Actually works pretty well on the iPad too as a UI.
Time for Roon to hurry up in interface improvements then. Others are catching up.
Folks can copy features - they can’t copy passion (which for me translates into experience). So time for roon to hurry up and rediscover their passion 
We should have another release along in about 15 months…
I hope that was an attempt at a humorous post and not an actual dig at the roon guys. No smiley face.
Nope. No humour.
This is true.Just look at Qobuz.I still think Roon is the leader in this area but others are catching on. I also believe that Qobuz is a superior service to Tidal so Roon does need to keep sharp. I wrote a post about this under the Deezer requests.
I don’t get it then. roon has more happening with software updates, new partners, devices, encouragement of third parties than any other audio software I know of. I’m a lifetime subscriber and have multiple devices but know I am only scratching the surface of the features available. The roon team are obviously always reading these threads and contributing. What more interest and passion are you expecting?
roon relies on trials and conversions. And it is a subscription model. I agree - they release a lot of updates (as in build 269 etc…). You bought a lifetime membership. So did I. Before my trial expired. I suspect a lot of folks have - because they are the early adopter mentality. And I am ok with that. You have multiple devices. So do I. And roon is great for that.
You and I are the typical profile of the existing user. But not the users that need to be attracted going forward in my opinion. It is a finite pool. And the comment I made was because what it needs to stay ahead of the packs isn’t features (more features usually muddies things) but to keep the product experience. And the user experience we get comes from the passion they put in. Hence say they need to keep the passion going to keep the product experience going while appealing to a wider market.
This is true.They have to build a business and clearly they are doing well but is it to the detriment of the user experience? I think perhaps it is.
Well don’t take it too seriously. The Tidal app is still horrible, metadata or not. But the Metadata is not exclusive to Roon anymore. Tidal and Apple provide the same nowadays.
Yep - the Tidal app is pretty nasty generally. On the iPad they have integrated the metadata pretty well. Desktop is still a mess (and the iPad app is nasty in a host of other ways).
What keeps roon unique isn’t going to be features - features can be copied. And I think to @Easysqueezy’s comment roon have been very busy working on supporting more devices (as an example) and that is quite visible - but does supporting a new device keep you ahead of the pack? To a point. Maintaining a delightful experience in the product… that’s what can’t be copied.
Sorry if I didn’t state it well enough.
A central part of Roon’s philosophy is that the metadata is active. You can click on the name of a contributing artist, or the label, and see what else is available. And you can search on them as well.
Can’t in Tidal, the metadata is for reading only.
EDIT
I was once impressed by Adobe Lightroom in the same way. Unlike Photoshop, its name notwithstanding, Lightroom was designed for photographs and showed metadata, such as the lens used. So I clicked on the lens, and it pivoted the library view to show all photos taken with that lens. Actively usable metadata.
It is no surprise more metadata is being added to streaming services. They have two things to work on - quantity of content (which is now pretty good for all the main services) and quality of content, which is improving SQ wise, and so User interface and metadata will be at the forefront on the development programs.
Roon offers us so much more at the moment - multiple devices, lovely design, full metadata, sound quality, a nod to the geek but also the most intuitive and friendly experience for the non tech savvy. But for me, the most important thing about Roon is that it lets us enjoy OUR music. Most of on here are music collectors - I have built my collection over the past 30 years. I have a “deeper” connection with almost every one of my albums than just the music. Special moments with friends, road trips, late nights and early mornings. Ecstatic moments in our lives and troubled moments. We value our music for memories and connections
Which is why streaming services have never quite cut it for me. I personally thinks having access to so much really devalues the emotional connection with the art form. I do use tidal. I like trialling new music and being able to experiment a bit with what I’m listening to. But the best listening sessions are always listening to my music, my collection. I am concerned that people are losing this. I know of very few people who still buy music. Most just use Spotify or Apple Music. They may have favourited albums (most haven’t) but they do not have a collection of their own. Once they stop paying for the streaming service it is gone. They are tied in. Music has become of the moment, and those deeper connections will not be made, or if they are, not remembered.
This may be a problem going forward for Roon - as music collections dwindle the USP that I love so much about a Roon, the ability for me to connect with my life of music listening, will not be so relevant for new users. But for me at the moment, it’s just perfect. No amount of meta data on streaming services will alter that!
Well I don’t see any diffetence whatsoever between adding an album from Tidal to my Roon library and purchasing the music. My daughter does not know any better then music coming from streaming services but she still has a collection she values just as much as I valued my lp’s and cd’s in the past. Some things don’t change when just the distribution channel changes.
Nice post @anon73739233
Totally agree with “more features usually muddies things”.
Imagine the basic feature of “Radio” in Roon, which is in dire need of improvement (this has been requested many times by the community) yet ignored in pursuit of features and adding partner devices. Radio as it is presently is embarrassing, it repeats 4 or 5 artists repeatedly irrespective of the size of your library. I have resorted to generating playlist based on tracks or artists in JRiver, then export the playlist into Roon for me to have a decent diversified track list. It’s time for Roon to stop adding features and put efforts into improving basic things like Radio and ability to export M3U playlist WITHOUT the files.
I like the passion of this post. I have vinyl and CDs that fulfil the needs that you express so eloquently. I also like streaming. I merely want the best streaming solution I can get. Despite the sound quality, Tidal does not quite do it for me. I love what Roon are doing with Tidal but I think they could do better with another service.Deezer may be the way forward for me.
I started using Roon because I use a Sonore microRendu as an endpoint. It was recommended to me for its high-quality sound used with Roon and I haven’t been disapointed. I use Tidal because it’s supported by the microRendu and I have found that the sound quality is much better than using Qobuz streaming outside of Roon.
I’m a classical music fan and I’ve found that Qobuz has a better collection of new classical releases than Tidal but I’ll stick with Roon and Tidal until Roon and MicroRendu incorporate Qobuz as I’m very happy with the sound quality. This is more important to me than endless new features that I’ll probably never use. It just proves that different users have so many different priorities when it comes to what we think is the most important improvements we want from Roon.
It must feel to the people at Roon like they are trying to juggle frogs when they are dealing with so many different demands from their, mostly satisfied, subscribers.