7 on Thursday but was that busy setting up my Meridian 5200.2 that I didn’t get a chance to take up the trial!!. Some you win and some others win!!.
I wonder if you’ll be having a Black Friday life time sale - doubt that as well but I’ll keep my eyes peeled !!.
I can‘t answer for Wayne of course but a general thought:
Some people lease a car and other people prefer saving up until they can say „it’s mine“. Who is smarter? No one can say, depends on circumstances and personal values.
Similar thoughts go into when deciding if the annual subscription or lifetime subscription suits one better. Considering music is a long-term hobby, so Roon could also be a long-term investment, thus making the lifetime subscription more attractive for customers.
Increasing the price tag without prior notice by 40% is like a punch in the face of the customers on the fence even though you made transparent your goals behind it.
The critique is not why you did it, but how you did it. It was the opposite of what you learn in „customer relationship management“.
Hi @danny, I see you’re active on the forum right now.
I fall within the guidelines (renewed Oct. 30) to take advantage at the old price. I’ve emailed according to the directions you posted at the top of this monster thread, but haven’t heard back. I’d like to get this taken care of before the US Thanksgiving holiday begins later this week.
Is there anything else I can do on my end?
I’m assuming that if I log into my account and click “Upgrade to Lifetime” it will be at the new price and muck things up.
Without ‘lifetime’ subscribers and their money paid up front to develop Roon as we see now you would probably be not able to pay for yearly subscription at all… as there would be no Roon. Lifetime subscribers took huge risk by investing at early stage (or even now) as they did not know whether ‘all that Roon’ will work. So I am not sure whether we can definitely judge who supports Roon better. I think both groups are equally important to Roon development of Roon and I hope guys at the headquarter realize that, too.
Hi Danny,
I’m impressed by your explanation, it’s just so clear and honest, I respect that a lot.
I’m in my first year of Roon , I have to say it’s one the best audiophile decision I’ve made for enjoying my system ina better way. I never thought of getting the lifetime, I always knew it wasn’t a good model for Roon in a long term perspective, I was surprised the option was still existing. My hope is to be able to use Roon for decades, if you think of the cost monthly it’s so reasonable comparing so many stupide things we buy. I love music and we all can feel by using Roon that you are also music lovers.
I’ve seen an earlier response that one should select the lifetime, a 699 amount will be charged, then contact @accounts with the appropriate info and they will issue a refund of $200. But I don’t work for Roon, just reporting what I saw earlier.
Let’s not count everyone’s money as that is a bit rude and quite frankly with kind respect, none of your business. I think a lot here who are married would fall under this scenario. “ I need to sell this to my wife and the $500 will be easier to sell when I tell her the price is now $700”
I like to think of it as the less altruistic “shamelessly taking advantage of a very steep discount over what a Sooloos system would’ve cost” (something that still applies at the current price, btw), but to each their own .
And yeah, I paid less than the current price for a lifetime sub, but I’d say the same thing if Roon had cut the lifetime price.
Very true…I like to drive my cars until the wheels fall off, so purchasing is the best option for me.
Or you can put it in the context of dating vs marriage. If you want to marry Roon then you have to pay the price $699, otherwise you can date her for $119/year. Best thing is, if some other hot thing comes along you can easily drop Roon and move on to the next, no strings attached. Problem is there are not too many choices around; Old faithful Foobar [she does the job and can satisfy but she’s not much to look at], Volumio or MoOde [Kind of psychotic and always in a state of flux, they have some talents but are prone to give you fits from time to time] or PiCorePlayer [stable and sure footed, but again not much to look at and performs at a so-so level of satisfaction…you’ll be prone to cheat]. I’ve dated them all, married Roon when she was young, Roon’s not perfect but she’s dependable and looks pretty hot…
That’s precisely what I was thinking,
I’m sorry I’m not that eloquent with words to explain exactly how I feel so that people can understand immediately what I’m getting at, but I feel an email from Roon saying last few days at $499 would have made me think more clearly for sure!!.. if you are forewarned about the 40% increase it would have made me buy the lifetime there and then!. 499 for sure is a more attractive proposition that 699 . It’s like a Dac or something you see at 499 you may think should I buy or shouldn’t i?, then when the shop puts the price up by 200 without warning those On the fence like me feel as if they have missed out big time. But if the price went the other way you would have thought the opposite (not that Roon would have become less expensive but it could have done!).
We all wish we could have phrased something differently at times. “Go elsewhere” feels like customers are not important to Roon. I suspect that is far from the truth.
Some better phrasing has been suggested that more likely represents what Danny meant to say. I could be wrong but I think something like “We feel $10/month offers great value for a product that offers what Roon does.”
Regarding the lifetime subscription I had a further thought. I don’t like lifetime software commitments, even if they save me money. Demand speaks the loudest and a lifetime subscription is too long a time span to express displeasure if developers become complacent.
A monthly subscription allows me to quickly respond to product developments that are no longer a good fit for my needs or budget. Lower demands send developers an unmistakable message, as does increased demand.
A monthly subscription keeps developers motivated to earn loyalty, stay competitive and be innovative.
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