Just a reminder, Lifetime is not and was not free. We paid plenty of money for it. And, the dollars we used were worth more than today’s dollars.
@David_Snyder is just defending his position on lifetime discounts based on my words.
He’s absolutely right. We will never discount lifetimes again. We’re happy-ish with the lifetime % right now. Like the Fed, we have a dial we can always turn to control that %, but no reason to turn it now.
@Craig_Palmer is taking offense to my very simple conveyance of the dilemma. He’s absolutely right. It’s much more complex and has many shades of grey between “lifetime good” and “lifetime bad”. Even within the team, there are some of us that want to keep it at $499, some want to raise it to $999, and some want to kill it altogether.
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Danny
Jut to confirm “some of us that want to keep it at $499”? Have you seen the light and reduced the rate? You could be making a lot of life-long friends starting with me.
How many years was the price $499?
1st May 2015 to 20th November 2019.
It was 449 if you signed up in the first few days after launch.
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I realize that your comment was addressed to @danny, but the point I think he was trying to make in the post that I referenced is that a true life-long friend provides the kind of support that their friends need, when they need it. And these needs may change over time.
In the early days, Roon Labs needed a burst of short-term revenue to start the company. Lifetime subscribers stepped up to provide it. We have the great Roon software and service that we do today because Lifetime subscribers were true friends, taking a risk, and giving Roon Labs what they needed back then.
Going forward, Roon Labs needs steady revenue to pay employees and cover the cost of delivering services to a growing subscriber base. Committed Annual subscribers are stepping up to provide it. We’ll have great Roon software and services tomorrow because Annual subscribers are true friends, giving Roon Labs what they need to keep growing and improving.
I’m grateful to all of the Lifetime subscribers who took a risk so that we could enjoy the amazing service that Roon provides. I’m sure they will be grateful for all of the Annual subscribers who enable that service to continue long past their four to six-year “break-even” points.
Like @Jim_F suggested, you missed the window to be a hero and risk your $499 to help Roon’s founders start the company. If you like using Roon, join the next generation of heroes by becoming an Annual subscriber.
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Can we please stop with the lifetime is bad and you’re only a hero if you subscribe business. This is just not true. What is true is if you want to maximize value to Roon, then:
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If you plan on leaving before 6 years is up (the break even point for a lifetime vs an annual subscription) buy a lifetime. There will be many many of these users.
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If you plan on staying longer than 6 years buy a subscription. There will hopefully be many of these but roon hasn’t been around 6 years yet…
You’re a hero in both situations. If the first point wasn’t true there would be no lifetime license offered by Roon.
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I paid Roon $499 for lifetime plus $1119 for a Nucleus for a total of $1618. Of course, the Nucleus does have a cost associated with it. Please stop the nonsense that lifetime subscribers are somehow inferior to annual or monthly subscribers. I will not be around to reach my break-even point.
Fair, but I assume that most people who buy a Lifetime subscription do so thinking that they will be using Roon far beyond the break-even point. Along the same lines of what you are saying, I’ve commented elsewhere that a limited Lifetime subscription for people who buy Nucleus could be pretty cool…locked to the host ID of the Nucleus purchased with it.
I can’t wait for Roon Labs to eliminate the (unlimited) Lifetime subscription option so that we can stop having these discussions. 
I was not going to say anything this time, but comments like, “Have you seen the light and reduced the rate?” really bug me because they seem to completely miss the point.
The fact that there are differing opinions on this even inside roon and they continue to offer a lifetime says that this isn’t a no brainer. When roon has been around for 6 years or more and can look back on how many lifetime users stayed for 6+ years (or not) vs how many subscribers stayed for 6+ years (or not) and can then assess whether money and profit was maximized then there can be a factual discussion on what was the right strategy. Before this it’s just conjecture as to what was right.
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Yup. I totally agree.
I am not sure that this is a fair assumption for most people. As an example, In my case I had tried many applications to stream my collection to various devices but none managed to control all of them. On top of that, sound quality and library management were desirable but never fully satisfied by other applications.
When I discovered Roon, nearly 5 years ago, I was amazed to have finally found an application that did everything I needed at the time. I may be a sole voice here but, there was no cost/lifetime analysis, no “what if they go bust next year” or assessment of “value for money” or “Break even point.”
I could afford the lifetime subscription, made the purchase and haven’t regretted that decision.
Subsequent developments have, for me, endorsed my original decision to purchase and I would guess that many other lifetime purchasers share a similar story.
Just my 2 pence worth.
I had seen sooloos at a hifi show and was amazed but knew I could never afford it. I tried roon at launch and after a lot of thought if I could afford it, bought a license 12 days later. Although it made my eyes water it was cheap compared to the turnkey sooloos system and turned some of my assorted collection of 2nd hand components into a glossy controllable music discovery system.
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I echo your thoughts on this @PixelPopper. In 2017 in plunked down my $499 after 2 years of subscribing annually. Given all the money I had put into my system hardware, it was a no-brainer for me, and, in fact, I tend to think of it as part of my system hardware. Is Roon perfect? Of course not, but I have received much more satisfaction from the investment than the occasional frustrations arising from an inherently complex system of music playback.
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I purchased the $700 lifetime because I wanted to future-proof my access to Roon based on my own finances. I had the money when I purchased the lifetime, but I am not sure I will have the means to pay an annual fee in six or so years. Now I don’t have to worry about that. If I have the means to pay an annual subscription after six or so years, I can always subscribe to an annual license for my office or whatever. But then I like to buy my own music and manage my own digital library more than subscribe to a streaming service. If I no longer can afford my streaming subscription, I still have access to all of my music. This makes sense to me financially.
I am really glad that Danny recently claimed the % of Lifetime subscribers at the moment are not detrimental to the future of Roon, and they have the means to control that %. Good for them. Good for me.
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The lifetime subscriptions are also useful to companies selling high end gear as part of the product sales pitch. I’ve had a lifetime subscription coming up on five years. It’s a great product.
Your nieces and nephews are lucky people to have a generous uncle. Cheers
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IIRC, it was always $499 except for brief promotion early on that dropped it $449.
…I was one of the £449 beneficiaries, I got a bargain☺️
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One of the best benefits of my lifetime subscription is that I don’t feel compelled to reassess the value and cost of Roon each year as many annual subscribers likely do. I have to believe that’s also a big benefit to Roon because the success of any potential Roon competitor will depend, in large part, on whether they can sway customers away from Roon. From that perspective, I’m a bit surprised Roon hasn’t offered multi-year subscription discounts. Perhaps it’s simply that there isn’t any serious competition (yet
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And there probably won’t be, this is such a small niche market, the masses seem to be happy streaming with native apps or using UPnP solutions. But I agree, lifetime means you’re done worrying about it.