Hi,
If I got a Roon Nucleus am I able to use Qobuz’s download feature to 1. download on to the nucleus, and then 2. see and play those downloaded tracks?
I can do this if I use Qobuz as the UI ie download to the device I am using Qobuz on and then see downloaded tracks as a category and then play them when I am offline.
Thanks
Well, in theory, yes, you could setup the Qobuz desktop app to download purchases directly into your library hosted on your Nucleus, but frankly I wouldn’t recommend it.
The reason is that the download is a relatively slow process, so Roon sees the album gradually appear, and tries to make sense of what it’s seeing. The identification process often breaks as a result.
Best practice is to download to a staging area outside of your library, for example onto the device that you are using Qobuz on, and once complete manually copy (yes, sorry, still manually) the albums across into your library. That, or stop your Core on the Nucleus (using the Web Administration page of the Nucleus) whilst downloading directly into your Nucleus library is taking place.
I’m pretty sure that Qobuz has encrypted their files so they can’t simply be copied?
Er, you are talking about albums/tracks purchased and downloaded from Qobuz, aren’t you? If so, then they are not encrypted. They are simply FLAC files (plus album covers as JPEG files and for some albums, the booklets as PDF files).
If you mean files streamed from Qobuz, then these are not “downloaded” as such. If you favourite a Qobuz album, then just the information about that album gets added to Roon’s database (on the Nucleus) to become part of your library collection.
If you mean offline files as in on your phone or tablet then No they aren’t available outside of the Qobuz app.
Ah - thanks Ged. I suspect that’s what’s being talked about here. I don’t use this feature of Qobuz, so when I see “downloaded files” I think of purchased downloads…
No, Ged has got it. One of Qobuz’s better features is that it lets you download tracks/albums for free so you can play when offline or have a flakey connection (but only on the device you triggered the download to.).
Ideally if Qobuz is Roon ready this should be included in the functionalty, otherwise it isnt really Roon Ready…
Roon ready applies to devices. Qobuz us integrated as a streaming service. Chances of Qobuz sharing their encryption even via an API seem low.
I’ve done exactly what you described. Download from Qobuz right to my Nucleus internal hard drive. I think it’s fairly slow, but it didn’t break Roon or cause any other discomfort.
I doubt they can legally standing as it would mean you could copy it. Same goes for all of the streaming services in Roon or otherwise, offline content is strictly reserved for those own apps only and is encrypted.
Qobuz downloads/downloaded files are not encrypted. Once you purchase the album from Qobuz, and download them to your hardrive, you can play them on whichever player/platform you want, Foobar, JDRiver, Roon etc.
We aren’t discussing purchased tracks, we’re talking about the “offline” tracks available in the app.
I’ve updated this topic’s subject to reflect.
Some semantics here as I asked about downloads
You choose “Import”, they are placed in the “Download Queue” and the tracks end up in the “Offline Library”.
Presumably if the Qobuz app is actually running on the Roon Nucleus then this should work for playback as the Nucleus is just a “device” with storage.
I’ll ask them.
Can you run the Qobuz app on the nucleus though, I thought it was a single app/os device.
I have no idea, that was part of what I was asking. What does “integrated” mean if one is running Roon Nucleus? Do you still have to have Roon Core running on another device for this to all work? Seems somewhat clunky…
The nucleus runs Roon Core only. The control is done via another device.
Qobuz app does not run on the nucleus it’s using what is know as an API to talk to Qobuz and get info from the library and interact with Roon. The Qobuz desktop app (not Roon) has two download function which have different functions . Import - is for offline playback only and will download encrypted files that only the Qobuz app will play or read even if these are ones you have already purchased. If you choose download then that is just downloading your purchases as regular flac and you can download those direct to your Nucleus storage with out any issues and play them back with anything.
Perhaps this explanation/wording will help…
Roon integrates with the Qobuz streaming service, it does not ‘integrate’ with the Qobuz app itself. So Roon is an alternative interface to the service.
In Qobuz lingo, ‘Import’ refers to downloading of a file or album into the Qobuz app specifically for offline listening. It has no relation to Roon, it is for listening via the Qobuz app only.
‘Downloading’ an album (in Qobuz vernacular) refers to purchase. That means, once purchased and downloaded to your computer/server, the file(s) are no longer connected to Qobuz. It resides in your server along with all the other albums that you physically own. You’ll always own it, even if you cancel your Qobuz subscription.
Not really helpful at all. As I said, the tracks that end up in the Offline Library are imported via the Qobuz “Download Queue”. So “downloading” is clearly not specific to Purchases. In any case it is a generic word.
And if Roon is an alternative interface into the Qobuz service, this implicitly would include the ability to trigger downloads and replay the contents of the Offline Library. The Qobuz app has tabs for “Purchases” and “Offline Library”. Neither of those tabs appear in the Roon implementation.
So what is Roon Nucleus - is it just a glorified Linux box? I understand that Roon indexes whatever is on that box but where does the Roon UI actually run? And more pertinently, where does the Qobuz “service” run in a Roon Nucleus environment?