A big part of my music experience is learning about new/old interpretations of pieces of music I have, or learning about other similar pieces of music I might like. This feature, if implemented, would enhance that.
In the beginning, there was the Schwann Catalog that listed music available from different labels. For today’s file based music, I have been unable to find an analog . When I want to find a piece of music that I had in CD or other form, I have to go to each of the sites that I know and search around which is quite time consuming. It is also the case that many of the sites I use over lap significantly. Sites is use include: HDTracks, Acoustic Sounds, Native DSD, Channel Classics, High Definition Tape Transfers, Pentatone, and ProStudio Masters among others.
This may be outside what Roon considers to be its focus, but what I am requesting is the ability to search for things outside your current library that you could purchase. There is already a switch for this: “Only show my Library” which moves in that direction a bit.
The sites I mention each have search facilities but there is no standard based on what I know, so there would likely have to be coordination with each site supported - there is a strong financial incentive for them to cooperate with Roon - who knows it might even be a minor revenue stream.
Here is a simple use case. I use the standard search facility in Roon, and if I have this feature enabled (perhaps restricted by web site), and matches can be made for what I am searching for, those results would be returned. If we use Tidal as a model, we could ask users for their login/password so that when they click on an item they would be taken to the web site(s) with the music they are looking for. This is probably the limit of the integration since these sites do not have the responsiveness I and most other Roon users would like to see. For this reason, as with Tidal, Roon might want to cache the catalog from the different sites.
Thanks, I had not thought of this, it is as good an approach as one could get without the feature I would like to have added.
I did not mention it in my original post, but I had thought of writing something by myself. The issue is that using standard HTTP with query params, etc, the process would be unreasonably long (I mentioned this in my post).
Wow… This is great. It has a lot of the functionality I was looking for. Of course, what I am asking is for integration with Roon. If this place has done it, obviously it can be done. It needs some work though if I type in “Berlioz” I get a nice list. If I type in “Berlioz Te Deum” I also get a list of many things but “Te Deum”. Its search criteria are not very good, for example composer should certainly be a choice.
In any case, while not the user interface one would want integrated with Roon, what you show is great - I will use it right away. I still would like Roon to do the integration though I suspect this is not a high priority for them.
Certainly not perfect as you correctly say but glad you find it helpful as I do. I agree, would be nice to have integrated in Roon but likely not high on the priority list… And composer is one on the search field items…
findmusic is useful, but unfortunately it doesn’t seem to include releases available at bandcamp. Too bad since bandcamp is a major source for independant labels and nearly everthing is available in cd quality flac and much in even higer res.
Thanks for another pointer. I just tried bandcamp and found it confusing. It seems to want you to name your price. I could not easily find the bitrates available before purchase.
So far in this thread I have learned that there are some good starting places to make an integration easier (forgetting prioritization by Roon). I am certainly going to use findhdmusic a lot.
Perhaps others will post other possible sources to find HD music.
Bandcamp is more like a co-op than a record store. Name your price is standard at there. There is always a minimum, but if you feel generous and want to support the artist you can always pay more. There are also artists and labels that offer subscription plans where for a monthly or yearly payment you receive every release at no cost (and some also include releases not available to non-subscribers). Some artists and labels offer “:complete” discographies - everything on bandcamp by that artist/label for a fixed price (currently all 11 of Denny Zeitlin’s bandcamp.releases are available for $74.25 or more).
I wouldn’t think bandcamp would be a good source for standard repertoire classical (what gets reviewed in Gramophone, for example), but for innovative classical and certainly for indie jazz and rock it is an essential source.
. When I want to find a piece of music that I had in CD or other form, I have to go to each of the sites that I know and search around which is quite time consuming. It is also the case that many of the sites I use over lap significantly. Sites is use include: HDTracks, Acoustic Sounds, Native DSD, Channel Classics, High Definition Tape Transfers, Pentatone, and ProStudio Masters among others.