The thing about Apple is they were at least willing to work with roon. And the restrictions were mentioned almost a year ago. We have no idea if any progress was made. Roon usually doesn’t talk upcoming features. So while unlikely, it is possible that roon and Apple can work things out.
Of the big names, nobody mentions Amazon Music UHD here.
They already allow bit perfect hi-res via 3rd party, like on Bluesound’s BluOS…
Just needs one more step, full data dump to Roon, and it is a done deal.
Amazon Music has the worst radio and suggestions of the big names, so Roon would be an upgrade for them
Last one I am aware of was in June this year:
Hello. My speculation is Presto Music on Roon in 2024. Great for Classical and Jazz Music fans.
3 Likes
They already said they had talks and it wasn’t going anywhere.
Their APi is pretty bad too, just look at any of the integrations and it’s poor selection of options you get. Tried it on Bluos, Heos and the Wiim. Not much better than their app. They only seem to be interested in getting people to use their app and have Alexacast built in, which is why you only see that on Wiim currently as they added Alexa.
What was the date of this last update from Roon ? Quite a long time ago
Fully aware of the awful UI on BluOS - I was trying to hint it is not Bluesounds fault , it is due to API limitation
If Amazon wanted they could do something extra for Roon.
I’ve been a beta tester for the AlexaCast with Wiim Mini - pretty much a world first.
With BluOS even though UI is crap , the fact that the playback has been bit perfect for years, is still something.
Potential is there. If Amazon just decided to pull their finger out
Even AlexaCast has some very annoying limitations that Amazon have been made aware for 12+ months
Number of Wiim devices using this might not be that high
Early this year when Enno was on a video cast for a certain site, same one he mentioned try where in talks with Apple that got everyone excited about to then find out it’s a non starter. I believe reiterated by Danny later as was Apple not happening. Things may change but that’s how it stood and I honestly don’t see what gains Amazon would get from it so unlikely to in the near future. But never say never which is what Enno said ironically.
Here is another insight from Innuos with regards to Spotify integration (particularly in response to requests to integrate the promised Hi-Fi tier).
Spotify are not pursuing any further device partners to outsource their service to, which means an API that we could use or add to our app is looking extremely unlikely. The hardware options available to add Spotify to our products would not work with the hardware that we currently require to run our products, so integration is looking unreachable for now.
The only workaround we could suggest for the time being would be to use the Airplay plugin on LMS, then stream Spotify from your iOS device via Airplay to the Innuos.
It appears that members like these insights going by the feedback on my previous post re: Amazon Music integration. Please give this post a like if you would like me to keep posting similar insights into the challenges facing other manufacturers and software developers wanting to integrate music streaming services.
8 Likes
Only way I would subscribe to Amazon music is through Roon. Their apps are horrific !!!
4 Likes
While Tidal survives I am happy , I probably wouldn’t go for Spotify anyway. Qobuz isn’t in South Africa so that’s a no go .
Fortunately streaming is a small part of my listening habits.
Interesting little snippets of news BTW
I’m still waiting for roon to update their setting to allow Max setting flac hires before trying Tidal again. I’m also willing to give Spotify a try again. My son is using a free account and now no longer uses Apple Music, so I’ll be dropping that. The new plan is supposed to have 30 hours of audiobooks, so he’d use that too. And I liked their playlists when I was testing them out a few years ago. I’d rather just pay for Spotify family account than what I’m doing now with Apple Family One and Qobuz. I’d still use roon for local library.
1 Like
You know I would probably buy a Nucleus if I saw Roon add a music service that I know will survive.
That would be Apple or Amazon.
1 Like
I think Qobuz is definitely growing smaller service but geared towards audiophiles. Tidal has been around not sure on their sales.
It’s hard to see how they can gain any significant market share. The arrival of Spotify lossless won’t help, especially for Tidal. For Qobuz, the audience is limited but different. In any case, the future of none of these services will be easy.
Even Apple Music is taking market share from Tidal. I think Spotify will slowly go downhill. They won’t implement lossless properly and their app is poorly designed. Yeah I’m not sure what Tidal is doing to gain additional subscribers. Qobuz is starting to take some away, but I don’t think it has attracted younger audiophiles.
1 Like
I think more use Tidal than you think as it does cover a lot more and it has connect, something Qobuz severly lacks and I bet it wont be that reliable when they do, going by how shoddy thier UPnP was and how flakey their downloading app is.
5 Likes
It’s true that, in functional terms, Tidal is far superior to Qobuz. Qobuz’s size doesn’t allow them to make the investments needed to rapidly implement features that have become standard for streaming services. This weakness is masked by a marketing pitch based on Hires (which has become commonplace), on the valorization of subscribers presented as true connoisseurs who don’t need certain functionalities, and on the promotion of aspects that are less costly and technical to implement. In practice, it’s difficult to know exactly how far these services have come, as the evolution of subscriber numbers and sales (for Qobuz) is a matter of secrecy.
Translated with DeepL Translate: The world's most accurate translator (free version)
If I wasn’t using it via Roon, I’d have ditched Qobuz after the trial period. Their app is a disaster, search on it is simply atrocious, and the downloader just doesn’t work except for individual files (at least on my Mac). I like having booklets for quite a lot of more recent classical releases and the ability to purchase albums (although that coverage isn’t all it’s made out to be).
2 Likes
Tbh the downloader works for me, you using the new app? I don’t have any issues with it but I know others have, always works fine on both windows and Mac.
1 Like
Qobuz moved from a combined streaming / download app to two separate apps.
The transition was a disaster - and early versions of the download app didn’t have the functionality of the old app - and didn’t work very well.
Qobuz have fixed this - and, at least for me, the download apps works pretty well on Mac.