I don’t see this as cynical at all.
Other (vaguely comparable) companies view this risk premium as rather large and offer substantial discounts if you pay up front. E.g., Qobuz charges $15/month versus $150 annually.
Yeah, that’s why I made the tag.
Wasn’t sure what new account you wanted, so that’s why the caution.
Anyway, you’ll be good to go as soon as Roon gets to you. 
Since I don’t believe Roon necessarily charges as it does to force a longer commitment than a month, I was really describing as I saw your beliefs about it.
I just jumped onboard the lifetime option with a few months left on my first year. I’ve used Roon more than I expected, and while very expensive, I think I’ll get my money’s worth.
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OK, thanks – I hope so…!
To pursue the bee in my bonnet – Was the lifetime purchase in the last few days? – thanks!
Oh, if we want to talk about my beliefs, then yeah, they’re cynical.
We’ve mentioned the “loss-of-future-revenue” risk as a reason for companies like Roon to offer incentives for subscribers to pay upfront.
But there’s a countervailing risk, namely the “unforeseen-rise-in-costs” risk. The obvious response to a rise in costs is to raise the price you charge. But if the subscriber has already paid upfront, that’s not an option.
So, if Roon used to see the the lifetime subscription as a well-priced incentive, but no longer does so, that means that either the “loss-of-future-revenue” risk went down, or the “unforeseen-rise-in-costs” risk went up.
You can guess which I think is the case …
Yes, your argument makes sense for lifetime vs. yearly, but your original response, as I read it, addressed why Roon doesn’t offer a monthly subscription option.
Over as short a time period as a month vs. a year, I don’t believe that either “loss-of-future-revenue” or “unforeseen-rise-in-costs” are factors.
Dunno.
As I said, other comparable companies offer substantial discounts (17%, in the case of Qobuz) for paying an annual subscription upfront vs paying monthly.
Over the course of a year, the “unforeseen-rise-in-costs” risk is probably small, so that discount represents almost entirely the “loss-of-future-revenue” risk.
Edit:
All that said, there’s one more factor that influences how much of an incentive a company like Roon should offer for paying the subscription upfront. That’s their cost of raising capital (which determines the net-present-value of a stream of future revenues). Presumably, as a more established company, Roon’s cost of raising capital has gone down (somewhat) which makes the value of an upfront payment (somewhat) lower.
Yes, just a couple of minutes before I posted.
I think a monthly option would be a PITA for both Roon and customers. There would definitely be some added administrative cost for Roon as well as the lost time value of the annual payment. In addition, some customers would probably do as I do with Netflix. I subscribe for a month or two and binge watch, then cancel for 4 to 6 months when I run out of good things to watch.
Why? It’s not like you’re gonna write out a cheque, put it in a stamped envelope and drop that in the mail. It’d just be another recurring charge on your credit card.
Again, why?
I’m sure that’d be automated, exactly like the annual recurring charge is. And I think Roon is big enough so that the Merchant Fees would be no more onerous than for an annual recurring charge.
The only administrative cost would be the usual hassle of dealing with refused charges, expired credit cards, etc… Which they already have to deal with.
Bingo!
I repeat…
Yes - all conjecture - we can all argue one way or the other. I am not purporting anyway of thinking. However, what is clear is that as with anything consumer oriented there is a risk of price increase or perhaps price drop to remain competitive in the market.
As Roon do not make announcements regarding their future plans, we are all here only guessing. Of note: somewhere up toward the top, somebody said, that there was this talk some 3 years ago, yet nothing has changed. Whether that means change is closer or not - again all conjecture.
Sure buy now if you fear a cancellation or increase of lifetime, hold off if you can’t afford it, think annual provides a better safety net for a myriad of things that can happen in the interim, such as new/better software coming along and so on.
Cheers.
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Absolutely correct!
I guess the downside of being blessed with the freedom of choice is the curse of having to make one.
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Indeed some while back @danny hinted (very very veiled😀) at a price reduction for annual
I don’t have enough breath these days to hold it for long 
What about 12 x the admin costs ?
As has been pointed out earlier, RoonLabs pays some of their metadata providers upfront - I can’t track the original comment from RoonLabs down, but I’m pretty sure it isn’t a fabricated memory. You’re of course completely right in terms of administrative costs, but they’d possibly still have to eat the loss if a user decided to cancel mid-year, which wouldn’t make such a proposition viable.
Do also keep in mind that RoonLabs is likely small compared to its data providers, moreso 5 years ago when these contracts were signed, so that conceivably doesn’t allow them the same leverage when negotiating with AllMusic that, say, Plex would have.