Hello, a new Roon subscriber here (still in trial period). I’ve been a long time JRiver user and have grown accustomed to organizing my music library in various ways. I’m drawn to Roon for its robust metadata info and album info and art. However, I would like to customize my Roon library to meet my preferences which I haven’t quite figured out if or how to do so would like some pointers.
I narrow my Genres down to a relatively few numbers of big categories, then split them into smaller groups and sub genres. For example, Classical genre and be viewed by Composer, Album or Artist or Sub-Genre, such as Symphonies, Concertos, Sonatas, Ensembles, Opera, Choral, Solo instrument, etc. I can choose the sub genre which is then organized by Composer, Instrument, Artist, Album, etc. This makes it easy to choose Classical, Ensembles then String Quartet or Piano Trios, then whichever composer, album or artist I feel like listening to.
With Jazz, I have Jazz Genre selectable by Artist or Album or Instrument(s).
I’m finding browsing not as convenient as I would like with the base Roon Library layout. Is there a way of organizing the library this way or similar? I understand how to search, filter and focus to find a particular piece, but I’m talking more about browsing.
Not sure I really understand your question. Most of what you are asking for can be done with focus. But you say you’re familiar with focus. I’m not sure how you would browse your library in such detail without using the focus function. Maybe a specific example that you find problematic?
Another JRiver user (in parallel to Roon) – simply there is no mechanism to do this
My Classical layout sounds just like yours, maybe even more subdivided.
Composer
Genre (01 Orchestral, 02 - Concerto etc)
Sub Genre (Piano Sonata , Bagatelles, Variations etc)
Composition
Movement
then a View (in JRiver)
Composer>Genre>Sub Genre > Artist> Album
etc
I have been using Roon for 6 years now (JRiver for 12) and simply had to change how I navigate to where I want to be
First I tend to go Artist> Discography then Filter = “Piano Sonata”
or
Composition View , add Composer into grid etc the rest is obvious
or
Composer > Discography then Filter
The 2 key tools are Focus in the Album View and Filter (Funnel) in any view
Also read the KB on Tags & Bookmarks they allow you store Searches , Tags are fixed, Bookmarks dynamic. EG I keep a Tag 01 - Classical Artist (Major) where I keep my “Top 10” for
JRiver and Roon are VERY different animals , Roon simply is customizable only to a limit (you get what you are given) whereas JRiver you can pretty well slice and dice at will. The BIG difference is manual input - for JRiver’s flexibility you pay with you time and effort.
My suggestion , after your free trial do a monthly subscription for a few months to get comfy. I bet you will not revert. I keep JRiver current for video mainly but it is current for music too.
Any way I can help , do shout , I have been through this mill a few times
Sounds like we are exactly the same, thank you for the info. A little disappointing to hear, but I’m sure I’ll get accustomed to it. I do plan to keep it for a month or two, don’t want to hurry through in just 2 weeks.
What is it about the Roon interface that keeps you using it over JR by the way?
Mostly the metadata , and the way you hyperlink around your collection.
I am also trying desperately to cut down “screen time”, I am due a second neck fusion op in 3 weeks which will be a total BAN on computer activity from SWMBO . Admittedly quite right.
I just like the add an album then no further activity.
I have a NUC/ROCK feeding a Naim Unity Atom HE , no speakers just headphones, so the simpler the better. I use an iPad Pro 12,9 for control. A bigger screen is recommended over say a phone. A phone simply doesn’t do Roon justice.
It’s just a comfortable way of listening and navigating with minimal manual input. Give it a few weeks , you will not want to go back.
Sounds good. I’m using the core on my QNAP NAS, which has been flawless so far and the same iPad Pro 12.9 as you as my controller. I do like everything so far, except the lack of customized organization.
Have a look at the forum for issues on the NAS , it depends on which model and what the processor is and whether it has an SSD , size of library etc quite often NAS don’t work as seamlessly as you might hope many users swear by them best to keep an open mind when evaluating Roon.
Once you are happy with Roon , the NUC/ROCK route is a very neat option but obviously a financial commitment.
The custom organization is an shortfall as is some aspects of Classical music like box sets but there are many ways to skin the cat
Thanks David, Mike has explained it as well and it sounds like what I am used to isn’t possible in Roon without a lot of input in Focus and filtering. But, I haven’t delved into tags yet, so that may provide some level of organization that I’m looking for.
With JRiver, all the info is put in once, on the front end, and then can be displayed in a number of ways, for which you save those library views if you like. It’s always a click or tap, rarely any typing. With Roon, it appears you may have to select how you want to view every time and may do better typing in specific things. No biggie, or perhaps I’m just not there yet, but I look forward to exploring that’s for sure.
You probably know but once you have a library focus that suits your needs you can bookmark that view and call it up any time you need. And the bookmark is live meaning any new albums/tracks you add that meet the focus criteria will be included in the bookmarked view. From my memory of JRiver it works pretty much the same.
Thank you all for the insight. I was able to spend some time this weekend with my library and the links for info did help. Up to that point I’ve only been able do a cursory 10-15 session here and there where I wasn’t really getting deep enough into it. I was able to get tags created which allow me to find things the way I like to a certain extent. Next up will be to explore bookmarking of tagged lists.
A few questions still, can you create subgenres? I noticed where you make a top level genre, but I cannot find the option for subgenre in the software and even a quick internet search left me pretty much empty handed. My file metadata (which I use as opposed to Roon) is labeled in groups, but not subgenres so it doesn’t pick them up.
Also, is there a way to delete Genres that only have radio links in them rather than my own music?
