The history I have been with Roon 4 years , I am 70 , so maybe I should have spent $500 when I could.
During that 4 years I have had a love hate relationship with Roon as with many software packages (as an ex developer I ranted about Resharper in the same way but kept it !!). No one package can be expected to satisfy all needs.
My library comprises many (I guess 300+) classical box sets which are IMHO particularly badly dealt with in Roon and I find myself using my legacy system (JRiver) to manage my classical boxes . This cannot be right, duplication of effort, maintenance etc
My choice was and still is Annual , it was not a money issue more a commitment issue, if I went Life would I regret it later and pull out of Roon. I am still not 100% convinced but as has been said there is nothing better , “Currently” . I am not, as some, committed on the hardware front as I run a Windows 10 server for all my media needs not just Roon. Had I plumped for Nucleus or even then NUC/ROCK route I may feel differently.
To me $120 is not an issue and I will continue until I get sufficiently fed up to quit (not so soon I guess).
I support Roon’s view of Annual over Life. At the beginning Roon needed an influx of money to launch the business, now established it needs a steady income . I suppose many startups have the same needs , they will not continue if everybody had bought into Life or there wasn’t an Annual option providing that income stream.
I pay monthly/annually for many things Tidal, Netflix, Internet Provider not top mention Insurances etc that make up normal life why should Roon be any different.
Come the day Life goes there will no doubt be wailing and gnashing of teeth but there has been fair warning from @danny on several occasions , my vote is can Life now and end the debate
There really isn’t anything that I’m aware of with respect to interface. In addition to Roon, I use a couple of other music delivery programs: Audirvana, Bryston MPD, and I previously used JRiver MC (which requires a lot of user involvement).
There are literally hoards of audio players out there but to me Library Management is key. There are still loads of these but many are geared,understandably, to pop etc they provide Artist Album Playlist type views which are just too restrictive for my musical preferences, eg Plex Is glam but just restricted . I have 1796 Artists how do you filter that ?
Roon offers more “cat skinning” options to navigate your library. Customizable systems , eg JRiver offer many more personally defined views (however manual they may be to set up)
As ever it’s each to his own, one system will never please all of the people all of the time
Classical is a whole different ball of wax so to speak for whatever reasons - my guess its more about the metadata than perhaps roon but I dont have much classical so I cant really comment from experience.
Wax http://3beez.com/what-is-wax.html supposedly does a better job but it will cost you dearly it seems - my friend has one and has a large classical collection of ripped vinyl and many as yet to be ripped CD’s and he said its a huge learning curve, which having had the system for a year now still isn’t up and running. Plays only using its internal outputs so must be in the hifi system area and I think only has a web based interface.
Personally I got lifetime in the first days of my trial over 4 years ago so now its paid for itself. I use it daily, help others here and enjoy it most of any other systems I have tried, jriver, audivana etc.
As a recent joiner who decided during the trial to go the lifetime route… my two penn’orth: for me it was about ‘buyback’ rather than feeling ‘committed for life’. If I get 4-5 years out of it (allowing for inflation and assuming the annual price is unlikely to remain static for those years), that will be worth it. Putting aside unexpected life events (i.e. hit by a bus!), using this daily for the next 4-5 years seems pretty likely - anything after that is a bonus. Looking around, there doesn’t appear to be any other software that comes close to what Roon does yet. It’s software so definitely can’t rule that out or things changing but that brings me back to the 4-5 years point: is anyone else likely to come along and produce something substantially better in the next 4 years? Possible but unlikely, so happy to take my chances.
I’m sure Roon keeps their pricing policy under review at all times. Successful businesses do. Roon will put in place a pricing stratergy that they believe will enable them to meet their short and long term business goals. They will either judge the market correctly or they will not.
Currently, Roon costs me less than £9 per month. I do not consider that, as one post here states, to be “the most expensive music streaming software on the market”. I’m fine with £9 per month, even though I do add Tidal to that. I find Roon simple and very much like using it. When Roon changes their pricing policy, I will decide whether I stay or go.
Their “how to select, play, and queue a track” tutorial is a meager 11 minutes long. I’d be shocked if anyone would see this as a possible a warning sign of a massive learning curve…
But hey, “Roon gets raves from most reviewers, but the flaws become clear when you have a chance to try software that works better.” .
Well, they set out to fix Roon’s handling of classical music, but they didn’t stop there, and overachieved by fixing too high usability, and too low price ! Definitely deserving of an Audiophile Product of the Year Award !
I routinely see people complain about how the yearly price is so expensive. They are in the wrong hobby if you ask me. I think Roon is a bargain for the price. I do wish I had done lifetime at the earlier price though since I will probably never do $699.
If someone wants lifetime Roon, and would have bought it at $500, I suggest you find another $200 somewhere and buy it at $700. Amortized over your lifetime, an additional $200 is not worth worrying about. When the price goes to $900, you’ll be kicking yourself AGAIN.
Has anyone had trouble actually making a Lifetime purchase in the last few days? I haven’t heard back in a couple of days on my request to do this, even after a reminder. I wonder if Roon is swamped with such requests…? (Or I wonder if there is reluctance to allow this, as this would be my second Lifetime purchase…)
[I’ve been switching one Roon license between home and work cores twice a day morning and evening, but it’s not entirely seamless, and I decided I’d like to eliminate the “friction”, hence my interest in a second subscription. My own considerations rule out making a second subscription as an annual one – has to do with uncertain future income streams – so no flames about my not wanting to support Roon, please!]
I think a second lifetime subscription at $700 is plenty of support for Roon. Even if your first lifetime was at $500, how many Roon subscribers pay $1200 or more in annual subscription fees?
Totally agree. In this game, an extra $200 is a drop in the ocean when some folk spend many more $ than this on an interconnect for example.
In my eyes I viewed buying the lifetime as a part of my audio system infrastructure and rationalised it that way, in the same way I would rationalise buying an ethernet switch or some cables or interconnects. It made more sense to me thinking of it this way.
I don’t view it in the same light as my subscription to Tidal, for example, as Tidal is merely a content provider and subscribing to that makes sense, like renting a movie etc. Roon on the other hand is now an integral part of my audio infrastructure, the backbone almost. When viewed like this, and when considered within the same light as the rest of my (very modest) audio setup, I think of it as a bargain.
Just some thoughts. This is very specialized software and related support services, with an obviously limited “addressable market”, i.e. limited number of potential buyers. Developers need to have both a deep understanding of the business requirements (what users want Roon to do) and the technical requirements (how to do it). As someone who once ran a software company, I can tell you that the premise is always that you can develop a “standard” product, and sell enough copies to cover your (very large) fixed costs, and your (very small) variable costs. The plan says that you will make a profit when you sell x number of units, and it will increase significantly as you go beyond that number. The reality is that as you continue to add features, and as the world around you changes, your fixed and variable costs both continue to go up. Quicken is a good example. Originally you could buy it for $100 and use it forever. But now you have to pay that every year. Roon is a discretionary expense, and I can justify paying $100 or $200 a year for its benefits. Everyone has to make this judgement for themselves, but Roon, to stay in business, must balance the need to provide the features users want (expenses) against the price (revenues) they are willing to pay. Not an easy calculation - believe me. I’ve been there. Sorry to sound like a bean counter, but…
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