Is there a thread on this subject that someone can point me to?
I find the New Releases For You feature to be really weak.
I dig classical, but classical is over-represented. It’s also very rare that I come across something new that is surprising or refreshing to me, and I also feel I miss some pretty basic albums that the algorithm should include. Is this just me?
Search finds several that seem to fit:
https://community.roonlabs.com/search?q=%22new%20releases%22
1 Like
yeah, had searched, but was curious if anyone knew of a good thread on the subject without having to spend 30min sorting through abandoned threads, or threads focused on slightly different iterations of the issue, etc…
Going to piggyback on this since it’s one of the fresher threads. I did some spelunking and found this from 2021.
And lots of reports of things like albums already in library showing up in new releases. I think we can ignore those here.
I’m tempted to start a feature request thread but this is probably more of an epic-level set of changes. Here’s how it breaks down for me, which I imagine you’d relate to, Dave.
-
Low volume of recommendations.
** I got 15 recommended full albums under Electronic for February. 30 total, all genres. -
Sub-par relevance
** I listen to 90%+ electronic music. New Aphex Twin? Missing. New DJ Khalid from the Smurf’s soundtrack? Recommended…? It’s probably 40% commercial rock and pop I don’t care about. Mackenzie Carpenter? Under any circumstances, ever? Why? -
Reliance on black box algorithmic recommendations
** Basics like Tidal’s “Updates” feed that simply show you new releases from artists in your library are missing. It may not be clever but it’s highly effective. Even for Roon to ping a DSP for new releases from a reasonable handful of your most listened artists would be huge, and I imagine technically practical.
** LABEL based recommendations are similarly helpful. But I’m aware of the feature requests for non-library label search (upvoted!) and the complexity around implementing (data nightmares, DSP API limitations, etc). Just pointing out that its absence means it probably isn’t available as a useful ingredient in improving new release recs. -
Nuts and bolts bugs or weird behavior
** Various small issues remain with things like:
** Sorting and timing of appearance - eg: I see releases pop up fresh in the middle of the results, even if, by definition, if they JUST appeared they are “Newest” and should be at the top. I have to comb through repeatedly so I don’t miss anything.
** A recent UI regression where selecting Albums or Singles doesn’t reflect in the state of the selector.
If I ultimately end up discovering more new music I like, I don’t care much how the mechanics work. It just doesn’t deliver and I’m not too inclined to submit detailed solution requests when I’m not sure they’re the best or most feasible solutions for getting better results.
Dave & Hazen - I’m afraid I haven’t really seen much of an improvement since my last post on this.
There are gaps in the logic still :
- When an album is pre-scheduled to be released you can pre-add to your Roon Library. Sometimes a couple of preview tracks would be available immediately with the others on the album launch date. When the launch date arrives, the album does not appear in your New Releases feed as the album has been added already. Would be nice to be notified that the album has actually been released in its entirety. Often I pre-add an album and only find out by random a few weeks later that the release date had passed.
- If I have an artist in my library (especially with high play counts) I’d expect new releases to be at the forefront of the New Releases section. This does not happen.
I still use Apple Music to discover new releases for artists I’ve listened to. Apple Music sends notifications direct to my phone - this is usually very timely and not spammy at all.
Roon has had lots of improvements in recent months - I’m hopeful that they have plans in the works to improve this.