Okay, so the founders sold. That will certainly have been worth it. That is also their right. Congratulations.
As far as the future is concerned, the best case scenario will be that Harman wants to offer its (premium) customers an additional service.
But it is more likely that the technology (e.g. RAAT) will be transferred and all forces will concentrate on it. What remains is an empty shell. In this respect, as a buyer, you don’t have to worry too much about lifetime users.
Well, what would you expect them to say? If they told us their real olans, we would leave sooner.
Having a confirmation by a Harman representative would definitely be a good sign to the whole Roon community!
And whisper everyone to sleep with sweet talk?
Only actions from the new owners will tell the truth, everything else is speculation and lies.
Haha the audiophile fan base is tough to please!
Congratulations on the acquisition, I think it’s a great testimony of the success of Roon. I hope you will still keep your openness and discuss future and roadmap soon!
I have a thought for the employees, I hope they stick around and are not too frightened by these changes.
Congratulations Roon team!.
I am looking forward to see how Roon will grow from this point onwards.
1 more lifetime subscriber here 
.
good news is that it runs nicely on an rPi, and now includes a way to integrate local library with streaming library from Tidal, Quobuz, Spotify, and Deezer. Recent version also nicely separates albums, compilations, appearances, compositions, etc. when browsing artists. It’s not Roon, but it is closer to Roon than it was 5 years ago.
Sad news imho. I don’t understand people’s enthusiasm. I am disappointed as I believed that Roon was something the owners really wanted. That it was their heart and soul project. Why would they sell their company?? Not much respect for this decision… I hope that roon stays what it is, but I prepare for searching for alternatives.
Harmon?
Is that the old Harman Kardon company? They had a good reputation in the UK for their Hi-fi back in the day.
I think i had a PM655.
Privacy concerns dont remotely bother me. What do people think will happen to their data anyway. Every time to use a card or the internet you are leaving a trail. So what?
How many of those who are bothered about such things use a streaming service?
What matters to me is sound quality and reliability.
I have not been with roon for long and have the full year sub. If things get worse then I will cancel and use lumin.
Time will tell.
I am more concerned about Hotel Chocolate being taken over by Mars than roon and samsung.
I dont want the most beautiful chocolate imaginable becoming a mars bar.
I somehow doubt that Roon will become the mars bar of music.
I congratulate the existing Roon management for grinding to create a great experience, and for justifiably cashing out when the right opportunity came along. Your initial investment in your goal has paid off, and you’ve built a pretty good user base along the way. For that, you should rightly be applauded, so, thank you for bringing us Roon.
As for the fallout, time will tell, of course, but, staff redundancies will always be eliminated in situations like this. Press releases will routinely speak of independence and leaders staying on, only for said leaders to move on once things shake out. End users are protected, until, of course, they’re not.
Companies like Samsung don’t scoop shops like Roon up out of charity, or because they want to shower its users with free feature sets. The buying company will always want a ROI, which, these days, often involves new ways to monetize user data. Don’t be surprised if our listening habits are fed to the marketing team, which, in turn, will then be handed over to the product development teams in other departments, filtering into their TV and speaker products…on and on we go.
I’m not intentionally trying to be a Debbie Downer here; it’s just the nature of business. The Roon team, I believe, has the absolute best intentions of its user base at heart, however, at the end of the day, despite whatever assurances the HARMAN/Samsung team may provide up front, the Roon folks no longer own Roon. Samsung is now ultimately entitled to do as they wish.
It’s Harman International
If only there were information resources on the internet
So what if they feed your listening habits to whoever?
They already do that with streaming services etc
Your buying habits are fed to the ubiquitous whoever every time you make an electronic payment.
And whats the consequence of that?
This is the world we live in.
Ultimately its inconsequential.
Steinberg has flourished under Yamaha, who even funded the development of a major new application - Dorico. So I don’t see why Roon shouldn’t do well under Harman. Not all acquisitions need be as catastrophic as Apple/Primephonic or Avid/Sibelius.
I think users might be ok with their lifetime subscriptions, and it seems like Harman products will be quick to have Roon readiness built-in, and now that can be a selling point.
But then I’m wondering whether Harman’s competitors will be so eager to make their devices Roon ready…
or if they’ll abandon Roon because it’s a competitor’s technology…
or if Harman will make it waaaay more difficult/costly for a competitor to get certification…
or will require added fees by subscribers to use Roon on non-Harman products.
Inconsequential to you, perhaps. This is akin to the “who cares if someone watches everything we do, as long as you’re not doing anything wrong” line of thinking.
One potential unwanted consequence, for instance, is a steady stream of Samsung spam ads in Roon.
Is that what you are hoping for?
All interesting questions, particularly seeing as Roon is obviously no longer platform agnostic, as has been such a nice selling point for them in the past.
Yes indeed and nicely put. Roon is unique. There isn’t currently a comparable alternative that ticks so many boxes.
There are many successful business people posting on here since the announcement and they have seen this frequently in the corporate world. They know from experience how and why these things tend to play out in the way they do. Hence the concern.
That being said, a large proportion of the great and the good of the wider audio world including the press (that can hold the keys to positive coverage ) are also high profile users of Roon. Not an audience to confuse/alienate.
It will be v interesting to look back in a couple of years.
Not forgetting this community. It’s a good thought any developments will be open (hopefully) to rigorous discussion on these boards 
I dont know what you mean.
I will try and interpret.
Its happening already with every single electronic action we take.
Whats the consequence of myself listening to sweet fanny adams by the sweet at present?
Whats the consequence of a 4k blu ray i bought this morning?
yes they are data mining. But so what? Theres zero consequence.
The information they get from me is useless. How are they going to use it?
What are they going to use it for?
And who is they?
Well, as a veteran of larger corporations all my life, I’ve heard this one before. Hands off! We’ll let you do what you do, with more financial backing! Hopefully, this is true, but based on my experiences this would be an exception to the rule. I’m sure that the leadership group of Roon has relayed to us exactly what their expectations are, and what they have been promised. Not throwing shade on them or Harman, but things change, sometimes over a longer period of time, sometimes sooner than later…
Hope things work out for all parties, including the Roon Users!!
Leo