Roon Lifetime Pricing

Hi,

I started using Roon in May , 2019 as my first real audiophile software , and I have been nothing but impressed with the results and the software.

I recently found out the lifetime subscription has been raised to 699 $ instead of 499 $ when I signed up. Not only was I not notified , I read a lengthy post written by one of the Roon staff that justified the price hike , and the lack of notification given to people.

As someone who is about to embark on an expensive masters course abroad , I will be living a life of relative austerity , and 200 extra $ on a subscription is a lot , considering that money could go into buying music , or well , better Hi-Fi equipment that could work better with Roon.

I understand the price hike as I understand start-up culture and capitalism and cash flow needed to keep things running . But a 40 % increase in the price without prior notification is a lot to take.

I just lost a bit of the immense respect for Roon and itā€™s decision makers.
And to the post defending the price increase, 10 $ a month is a lot of money in a country like India.
Hopefully , at some point , the customers do figure into this discussion . If not , itā€™s Roonā€™s loss eventually.

It would be great if you could sort this doubt out for me , now instead of 4 annual installments , I pay 6 annual installments to get the lifetime membership? Or do I keep paying 119 $ for the rest of my life?

The $119 prices are not instalments. They are subscriptions. At present Roon is still offering a lifetime option but that may cease at any time and it will become a subscription model only. As you are probably aware Danny has clearly explained the reasons for this here.

Your points have been discussed extensively elsewhere in the forum as @John_V has stated.

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Seriously? When I signed up , I clearly remember it saying that after 4 installments of 119 $ I would basically get lifetime access. On sites like What Hi-Fi , a new article reiterates that with the no. of instalments changed to 6 instead of 4 to reflect the new lifetime price.

@support, could someone please clarify this?

When I joined , 119$ a month or 499 $ for lifetime were offered as equal options.So to increase the annual fee before my first year is up and I could trade up , is absolutely terrible.
I may have misinterpreted the fine print with regards to the installments. Should have taken a screenshot but then again , had no reason to not trust the Roon entreprise when I was signing up.

In the event that I do get the lifetime now , what happens if Roon ā€˜diesā€™ before the equivalent of 6 years or 699$ worth? Is that a blind chance people have to take? Or are the good people at Roon who ā€˜informā€™ paying customers of their choices, issue refunds?

There seems to be some confusion in this thread, so Iā€™m going to clean it up, and add this for clarification. Iā€™ve also re-opened the topic in case @ro_bob93 would like additional clarification.

  1. The annual is not a mechanism to ā€˜rent-to-ownā€™ for the lifetime. The money you spend towards the annual is not applied to a lifetime subscription, nor is it refunded from the price of the lifetime. This has always been the case.

  2. In the case of a conversion from annual to lifetime, all lifetime sales are final and there are no refunds. Months already passed will not be refunded or applied towards the price of the lifetime. If you switch to the lifetime during the first 30 days after a charge for a yearly subscription, you will only pay the difference of $580.11.

  3. The prices are what they are when you see them, and are subject to change at any time.

  4. The subscription types available are what they are when you see them, and are subject to change at any time.

  5. If you purchase a Roon subscription, you will get access to Roon for the length of what you purchased. If prices change, the pricing will only impact you on the end of your subscription.

  6. A web page is not a pricing contract for the future. Always come back to see the latest prices and offerings.

We have no intention to raise the price on the annual, but the lifetime will most likely go up in price again or be removed as an offering entirely. At either of those points, existing lifetime subscribers will continue to enjoy Roon for its lifetime, for no extra fee.

I have addressed what happens to Roon in the case of the company dying here.

You are taking a chance ā€“ whether it is ā€œblindā€ is up to you.

If the company dies, there will be no $ to give refunds, so this point is moot. Additionally, because the subscription is not rent-to-own, its unclear what you would get refunded. I know you could come up with figure based on the rent-to-own model, but Roon is not rent-to-own.

If the product ceases to be developed, you will continue to have access to it for the remainder of your subscription (although it might be in the form noted above in the link to what happens if the company dies). No refunds will be issued.

Iā€™ve looked at What Hi-Fi, and seen only one post mentioning the $699 price here. In it, I only found this reference to ā€œ6ā€:

The other option is to bet the house and go big. If you love Roon and think itā€™s here to stay for more than six years, then $699 brings a lifetime Roon membership.

It is only doing math ($119 * 6 = approximately $699). There is no installment talk. Even if there was, it wouldnā€™t make it true.

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Thank you . That was just the response I needed . I will continue to use Roon either way as I have been nothing but impressed by it.
Iā€™d also like to apologize for some of my more flagrant comments . I was being picked on harshly for asking genuine questions and was only defending myself .