Teething Problems (Artwork, Playlists etc.)

Roon Core Machine QNAP TS-x 53D

QNAP TS-x 53D

Networking Gear & Setup Details

Therenet, BT home hub router

Connected Audio Devices

Raspberry Pi via ethernet

Number of Tracks in Library

18,00

Description of Issue

Hi,

I’m 7 days into my 14 day trial. I’ve invested in a raspberry pi and QNAP NAS (with in-built computer) to enable Roon and I’m keen to subscribe on a long-term basis but I can’t justify the subscription fee unless Roon does what I need it to. Can you help with a few teething problems please? I’ve checked the community forum but haven’t found a solution. I tried contacting contact@roonlabs.com but they couldn’t help.

Imported M3U Playlists

I’ve successfully imported a couple of playlists, created in Media Monkey and exported as M3U, and imported into Roon. However, the playlists I’ve tried to import since then simply don’t appear in Roon. The successful and unsuccessful playlists are all saved in the same folder, which is a sub-folder of the Roon share. Even a playlist with only one track has failed to import so this can’t be a playlist size problem.

Artwork

I initially tried selecting ‘Prefer Roon’ but much of the artwork was inaccurate so I have now selected ‘Prefer file’. Many tracks now show the correct artwork but some show none at all. I have the artwork saved to the same folder as the music file, usually as an mpeg file. The artwork shows in Media Monkey but for a lot of files, not in Roon. In Media Monkey if I select the track / album’s properties and then artwork, then select ‘add to all selected files’, the artwork suddenly appears in Roon. To do this for every track that Roon isn’t showing artwork for would be a huge job. Shouldn’t Roon show the artwork for any track where the artwork is saved to the same folder as the track? Is there a quicker /easier way to fix this problem?

Large Imported Playlists

Is there a limit to the number of tracks that an imported M3U playlist can contain? My 18,000 tracks are each rated from 1 to 5 in Media Monkey. I have a playlist of all my tracks rated 5, a playlist for all rated 4 or 5 and a playlist for all tracks rated 3, 4 or 5. I also have playlists made up of a gne re plus a rating e.g. soul rated 4 or 5. They are huge playlists. This is my principle method of deciding what to listen to i.e. by rating rather than genre, artist etc. Can playlists containing thousands of songs be imported into Roon? Otherthan importing huge flaylosts, is there a simple way to categorise my music by rating e.g. using the tags or focus function?

Roon Recommendations

I understand that Roon is intuitive and will recommend new music to me. How do I inform Roon of what music I like? Does it recognize that I like every track in my library that is saved on my hard drive? Does it recognize that I like every track contained in my Tidal playlists? Do I need to select the ‘heart’ icon to indicate that I like a track even if the track is part of my library? Currently, I think of my library as my own music files, saved to the hard drive. If I press the heart icon on a track from Tidal, will it add that track to my Roon library?

Currently, Roon is recommending music from artists I have no interest in (e.g. I’ve never owned or listened to a track by that artist). Is this because it doesn’t yet know what I like, even though I have imported 18,000 of my own tracks and a handful of playlists from Tidal?

Tidal recommendations

If I’m playing music from Tidal, will Tidal know which tracks I’m liking (i.e. selecting the heart icon for) or is that ‘like’ only recognized by Roon? If not, will Tidal become less accurate at recommending music to me that I like?

I’d be grateful if you could help with the above. Thanks in advance.

Chris Russell.

Hello Chris, and welcome to the community. Others will probably chime in with suggestions and observations while we’re waiting for your post to reach the top of the Support team’s queue, but I’ll begin…

Re your imported M3U Playlist issue, have you read the points made in this article? They may help.

You wrote: “I have the artwork saved to the same folder as the music file, usually as an mpeg file”. I hope you meant to write as a jpeg file - mpeg files are not supported.

I don’t use large playlists, so perhaps others can comment on the question you pose. However, I do use Focus and (Roon) Tags, so do try exploring their functionality - they are very powerful slicing and dicing tools, and the Bookmark feature adds a further level to Focus queries.

If you are making use of ID3 tags in your music files, then check out this article, particularly if Roon is having trouble making sense of your collection:

the working of Roon’s recommendations are spelled out in this article:

An important point to note: if you are not using a streaming service (Tidal or Qobuz) along with your local music collection, then Roon Radio will only randomly pick suggestions from your own library - it will not be coupled to the Valence engine that drives the tracking of your, and other Roon users’ preferences.

You refer to Tidal, so I assume that you will be using Tidal integrated into Roon, so Valence will be used in this situation.

You also wrote:

Currently, I think of my library as my own music files, saved to the hard drive. If I press the heart icon on a track from Tidal, will it add that track to my Roon library?

The answer is yes, for both tracks and complete albums. Over time, you should think of your own library as the combination of both your local tracks and albums and those added from Tidal.

You are just starting out, so the recommendations initially are being driven by the Roon community at large. Over time, Valence will become more attuned to your personal taste.

Finally:

If I’m playing music from Tidal, will Tidal know which tracks I’m liking (i.e. selecting the heart icon for) or is that ‘like’ only recognized by Roon? If not, will Tidal become less accurate at recommending music to me that I like?

The :heart:icon in Roon and in Tidal’s own app are two different things.

  • In the Tidal app, it means that it is a favourite of yours in Tidal’s vast collection and it will also cause the track (or album) to be added to your Roon library as described above.
  • In Roon, it means that it is a (particular) favourite of yours in your Roon library - the next level, if you will.

AFAIK, playing Tidal tracks and albums using Roon will still drive Tidal’s own recommendations engine, because Roon is telling the Tidal service which tracks and albums you are playing.

Hope this helps.

1 Like

Maybe post some examples of Roon getting wrong artwork,

what genres,
what albums
Are they obscure Artist

Etc

Normally Roon is pretty good, so there will be a reason for example in are your albums one folder per album and does that contain a file called “folder.jpg”

Geoff,

That is all very useful, thanks so much for your help.

I’d read the ‘importing playlists’ article but it didn’t help. I did mean jpeg file and not mpeg - sorry! On closer inspection, in most (but not all) cases where Roon isn’t showing artwork, the artwork is embedded into the music file (mostly FLACs but some mp3s). I think I am using ID3 tags but I’m not certain and not sure how to check. However, I have just discovered that, if I syncronise tags in Media Monkey, the artwork suddenly appears in Roon. Result! And if I create a playlist in Media Monkey of multiple tracks / albums for which Roon isn’t showing artwork, I can sycronise their tags in one go. This should save me some time. Maybe I can even sycronise the tags of my entire library in one go.

The info on Roon’s recommendations / Valance etc. is also extremely helpful, thanks. I am using Tidal integrated into Roon. Focus and Roon tags sounds pretty sophisticated and very useful. I will definitely read up on this and start experimenting.

So the main outstanding issue is Roon failing to recognise some playlists.

I’m really grateful for your help. I’m new to all of this so please forgive my ignorance!

Hi Mike,

Yes, many artists are quite obscure. Lots of electronic music, soul, jazz, funk etc. I do however have artwork for 99% of my music so it’s probably best for Roon to take the artwork from my library / files (once I work out how to get Roon to recognise it - see below).

Yes, one folder per album. In most cases the artwork is embedded into the music file(s) but in other cases the folder does contain a file called folder.jpg. However, as per previous, I’ve discovered that syncronising tags within Media Monkey makes the artwork appear in Roon so problem solved.

Thanks for taking the time to help. It’s greatly appreciated.

Roon’s metadata sources are normally great for mainstream Rock/Pop , Classical less so. Its the obscure stuff that trips it up. (it’s AllMusic and MusicBrainz so you can check if an album is there)

You can set your input settings to “prefer file”, but its normally better to allow Roon to do it’s thing and sort out later.

Enjoy Roon !!

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