If you put in feature requests for those things, I’ll +1 them. 
3 Likes
Kudos to you for having gone through a lot of less good software until you arrived at Roon. I bought the good stuff right away… and now I am told that something as basic as local file play requires and internet connection always and everywhere. I stand by my statement. It’s a joke.
2 Likes
It’s a response to you suggesting that Roon are not allowing you to play your local files. That is just hyperbole. There are a million ways you can do that, some are free and some are not.
And it still will if you use 1.8 Legacy.
Incidentally have you tested 2.0 without internet access? Someone else here did and found that it worked in limited fashion. YMMV.
Listening to your own music is officially supported. That is the sole promise made on the very first version of the roonlabs homepage in 2015 announcing the coming release of roon! They clearly weren’t talking about getting to know the music on our own CDs or records, since roon doesn’t play CDs or records.
It says: “Know Your Music” (emphasis added).
About a year later, the homepage is riddled with references to “your” music and “local files”. For example
The solution
Roon looks at your music and finds photos, bios, reviews, lyrics, and concert dates, and makes connections between artists, composers, performers, conductors, and producers.
What you get is a searchable, surfable magazine about your music.
Roon understands your content
Music lovers have content from many sources, often acquired over years of collecting. Roon identifies your music, then enhances it with the latest metadata.
And this isn’t just for your local files, it works for content from TIDAL too!
Not only does it do this wonderful stuff for your files, your content, files that you’ve acquired, but it also does what it does for local files for streaming content too!
These is about as official a product feature definition as you can get: it works with YOUR local music files/content (and also TIDAL content).
4 Likes
The Wayback versions of the pages are interesting but there isn’t a single commitment to offline availability there. Most of the blurb is about the metadata enhancements offered by Roon which would obviously require an internet connection. The “dodgiest” promise I can see there is the words “that you can enjoy everywhere.” which should be “that you can enjoy everywhere with internet” but there’s no evidence of false advertising or similar. I’ll admit I’m disappointed in the design decision but internet outages are relatively rare here and MPD will get the job done when they occur.
Which require a Internet connection for downloading and editing meta-data when you add a new album to your library no matter if it’s a download you bought, a CD you ripped or a favorites from a streaming service you added. I fail to understand, why this connection for already added files is still mandatory for stuff that is already in your database.
Again: I wouldn’t have a problem with limited usability off-line. My criticism is: no usability!
1 Like
The changes in 2.0 are part of a “moving forwards” platform. Danny has already indicated that certain (as yet unspecified) things will be moving from local hardware to the cloud. Whether we like it or not, that’s the way things are going. There are plenty of contingency solutions available, some paid and some free.
Technically, you’re correct, I suppose. Those early web pages commit to showing additional metadata for your local files, apparently when running the program, but do not commit to let you see all this metadata/connectedness goodness when offline, or even when online for that matter. But one or both must be implied, or else what’s up with all this anyways? They just don’t say under which conditions they’ll show you this goodness. And when they’ll let you listen to music through their software.
We’re all aware that those conditions have suddenly changed after seven years from “when your core is running” to “when we think your lan is connected to the internet”. Which is why we’re having this discussion…
I don’t know who that someone you mentioned was. But, I’ve simulated an Internet outage and Roon stopped playing music in a couple of minutes.
Here is my post about it Make roon play local music files w/o internet access - #45 by Hogio_Setiawan
2 Likes
I cant find the post right now, I thought it was in this thread but maybe Im mistaken.
From what you are saying it sounds as though it would be hit and miss at best. Not ideal, but I’ll save my complaints until it actually bites me. My internet is pretty solid so I dont anticipate it being a big issue for me. 
I would be aggravated or probably ■■■■■■ if I had a large local music library that I could no longer listen to using Roon if my internet went down. However, I would evaluate ways to solve that issue and choose one.
3 Likes
It is indeed partially hyperbole. It’s also partially true if, say, you have a Nucleus with an internal disk that holds all your music. Sure, you could set up a separate server that can access the backups, but you may not have that.
If one has a car that won’t open its doors or start the engine if it has no internet, most regular people would call that “a car that is not allowing you to drive without internet”, and most people wouldn’t have an issue with this description, even though technically you could buy a second backup car or take the bus.
6 Likes
Yes, exactly! Thank you ever so much!!! @Suedkiez
Nobody is expecting all the meta-data goodness off-line. But one would at least expect playback.
1 Like
I only have 42 local music files, but the originals are stored on my laptop. Then, I copied them to my Nucleus internal SSD (the one I added for music storage). When I use Audirvana, it connects to my music files on the laptop plus Tidal and Qobuz.
I hope everyone with music files they value has them stored somewhere besides in Roon.
And those people affected would get a different ‘car’, which is absolutely your alternative here.
1 Like
Hopefully. I am backing up to a NAS and that can run Asset. But whichever way you turn it, it is an additional hassle that is less convenient than just basic playback from your core, and which will be too much for many users.
I am also confident to predict that the vast majority of users have no idea about this and will only find out when their internet is offline, at which point it is a bit late to set up alternatives
1 Like
A very good solution if your goal is to actively drive customers away from your product
1 Like
Im not arguing this change is a good move. Im just trying to make the point that the passive-aggressive ‘Roon wont allow me to play my local files’ stuff is BS, and self-defeating.
2 Likes
It’s never too late to set up an alternative. But, it will come as a surprise to some. I’m not saying it’s a great situation, I’m just saying fix it and stop posting about it. Posting here is not going to solve anything.
Do you really think that Roon has not already done that internal calculus and weighed the relative costs of rejection and attrition?
Roon has specific directions and goals in mind. Should Roon try to capture all customers in its target market? Even if that means working against its specific directions and goals? Or should Roon let some potential customers opt against and current customers churn because the fit is not mutual?
AJ
2 Likes