Sometimes I see such different perspectives on Roon, Local files vs streaming being a prominent one. One difference in perspective comes from whether you mainly listen to Tracks vs. Albums.
I almost exclusively listen to Tracks organized into genre or mood playlists. I haven’t listened to an album all the way through in probably 20 years. I can imagine there are some exact opposite who have no use for playlists.
No surprise then that my biggest request is to edit Tidal playlists within Roon.
I wonder if Roon Radio appeals more to “track” people?
An important distinction indeed.
I always listen to albums, I think the composition of an album is a decision the artist and producer made. I would no more listen to a playlist of tracks than read a collection of the best chapters of books, or a YouTube collection of best scenes from movies.
I understand the opposite view, that an album is just a merchandizing package of tracks, the bad bundled with the good — iTunes enabling buying only the good tracks is often listed as the most important innovation in music this century.
So yes, we will have different needs.
But Radio has, very slightly, changed my view — I see the value for artist discovery. I think it is brilliant, although I have still used only three times.
Nice. I think there are artist who create a body of work and it makes sense that it is a cohesive whole. Certainly any music composed before the advent of the Long Play (LP) record! The albums were at a time crafted… what goes on “side 1” vs “side 2”. Sometimes a forced constraint spurs innovation and creativity. But that was an artificial container based on the technology at the time.
But then it became more of a commercial vehicle where 1 or 2 good songs were bundled with filler (maybe moreso in the pop and rock genres). Has to be XX minute album in 2:30-3:30 length increments for radio play.
I’m sure many here listen to high quality albums that do reflect an artist’s vision and I respect that. I am much more likely to listen to a whole album from the ECM label and maybe I will soften my claim of not listening to a whole album in 20 years, since getting Roon I have had more intensive listening sessions.
I do read album reviews to get a sense but then I probably focus more on referenced songs or the top songs by an artist.