Me neither, I am not willing to pay for extra features.
The price rise will no doubt slow the demand, but I think it’s a necessary option - if appropriately priced.
Roon Mobile, or Roon HQ spring to mind.
Roon to go, Roon mobile has been on the planning board since the beginning. Wonder how close they are?
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I would like to see a “Roon Powered By HQPlayer” that utilized HQP’s superior sound engine. But it would take figuring out a way to simplify the HQP filter elements vs the lottery ball like number of combinations that exist now. This wouldn’t be at the expense of the regular HQPlayer which diehards and non-Roon folks could continue to buy and use like normal. Sort of a HQPlayer Essentials in the vein of Roon Essentials for ELAC. In my opinion and experience, incorporating HQPlayer would elevate Roon to a sound level perhaps difficult to obtain by Roon on their own. And a simplified HQPlayer would make it’s brilliance more accessible to the masses. I only use a few filter and modulator combinations, perhaps HQPlayer Essentials could pick 3 or 4 greatest hits?
Thanks, I am well aware of what AirPlay can do as I migrated my ALAC library from iTunes to Roon. I have been an iTunes user since 2006 when I ripped my CD collection to ALAC. The only reason I found Roon was because I purchased a Meridian MS600 to go with my Meridian Pre and Power Amp’s and I did not want to purchase a NAS to use Sooloos. If you had offered me a plug-in that had RAAT and Meridian streaming protocol I would have jumped on it. I am not overly interested in the metadata, what iTunes had was enough for me. I just want to listen to music at the best quality I can. None of the other Audiophile music programs sparked my interest, even iTunes looked far superior to them.
So my only real choice was Roon. I am not a fan of subscription services (which is probably age related) but this forum and the fact that the Roon team interact with their users won me over. Oh and it helps that I like the Roon UI (with a few caveats).
Maybe I am an outlier but programs like Bit Perfect exist so their must be more people like me.
If I recall correctly, this was also discussed in the forum openly and you let every one know that “eventually” it would change in some way. Its not like you guys were trying to hide the fact that something was going to be done with lifetime and/or annual pricing. Seems some people just need something to complain about.
Nothing wrong here in my book. Surprised it took so long in coming.
It seems to be a capricious decision to only offer the old $499 price to people still in trial periods or people that are less than 30 days into a new annual subscription. I’ve never worked in the software business, but seems to me that most companies announce a price increase for a good or service is going to happen on some future date…rather than just saying SURPRISE, price went up yesterday.
I’m still happy with ROON and don’t plan on jumping ship. Would have been great though if you had offered current 1+ month subscribers the chance to buy a lifetime subscription at the old price.
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I don’t agree. The lifetime subscription is not a necessary option for a mature company like Roon.
i noticed my email and password for next life 
Since I’m never in both places at the same time I’m very happy to switch my subscription between the two.
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Those options are meant for the customers, not to please Roon. Simple sales strategy.
On average every product or service should be offered in at least 3 variants/options (typical marketing canon). Look for instance at Tidal, Qobuz or Netflix, you‘ll find there around 3 different options for subscription. The middle option is always the one that sells best (cash cow).
Marketingwise it is not recommended to reduce Roon’s subscription model to only one offering. Customers need at least the impression they can choose amongst different equal valuable options even though they are guided to the one that suits Roonlabs best.
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You might be making sense IF we were talking about an annual or monthly plan here. Your marketing canon of 3 options does not include options that causes financial pain to the company. Selling lifetime plans will cause financial pain to Roon in the long run…unless they price it so high that no one will buy it. In doing so, they would damage their image.
Next…
Announcing something ahead of time would result in a flood of people primarily to get the deal. A bit of research if someone was interested in doing so would have shown a change has been looming for years, lucky there is still a small window for those who see the big picture and value
I’ve been paying year to year…don’t recall the anniversary date.
Is it possible to lock in to old pricing for lifetime?
I have a saying as a lifelong collector of LPs, CDs—and now hi-res downloads: If I snooze I lose. I was nearing the sunset of my first annual subscription with the plan of buying the lifetime when I got a work bonus. Well, I got the work bonus but had to pay a couple hundred more for my lifetime. That is the breaks. Danny has been saying all year that the lifetime would go away one day. It is the same as looking at a specific mastering on the shelf or on a site and knowing that will go away one day. If I like the price being offered, then buy it. Don’t wait. If I can’t afford it then hopefully I will be able to find it once I can. No guarantees in this world other than all things change.
I bought the lifetime for the main reason that once I retire, I will not be able to afford an annual Roon subscription. I did it because I am planning for my financial future and how I want Roon for as long as possible. Roon is planning for theirs by phasing out the lifetime subscription. Their argument makes me want to pay for the annual because I want to support them and for them to succeed, but I am looking to my future as well.
This just means I will have to purchase other stuff from them over time, say, a Nucleus? Okay… twist my arm.
Just stick around, guys. That is all I ask. That and find fun and exciting ways for me to give you more money while I have it.
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Thank you for that clarification, @danny. I think that’s the ethical way to approach it. And your point about Dirac (as an example) follows.
I’ve made my opinion about subscriptions for non-service based software known before so I’ll not add on, suffice it to say that’s exactly why I went for the lifetime fee. I knew it would pay for itself in a matter of a few years.
I’m going to admit I’m happy that I went for a life time about a year or so back. Got into trouble with the wife, but I’d finally found the program is been searching for.
Here is the thing, Qobuz just reduced their pricing to compete with Amazon. I love that they did it, but I’m concerned that it jeopardizes their future. Look at the saving that there is there and pay for the Roon subscription.
The annual subscription is good value. The software is much better than anything else, and I’ve tried a few. Even my wife likes it. The annual subscription is about the same price as an audioquest cable and gives more enjoyment. If the subscription was the only option, I would pay it. Value is perceived, if there wasn’t an alternative to subscription, people would be happy
I do think that for those that have bought a Nucleus, it should be priced to include a number of years support for software… Much like a phone or PC.
Please remember that the market we are looking at is not the same as Netflix, it is much smaller, so they have to charge more. Audiophiles (including me) are a funny bunch, some still refuse to listen but anything but vinyl, some want folder structures, which is 20+ years old and they are a niche market.
Roon needs to employ people to develop and it costs a lot to employ software developers, I doubt that they are getting rich… They could probably earn more coding games for phones. Look at some of the free software, occasionally great for a while, but ends up being badly supported.
My final thought, if nobody complained it would be a bad thing for Roon. It would mean that people didn’t care, that they had other viable options. Complaints vindicate their decision…
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