Play count for Qobuz and Tidal tracks not in library

Please add the ability to update track play count for tracks not in one’s library.

My use case is instead of adding dozens of albums to my library before listening to them, I add them to a playlist and play them from there. Unfortunately, without play count it makes it difficult to know what I’ve played days later…

Date Added is also missing so that is of no use either.

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I frequently add an album, play a track or two, decide I don’t like it, then delete the album.

Hi Larry,

I’ve been looking at this and I’m thinking it’s a bug. If you play a track from an album that’s not in your library, Roon does update in Play Count on the Album View.

So, here is a Tidal Playlist I’ve added to Roon:

I’ve added the # Plays column and it currently shows as 0. If we look at the Album View of the Rory Gallagher album, we see this for the track Laundromat. Notice 0 play count.

Now I’ll play that track from the Playlist. Notice it still shows 0 Plays.

However, let’s go to the Album view again. Notice the Play Count for Laundromat. It correctly shows 1.

So, even though Roon tracks the play counts for tracks not in your library, it’s not being displayed in the Playlist. I think it should.

Let’s tag @support and see if it’s a bug, just missed in testing, or if it’s expected behaviour.

Edit: Also, Date Added does nothing, as you noted. I added the Rory album to my library and Date Added still displays a blank.

Cheers, Greg

Thanks, good catch, I didn’t dig that deep.

This is well spotted!

I am still seeing that play counts for Tidal and Qoboz tracks (in my library) aren’t showing up in playlist views, but the play counts do show up in album views.

Do we know if there’s a fix to this?

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Hi Roon Labs - just want to check if this has been noted, and can be fixed?

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I also noticed this. If i try a new album via Tidal, the play count is there. But when I buy the cd and add it in the library the play count starts from zero again.

It’s treated as if it’s new unfortunately

Yes - but if its added to my library, the play count for a track still shows as 0 in playlist view, but the actual count when checked in album view…

The way counts are tracked and displayed can be confusing! In most cases, what you’re seeing is a difference in the way tracks are accessed when playing a playlist created by your streaming service vs one created by you in Roon.

  • When a track or album from Qobuz/Tidal is saved to your local library, it will be tracked appropriately when played from your local library.

  • When you create a playlist in Roon, you’re playing from your local library, so it should also be tracked appropriately.

  • When you are listening to a playlist that has been created by the streaming service, those are not tracked, even if you listen through Roon. It has to do with the way those services access the tracks, which makes it impractical for Roon to count them. Briefly, Tidal or Qobuz may have tens of identical tracks from a number of sources (multiple album releases, etc.) and it might play from any one of them at any given time when going through their playlist. However, Roon treats each track from each source individually, and it’s impractical to aggregate counts from different sources.

  • Similarly, if you add or replace a library item (from a ripped CD, for example) Roon is unable to discern that it is “the same” and will treat it as a brand new track.

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Hi Kirsten, nice to meet you. There are several … gotchas… with play counts in playlists vs the album page for in library vs out of library content. I’ve pointed this out before, but, probably has gotten lost.

The point is that if you add a track to a playlist in Roon, Roon does know what track is being played and is adjusting the play counts on the album page, it is just not displaying them in the playlist.

Just using the album page:

Using “Evelyn, the Modified Dog” by Frank Zappa as an example. If I go to Qobuz and play the 192 version without adding it to my library, Roon will track the play counts. Obviously, if I go to a different Qobuz version, the play count is 0. If I add the 192 version to my library, the previous play count from the “not in library” version carry over now that I’ve added it to my library. If I play increase the play count and then remove it from my library, the play counts are maintained back to the non-library version.

Playlist with only a non-library streaming track:

If I add the non-streaming track to a playlist in Roon, it shows a play count of 0 on the playlist; always, the play count does not increase on the playlist page. However, if I play the playlist, the play count on the not in library album page does increase.

Now, If I add the album to my library, the play count that existed for the non-library track carries over when I add it to my library. If I then add the same track to the existing playlist that contains the non-library version, when I play the playlist (now of two tracks - the non-library version and the library version), the track count for the library version goes up even when I play the non-library version. And the count for the non-library track stays at 0.

Even more interesting, is if I then remove the track from my library, and play the non-library version again. In the playlist, it will keep incrementing the counter pointing to the removed and unavailable in-library version. This continues until I add the album back in again to my library.

When I do that, the in-library version has the old lower play count and over-writes the play count of the not in library version, in essence dropping those play counts that occurred between the two additions and one removal of the album from the library.

Quick walk-through

The first track is added from the not in library version, note, that the play count has never changed. I played it several times (6), then added that album to my library, and then added the track to the play list. I played it 7 more times for a total of 13 times. I then removed the album from my library. I then played the non-library version 3 more times. As I played it, the play count for the unavailable and removed “in library” version kept incrementing to 16. The out of library album page also showed 16 plays.

I then added the album back into my library. And, added the same track back onto the playlist. The “newly re-added to my library” track had the old play count of 13. Even more so, the play count on the “out of library” album page was reset back to 13 as well.