Roon 1.6 Feedback Thread

[James_I (The truth is out there but not necessarily here)]

Thanks Brian for the direct feedback, much appreciated. So far so good with the new Radio - I mean, it is not always hitting the mark with great music, but I haven’t noticed any head-smacker genre misses yet either. So it is finding relevant music within Tidal for me.

The old fullscreen now playing view was an extremely rarely used feature, and more of an experiment than anything else. We didn’t give very much consideration to how it was done because practically no-one ever used it.

Actually I did use it pretty often.

But maybe it was not used broadly because it never has been very attractive and we’ve always been waiting for something better. The prior version gave us little in terms of configuration choices - you could have a somewhat large album cover that looked like an overlay over another Roon page (like it was camping there), and then you didn’t get any semblance of queue or “up next,” or you could have a small album cover with “up next” and the queue, and it seems a combined page with a reasonably sized album cover, or larger if user-desired, with “up next” as well, would be very welcome.

I wouldn’t mind the possibility of album art, artist photo, and up next on the same page, with it being configurable as to whether the album art or the artist photo is the larger, with the other being an inlay. Then “up next” with a small album to the right, kind of thing. The web display could do that if not a page internal to Roon (actually preferred since the web display can be used on any screen without interfering with Roon control functions).

We did consider briefly duplicating “up next” on the new now playing screen, but felt that the use case of seeing what’s next was something better opted-in-to on the queue screen.

But the queue, with Radio or Shuffle, is a pretty useless page, OTHER than showing what is playing now (one entry in otherwise blank queue) or playing next. So going there to see what is up next is just a manual step because there is no reason to be on the Queue page unless you have an actual queue, which one doesn’t when one has shuffled or using Radio. But up next for shuffle or Radio is pretty critical.

This will get better as image updates roll out to your systems over the next 7-10 days. Part of that data rollout is sending down side-channel data on how to better crop the images for display. There was no way to release both the new software + the data updates at the same time, so we de-emphasized the data portion in the release notes, but you won’t really be having the intended experience until both are done. This is not an area that can ever be 100% perfect, but it will be much better than what you’re seeing now once the rollout is done.

Good to see this. I assume this only applies, though, to artist photos that are provided by Roon. Given the volume of artist photos I’ve had to import myself, I assume these are not covered? Any chance that any artist photo that doesn’t have this side channel metadata could then be cropped at the bottom rather than the top by default? Or some reasonable guess? Or let us add some info or determine how it is cropped?

Anyway, glad we have our next version. I am sorry to be critical about any of it. I just view the album art and up next as a step backward, concerned about how long it will take to roll out improvements in this area. Presently the only 10 foot interface has only a small album cover and still crops many artist photos strangely, with no “up next” indicator. Maybe it is just best to let people have their own configuration for this - I don’t see any design making everyone happy?

[John_Merritt]

I have to say, I think the radio feature is brilliant, properly amazing, and I like that search goes outside my library, but I’m not keen on the new waveform bar. I don’t wish to rain on all the hard work that has gone into 1.6, Roon is a wonderful piece of software - that I consider to be a luxury (really, a necessity!).

However, I can’t quite put my finger on it, but something about the now playing bar does not feel elegant. Perhaps it’s that there are still elements of the old UI that I am familiar with still present in 1.6 alongside flashes of a new UI too. Who knows. It’d appear that there’s a lot more blank space around the artist/track name on the now playing bar. That could be it. On a practical note the waveforms are now hard to read

[Nyquist]

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[eclectic]

I think the new changes look ugly.

The grey color footer in the dark theme looks bad. The now playing screen looks a mess, cutting off artist heads etc. “Roon Radio” - there should be an option to make it disappear if it’s not in use. It takes up way too much space.

[Spence_Marquart (Spencer Marquart)]

desi

Couldn’t agree more. Please fix the “Now Playing” screen to show the album artwork in all its beauty. We can choose display via the web if we want to look at the large artist picture.

[G997]

We add a new batch of testers for every major release. In practice, the mix of active contributors tends to be 50/50 old/new during the testing…so whatever it is you are complaining about here, that’s not the problem

It was a suggestion, not a complaint…getting testy already…

[Andy_Spinks]

I wish Roon would fix the big things that are broken (Tidal integration) before working so hard to add new features. I still can’t modify a Tidal playlist in Roon. I can’t favorite tracks from Tidal playlists, and unless I missed it in the release notes, there isn’t a good way to sync Tidal favorites and Roon favorites (something that should have been automatic a long time ago).

I still can’t adjust the volume using the iPhone hardware buttons, which is just as well because the iPhone app still doesn’t tell me which zone I’m controlling without digging into the Switch Zone menu.

Oh well, at least this new Qobuz integration sounds cool. Maybe it is, but I can’t tell because Qobuz is only available “by invitation” in USA.

[james_d (james davies)]

I don’t have much to report on 1.6 itself but I ended up having to delete and reinstall all of my Remote apps. Before reinstalling the Remote Apps (all iOS), I was greeted by a black screen when opening Roon.

But now all is good.

Cheers,
James

[Andy_Spinks]

Before reinstalling the Remote Apps (all iOS), I was greeted by a black screen when opening Roon.

I was greeted by a black screen the first time I opened the updated Roon app.

[alec_eiffel (Rémi)]

One friend reporting that his ASUS router RT-AC5300 blocked roon update from downloads.roonlabs.com, considering it “indirectly or directly facilitates the distribution of ransomware”.
It didn’t happen for previous updates.
http://forum-hifi.fr/thread-130-post-220070.html#pid220070

[Spence_Marquart (Spencer Marquart)]

I’m not sure where you got the idea that no one used the old now playing screen. After I set up a queue that’s probably the view I used 90% of the time. And judging by all the blowback you’re getting about removing it from others on this thread, I’m not the only one that did that. As to why being able to see what song was coming up next made people “anxious”, I have no idea.

I also use the “Now Playing” screen all the time. Was there any kind of poll on this? And I really appreciated the “up next” showing the next song. I rarely use queues as I like to listen to full albums. So, If I’m at my computer I would get anything but anxious knowing what song is coming up next. I mean I get trying to mirror the “display” view, but why can’t they be separate??

[james_d (james davies)]

@Andy_Spinks

I should have stated the same. Thanks for the correction

[Paul_Mindemann]

Glad to hear radio is getting an upgrade… that was sorely overdue.

BUT… I use Google Home Hub now instead of an iPad, and I’ve not yet found a way to control ROON with Google. I’ve got Chromecast enabled so I can play music via other sources, which I’m doing now more than playing Roon. I may just drop Roon altogether if there’s no integration in sight. The inconvenience of having to use another device (especially since AirPlay2 still isn’t enabled for my phone) will just be too much.

[Andy_Spinks]

When I attempt to start Roon Radio from a Tidal playlist, it says it’s starting but nothing plays. (Same result on desktop and phone.)

[Michael_M]

Hello Roon software team !
Roon 1.6 and especially the Qobuz integration is great ! well done ! It really is an improvement to Roon.

Unfortunately Roon does not show all of my high resolution albums, which I have bought from Qobuz. They simply are not all available. Why ? Is it maybe, because I have downloaded Qobuz hires in the past months ( still running Roon 1.5. without Qobuz) and putting them manually in my own music library, so that ROON 1.5 could find it ?..

Any suggestions of how to “find” all my (HiRes) albums from Qobuz in Roon 1.6 plus Qobuz, which I once bought from Qobuz, in Roon ?

[Markus_Schoenberger (MscFW)]

Hi Team,
Congratulations for the Qobuz integration - this is what I was waiting for!
Thanks!

[Kyle_Kerley (Kyle)]

Has the Android APK download been updated as well? And for folks who had to sideload the APK on a tablet (i.e. Fire HD8), will updating core force an in-app update on the tablet or does it need to be removed and reinstalled manually to get the updated version?

[alec_eiffel (Rémi)]

I think @brian said higher in this thread that actually Roon Radio is not meant to be launched from playlists, so it’s a mistake that the Roon Radio icon is visible and can be clicked --> will be removed

[andybob (Andrew Cox)]

But the queue, with Radio or Shuffle, is a pretty useless page, OTHER than showing what is playing now (one entry in otherwise blank queue) or playing next

When using Roon Radio you can add to the Queue using the thumbs up button in the Roon Radio panel. You can then reorder tracks with the grab bars or use any other Queue function.

[Michael_M]

yes - I agree- I am also very happy about the Qobuz integration. However: in my Qobuz link, Roon has not “collected” all my hiRes albums…so unfortunately in my case not everything is there yet…I appreciate any suggestions as to what I can do. of course I will myself like into it…