I tend to lean towards that a more focused approach would be better for the Roon experience.
Why? Because there are many issues that arise due to compatibility, and maybe a more sharpened development could free resources to do some good for old issues.
Limit support to the current and previous OS for hosting the Core for each flavour (Win/Mac/Linux), do the same for the tablet and smartphone OS’s, Android and Apple.
Basically, stop trying to be all things for everyone and drop Squeeze/Airplay/Chromecast and all that crap, focus on RAAT endpoints.
Yes, i am sawing off the branch on which i am sitting. But the continuous bugs and quality issues are a direct result of catering to dozen year old Macs which are barely supported by the manufacturer themselve.
Hello? Roon is the school book example of “niche application”!
But trying to cater to the Sonos squad as well as the “classical filatelists” and the extremist audiophiles all at the same time does not add up, as we repeatedly see examples of.
Wouldn’t you prefer to see better box set handling, less choppy scrolling on iPad/iPhone, folder browsing made more useful, conditional DSP etc etc etc
There are many, many “basic” functions that one could expect from a music management application.
Roon is still so much better than the next app, but also have so much potential to be even better!
Yes, and having only RAAT would make it much more so. It seems to me that „starting to use Roon requires that you have to throw out what you have and buy Roon Ready stuff“ would be a higher barrier to entry.
There are lots of convenience speakers that only do AP1, for instance.
Yes but I don’t think that iOS app development is the same person who maintains protocol compatibility.
And I am not sure that I prefer box set handling so much that it’s worth replacing everyone’s streaming ecosystem. 10% of Roon users having HomePods is not nothing.
Perhaps focus on stabilising and updating the core functions of the software to be more reliable than add a stream of new features. The whole app needs a rethink of how it does things as it feels held together with string and sticky tape currently. Every build breaks something new.
If it was RAAT only I would be off again. Why everyone waxes lyrical about it I don’t know. It’s easy lied to as Wiim products do it all the time. And it’s too fallible to users networks.
That I fear is down to the app not being native iOS like many of the apps issues on Android as well. It doesn’t play to either os strengths and ends up fighting for resources. Windows and Mac work fine for me but remotes on anything else come with too many compromises.
I’m leaning towards @Mikael_Ollars way of thinking here.
Maybe in a different way, Roon could revive the last most stable release (server and remotes), fix any bugs then mark that as a rollback point.
Could AirPlay, Chromecast be added like an extension rather than a core feature, so users could choose. Give the user options at time of installation what add-ons they wish to have. Folders for example would not be selected for me.
RAAT isn’t the be all and end all, but it’s what drew me, amongst other reasons to Roon.
I’ve again reverted to Roon 1.8 as the last update hasn’t really improved things in the areas I want/need. I can cope without Arc.
Maybe that’s the solution, keep 1.8 going with bi-annual updates, or fully fix any outstanding issues with it. I find the last release of 1.8 to be very stable for my needs.
Less if more. More breaks things if you don’t build from new.
Edit:
Core functionality with a modular add-on design. DietPi like.
Me too. I’m still running it on a Mac Mini. I had been considering tinkering with DietPi on the Mini but Monterey is quite stable and I’m not sure I’d gain much.
