Roon 1.8 (Build 748/756/763/764) Feedback

Roon Software Discussion
#1152

Just installed 1.8 on an ancient (2010) Mac mini core and brand new iPhone 12 mini. My impressions, mostly of the iPhone remote client:

  • overall it seems like a nice update with some general usability improvements scattered throughout
  • runs fine on the ancient Mac mini
  • live radio UI is better
  • separated icon for current output device and volume/audio control is good improvement
  • where is dark mode for iOS?
  • what’s up with the artsy black and white filter on the genre browser?
  • I don’t need to be greeted by “my name” at the top of the UI in a giant font like it’s 1999 and the height of the dot com bubble. I know it’s my library.
  • ditto for all the other giant headers e.g. “My Live Radio”
  • there is an awful lot of empty white space in the new UI. Give some options for a more compact view.
  • not sure I love the new serif font.
2 Likes
#1153

Settings - Setup - Theme.
:grinning:

#1154

OK then they can have the time if i can have my money back until it works!

#1155

this is a definite downgrade and hope they fix it soon. 2 workarounds I’ve found:

  1. Saving my complete library as a playlist and the shuffling that playlist seems to work.
  2. Adding a tag to all tracks in my library (or adding said playlist to a tag) and then doing a shuffle on the tag.
3 Likes
#1156

Ah yes thanks. But that doesn’t respect/obey the iOS system wide dark mode. I’ll still use it tho’ :laughing:

#1157

Where is the artist list view? I have asked for this several times as have many of us (at least 45 in the last 3 years according to this post: List view when browsing artists ).

I run a software company myself, and I don’t quite understand how you can omit the most prevalent (and popular) list view that is provided by one of your primary competitors (iTunes). You are a premium service that many of us pay for, so why not provide this as an option (and I can’t imagine it’s that difficult to employ), especially when many of us request it.

I have a large library of artists (3284 at last count), and there are occasions when I simply want to scroll through my entire list (or even lists by genre). I don’t know what I specifically want to listen to and just want a list to scroll through until something strikes me. And your graphical view is, though pretty, clunky and inefficient in doing this. What does it take to just simply get a frigging list view???

You have put a lot of effort and thought into your new update, and it does show. But unfortunately it also shows you have a ways to go (latest poll shows that 30% of us aren’t happy with the update). I get that as a SaaS company. Always building, some people never happy. But you are a premium product, so you HAVE to better than Spotify and iTunes and Tidal. You have to have more options and views and flexibility.

If you want to chat, you have my name and information… thanks for listening.

3 Likes
#1158

Glad to see they are responding quickly to some issues! According to release notes this new build only addresses the crashes with settings for international versions. Hopefully some more fixes will follow soon!

#1160

I agree with your request, but there are thousands of requests in this forum that Roon runs and engages. So to say this shows they didn’t ask is not on point. Nor do any of us know how many focus groups or beta testers they had or for how long.

#1161

You’re correct. :+1:

It would be nice if Roon did respect the iOS Day/Night settings. :slightly_smiling_face:

#1162

Just edited my response. A bit emotional because I didn’t get listened to.

1 Like
#1163

I agree with Mark here 100%.

#1164

What does a list view give you that the graphical view doesn’t? if you have “sorted by name” selected you can use the scroll bar on right hand side, the alphabet characters pop up as you slide your finger or move your mouse vertically down the screen?

#1165

Just because your requested feature did not get implemented does not mean you did not get listened to. Roon gets lots of feature request and they evaluate them in some way. They decide which ones to implement and which ones not to implement. Roon is not a collaborative endeavor. In the end, the Roon team decides what their product will and won’t include.

3 Likes
#1167

Boooo. This is how I use Roon most of the time.

#1168

And you know what, the misalignment between the play now button and tags really bothers me :roll_eyes:

1 Like
#1169

In the current “sorted by name” view, my eyes have to scan side to side as well as up and down, and it is literally dizzying. It may seem minor, but in a large artist collection, I give up around the "B"s because it is too taxing to follow. This is a basic UI issue. If I can keep my eyes on the same place on the screen vertically, I just scroll up/down and can view artists quickly and efficiently. Try it for more than 45 seconds and see if you don’t give up.

1 Like
#1170

There is a space after Bonobo in the smaller one. Delete the space you should be good.

#1171

I understand that. But this is a popular feature in probably their biggest “competitor”, one that many of their users are used to and enjoy. To ignore a great UI feature of their biggest competitor is shortsighted and a bit arrogant, IMHO.

#1172

Yes, that’s your opinion. Evidently, the Roon team does not agree with you or it’s on their future plans and just didn’t get in this time. With over 100,000 paid subscribers, I suppose lots of feature request will never get in. Also, maybe Roon doesn’t want to look like their largest competitor.

3 Likes
#1173

Evidently…

1 Like