Run Roon without an internet connection [not on roadmap]

[ogs]

Under all normal circumstances none of this is problematic, but in a scenario where internet as we know it is not available for some reason it might become a problem. Many places in the world experience “lock downs” at the moment so “no internet” could be more likely than we like to think.

[Geoff_Coupe]

Physical lockdowns are one thing, but losing the internet for a continuous stretch of 30 days is quite another…

[ogs]

True. I was thinking more in the direction of forced downtime of internet, not necessarily unintended errors… more than 30 days is a long time though

[waggy70 (Will W)]

I guess this topic is forgotten by Roon. Seems like if it gets to the point where I can’t afford internet access that I should be able to at least use something I’ve paid $499 for to at least play my own collection over my home WiFi!!! I may have to abandon Roon and find something where I can stream my own collection of music over WiFi without an internet connection!
This should have been a PRIORITY like what was claimed at the beginning of this thread!

[Carl]

Hi @waggy70,
The feature request topic you posted in was about Roon Client devices being able to work “offline” ie away from the Core … I believe what you are requesting is for the Roon Core to be able to run indefinitely without an internet connection, so I’ve moved into into this topic …

Please see Danny’s reply above.

Roon with the possibility to do without an internet connection [not on roadmap]

Roon requires an internet connection. At the moment you can go offline for about 30 days – this is mostly driven by metadata licensing requirements. For example, we must report to copyright authorities every month on how many lyrics have been viewed, and which lyrics those are. It’s so that royalties can be paid to the lyrics authors. I guess we could turn off lyrics if you don’t have internet access, but that is lame. It is not on our roadmap to change this requirement.

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

The issue with the way it (doesn’t) work(s) currently is that the 30 day window isn’t a predicable window of time. One could bring the core to a mountain (internet-less) cabin and the core could refuse to work 2 days later.

It doesn’t seem it would be that hard to develop Roon so that it still worked as a audio transport for local collections without using any licensed metadata. That eliminates all your license and reporting requirements. It could work for a limited time too if necessary.

This would help for more than some long-term Internet outage. And I disagree with the sentiment that if the Internet is out we’d all have bigger problems. Maybe, maybe not.

[Rugby (aka Daniel or Big Dan)]

@James_I

could refuse to work 2 days later.

That could be solved by having something like a “Refresh license” option so you can guarantee you have the next 30 days.

[danny (Danny Dulai)]

@Rugby

That could be solved by having something like a “Refresh license” option so you can guarantee you have the next 30 days.

that happens every day you do have internet.

@James_I

The issue with the way it (doesn’t) work(s) currently is that the 30 day window isn’t a predicable window of time. One could bring the core to a mountain (internet-less) cabin and the core could refuse to work 2 days later.

Just start Roon the day before you go to your cabin.

@James_I

It doesn’t seem it would be that hard to develop Roon so that it still worked as a audio transport for local collections without using any licensed metadata. That eliminates all your license and reporting requirements. It could work for a limited time too if necessary.

It’s not hard at all… the number could be changed easily to 60 days, 90 days, 365 days, or even 5000 days. Difficulty in implementation is not the point. Roon has never had a long-term (defined as 30 days) offline solution – if you require more than 30 days without internet, Roon is not what you need. This is not something we are considering to change.

@waggy70

I guess this topic is forgotten by Roon […] I should be able to at least use something I’ve paid $499 for to at least play my own collection over my home WiFi!!!

Not forgotten, just not supported. Also, the lifetime license just prevents you from having to pay ever year. It does not grant additional privileges or change the use cases. It is purely a billing mechanism. If you disagree with this premise of the lifetime, then get an annual subscription.

[Rugby (aka Daniel or Big Dan)]

Ah, ok. I was just responding to this…

@James_I

One could bring the core to a mountain (internet-less) cabin and the core could refuse to work 2 days later.

As, I have never taken Roon offline or been offline except for total power failure, I assumed James was speaking from experience. But, if Roon authenticates daily then his “issue” is a non-issue.

[waggy70 (Will W)]

I know the license doesn’t give me additional privileges, it just seems that you should be able to use Roon if you don’t have internet. If it’s the lyrics that’s preventing it why couldn’t it be that if you turn lyrics off on your install of Roon that would allow you to use it without internet and if lyrics were on you would need to be connected to internet.

[VERN_VOCHASKA (VERN V)]

I had the same problem here. For 6 or 8 months I had no internet but did have my Nucleus+ and music here and a local network that worked perfectly without an internet connection. Once a month it would refuse to start up and I would have to take the Nucleus to work and connect it to a live internet source so it could verify the license. An unneeded royal PITA if you ask me.

[danny (Danny Dulai)]

With the Roon Core on version 2.0, the grace period is not 30 days anymore. You must have internet access to run the Roon Core 2.0. If you require offline access for any substantial period of time, you must stay on 1.8 Legacy.