Please use some "average users" for beta testing

The debate around the “Now playing” screen shows, that you and probably most of your Beta users have different priorities than many many average users here.
The first thing I missed was the large Albumcover view in that screen and I definitely was not alone on this. It seems that was the first thing that people here wrote about.

Obviously you use bloggers etc to beta run your software, which is fine. Maybe you should just pick some of the people who immediately pointed stuff out - that many feel strongly about. That way you might get a better idea of what a lot of your average customers want.

Working on stuff and ideas, one can get blinded and it is always good to have someone with a fresh view to look things over. Best not to only pick specialists.

I missed something. Who are they using?

He must mean John Darko who admitted to running the beta for a few weeks in his 1.6 release announcement. I assume he had early access for review purposes.

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Metropolitan elites :smiley:

Yes, I meant Darko.

As for the Beta Testers they otherwise use - I have not the faintest idea. But maybe including 1 or 2 from the classical crowd and 1 or 2 people who are very active on the “Look & Feel” issue would be a good idea.

The “large Album view” in Now Playing, is something that so many people seem to feel strongly about and whoever has tested the software before, obviously did not mind at all.

How would you pick people for reactions to unknown things. The range of reactions to 1.6 is in expected bounds . Loath, neutral, love.
But will that same set of users care or be knowledgeable about room equalisation (as an example).
Also a release with roon has in the past been quickly followed up by changes. Any one that has introduced software knows you cannot pick up everything before release so you make note of feedback and go round again.

Yes you are absolutely right. Probably the Classical beta user might not be a perfect choice for Room equalisation, that is why someone from that crowd should also be a tester.
Simply to widen the perspective

Your assumptions are wrong. Let’s stick to what Danny said on the subject:

Also – be aware that changes have undergone (in most cases) months of discussion and iteration wihtin Roon before they reach alpha.

Feedback is valuable, but often one-dimensional and/or tied to specific/idiosyncratic use cases. It’s up to Roon to cut through the noise, pick up on what carries value, reiterate and improve the product further. They listen.

Here’s Brian:

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Thanks, I had not read that. Sure not everybody will be happy with a new release. Everyone has Pet-loves and Pet-hates, often the hate is a bit louder…

I just (and I could be very wrong) have the feeling, that not many classical listeners are part of the “team” and so some issues might get overseen. Like in the Now Playing - if you listen to Pop, having a large picture of the artist might not be what you prefer - but it is ok, since those pictures are mostly of good quality. In classical, the artist pictures (if there are any) are often of extremely low quality and look hideous.
So a classical user would have probably remarked on this immediately. I really like Roon and play around with it a lot, whilst being an upgrade to what I had before - I really think it could be so much better in the classical field. But obviously that is my Pet-love

So by definition you wouldn’t be a good candidate as you aren’t an average user. You are a commited user if a small (in sales and streaming terms) user base.
Not a personal comment per se but feedback and testing is really expensive so you go for the mainstream on release and hoover up outliers later. :slight_smile:
I think there has been a lot of classical user feedback and subsequent releases will pay more attention.

Absolutely - I was not applying :wink:

But the minority could grow, once word of mouth got around how great Roon is (hopefully in the near future) for classical music.

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Actually when you look at the very in depth knowledge t9the roon team display of Classical music in the threads, inbuilt Classical users…

While Im not a classical collector or streamer, I have friends who are and they always complaining that library management systems like Roon or Jriver and others are not able to do well for their genre. 3beez (not cheap) was one that a friend said had potential…but Roon is not alone in its classical issues from what I can see.

I think more than classical fans would notice there isn’t a big album art display option to show covers as the tracks change. That seems like a common feature and use case with the media players we came from—-not that roon is trying to be yet another Foobar/jriver but those features are established enough to have fans even after they switch or add Roon.

Thus I see why the “avg user” thread was posted.

The Roon acceptance of the feedback seemed positive and prompt.

I was referring specifically to the classical music library issues. Many noted the missing album art, iPhone still has it.

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