I know that. Grateful if you can (re)-read my posts on the Bridges to Babylon albums and Sticky Fingers. I am adding Qobuz versions to my library, in addition to local versions, and the option to make the Qobuz version primary is not in general available. Furthermore, having added a Qobuz version, if I then click on the local version in the album view, in the versions tab the Qobuz version I added is listed, but without EITHER a make-primary option or an add-to-libary option. If I click on the Qobuz version in the album view of my library, the local copy does not show in the versions tab.
The Sticky Fingers example seems informative regarding a possible lead on this. If I add the 10-track Qobuz version to my library (my local version is also 10-track), then the option to make primary appears. However if instead I select the bonus-track version of Sticky Fingers from Qobuz, Roon will not give me the option to make it primary, even if I access the bonus-track version from the Versions tab of my local copy (i.e. Roon has figured out that that the Qobuz bonus-track version is an alternate version of my local copy, yet it still will not provide the option to make it primary, either when I add it to my library or afterwards - please see the screenshots where the āMake primaryā link is missing for versions that have already been added to the library.
Jim_F
(Remember - It's easier to Keep a Customer than to get a New One)
23
You have to add the second version to your library. Then you exit to your library. Then, if you want to change the primary version, you click on versions. There you will see two library versions and can choose the other one. I do it multiple times every day.
@jim_f appreciate that discussing this sort of topic via a forum can be challenging.
Here is a screen grab from my library, showing that both my local and Qobuz versions of Sticky Fingers are in the library. I posted something similar before for Bruce Springsteen.
Crucially, the 20-track/24-bit version, which is already in my library has no option for me to make it primary. There are other anomalies Iāve reported previously, hopefully this post clarifies the issue, which I encounter on a regular basis.
Jim_F
(Remember - It's easier to Keep a Customer than to get a New One)
32
Maybe it has to do with the fact there are several different albums that maybe Roon is not considering the same album. There is a deluxe, deluxe edition, and remastered and original, etc. I think that is probably the issue.
Jim_F
(Remember - It's easier to Keep a Customer than to get a New One)
33
Yep, here I have Tidal and Qobuz Deluxe version and Roon sees them as two versions of the same album and lets me choose which is primary. Note, two library versions.
Jim_F
(Remember - It's easier to Keep a Customer than to get a New One)
34
So, bottom line, I donāt think there is a bug here. To be able to change your primary version, you have to have two or more versions of the same album in your Roon library. If an album has different number of tracks or is called deluxe, deluxe edition, etc. Roon is not considering it the same album. I donāt know if this happens all the time or not. You can add the other album to your library, but it will appear as a different album, not two versions of the same album.
I have never had this issue, that I remember, because I always add the same exact album with same name and same number of tracks, etc. from both Tidal and Qobuz. (But, not necessarily the same resolution.)
Edit:
I guess the reason I never had this issue is because I have never tried to change the preferred version when I did have two versions in my library that Roon treated as if they were different albums. I see that I do have some albums that Roon is treating as different albums for one reason or another. Itās usually a different number of tracks or one is regular and the other is deluxe, etc.
I think the real question is when should Roon consider these as different albums and when should Roon consider them different versions of the same album?
On the majority of occasions where I add a Qobuz album to my library when a local copy already exists, the Qobuz version will be a special-edition release with bonus tracks. My argument is that the workflow in Roon initially makes the user think Roon will be version-aware when the new version is added, but it turns out that it then gets in a mess. Iāve posted detailed examples already, Iāll pull it together one more time in the hope that Roon Support will contribute to this thread.
Going back to Sticky Fingers, I deleted the Qobuz version from my library, so there is now 1 local copy. I go to the versions tab and get the following.
I have the option to add the deluxe version to my library. Also note that I have accessed this version list via my local copy, so Roon ought to know that if I add the deluxe version from Qobuz, it should be linked to the local copy and intuitively (I would argue), if I add the deluxe version at this stage, I should be offered the option to make it primary. That does not happen.
I now add the deluxe version to my library. Letās go now to the main album view for The Stones, we can see both versions are showing, so I now have 2 versions in my library, and once again to really hammer this point home the second version was added via the Versions tab for the first
Letās now click on the local copy and look at its versions tab now that we have added a second version. Things start to get a bit odd here. Firstly, Roon incorrectly reports that there is 1 library version, even though we just used the versions tab of the local copy to add the second version. But also, we see that the deluxe version we just added is in the version list, but with NEITHER an add-to-library or make primary option. The omission of the add-to-library option makes sense, since it is already in the library. However, that also underscores that Roon has incorrectly reported the number of library versions - I would argue that the two highlighted elements here on their own highlight a clear bug in Roon.
So at this stage, Iāve got two versions, and the only way to hide the local copy is to do so manually. But there is further evidence that Roon has got things mixed up. The screen grap above shows the versions accessed via the local copy. The local copy versions tab includes the deluxe version which has been added, albeit without the Make Primary option even though it has been added to the library. But if I now go back to the album view and select the Qobuz version, Roon is completely unaware of the local copy even though the Qobuz version was added via the versions tab of the local copy. How does that make sense? If the deluxe version is now showing as an alternate version of my local copy, why is my local copy not showing as an alternate version of deluxe version?
So there we go. I canāt add any more on this, I stand by my view that Roonās handling of versioning is not handling these test cases correctly. I think the examples provided are pretty compelling, but others may disagree. I would love to hear from Roon Support on this.
Jim_F
(Remember - It's easier to Keep a Customer than to get a New One)
36
Roon considers the Deluxe version a different album. Itās that simple. Iām not sure there is a right way and a wrong way, just different ways Roon could do this. Iām OK with the way they do it now, but you obviously arenāt. It would be interesting to hear Roonās take on this.
