Purchased lifetime 4 years ago at the end of my 2 month trial (came with my streaming DAC). Didn’t even think about annual. As a percentage of the total cost of my audio habit it was in the noise. I’m actually surprised it still exists.
If my lifetime license ceases to exist, sure I’ll be miffed. Not because I feel cheated, but because Roon likely no longer exists.
If Roon is purchased by another company that breaks the promise of a lifetime license, I’ll make my decision based on the then available options.
Life is too short to hold a grudge, and besides, I’m already past break even at today’s annual price
@danny I sincerely respect the spirit of Roon in dealing with its clients, around the same passion for music. I am already a lifetimer since 2 years, and planning to buy a second lifetime licence for a second location - before the price increase . I am not rich enough to consider this as peanuts, but I still consider that Roon is my best hifi investment ever.
And my 2 cts: in the current crazy world we live in, Roon employees deserve a pay raise for the great work they do!
A super happy client!!!
I understand your frustration but… 2 months ago you decided to renew your annual subscription rather than upgrade to lifetime. The only thing Roon has done is announce a pricing increase effective January 1st.
If it were me, I’d be equally annoyed, but mostly with myself for not opting into lifetime a long time ago.
I only found Roon a few months ago. At first, I didn’t understand the value if I was using streaming services… why add another UI? I originally signed up for a trial and let it end without signing up.
Since then, I realized I wanted to have local music files through CD rips and purchased Hi-Res music. There is actually quite a lof of music I know and love that can’t be listened to via the streaming services. Some things you can only get via physical CD or vinyl.
Based on that realization, I signed up for Roon Monthly to test it again. It’s been maybe 3 months and I realized how good it is (even if only streaming through it too). I was going to wait until after the holidays to get the Lifetime Sub, but then saw the email about the price going up.
I imagine it won’t be around much longer. Look at Plex, lifetime Plex Pass is under $200 and they’ve had the option for so long that they have been branching out into alternate revenue streams such as adding ad supported streaming video that ends up alienating their core userbase. I think Roon Labs is smart enough to know when enough is enough before it is too late and they end up like Plex and looking for new revenue streams.
I think when it comes to price increases people need to realize that Roon is really a database application on top of a music player. You are paying for metadata and the discovery and recommendations that come along with that. The ability to easily discover new music based on one’s own tastes in a way that is straightforward and intuitive. If more people looked at Roon as a database application with all of the complexity involved in such an application and less like a music player I think the pricing and value proposition would make more sense to people who are skeptical. The idea of wanting to listen to music but not knowing what to listen to is solved by Roon, but it’s because Roon is essentially a music database with a player built in that allows for this. Something like LMS still leaves the listener lost at times because the same connections aren’t there.
Good points, @mackid1993 - and I think there’s more, because you often see people comparing Roon to some random Windows software you run on a laptop. I suspect that some use Roon that way, but its greater strength is to work as an appliance with streaming endpoints around the house. Or in case you don’t agree with my “greater strength” assessment, at least it’s a large chunk of functionality in Roon that doesn’t have many competitors, let alone equals.
This understanding does not necessarily make things easier – it assigns greater value to Roon, but it also increases the buy-in for a larger installation. Anyway… life-time subscription purchased this morning. No doubt in my mind that’s the best value going forward.
SukieInTheGraveyard
(This one time, at Bandcamp... I spent too much money!)
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If Tidal alone suits your needs, then that’s great. The reality is that Tidal alone cannot do a whole range of things that Roon can do. It comes down to whether or not Roon’s additional features are worth paying for. It’s also a reality that Roon’s competitors cannot do a whole range of things that Roon can do. Again, all of this is dependent upon the features that you need/want.
Yep I would completely agree with that, I just used Tidal as an example that everything in today’s world is database driven.
But it all comes down to the functionality and ease of use you require.
If Roon could cost in at £10 or under then a streaming service plus Roon would be £20 which is what we were all paying for Tidal and Qobuz not that long ago which would make it great value.
Which is why I think it would be a better value proposition if you could buy it as a package with your preferred streaming service but people don’t see that.
Roon is recommended only if you need all its functions, because you pay for all those functions very expensive, I still haven’t made a decision whether to buy for life before the upload or continue with AS, if I don’t do it before January 1st I won’t. I will never do, and for now I am not convinced to pay all that money when I do not need arc, or multiroom and it consumes almost all the resources of my system, I like it more than AS but it seems to me that it is like paying a truck to carry my 2 suitcases.
. I am not rich enough to consider this as peanuts, but I still consider that Roon is my best hifi investment ever.
