This is kinda an anti-feature request, but rather the opportunity to declare what you like about Roon as it is.
For me, Roon’s ability to hyperlink our music is what makes Roon special and caused us to bring a computer back into the mix. We re-discover what we have and get more info about it. I actually think the addition of Tidal weakens the product’s strengths. We’ll probably drop Tidal when we have to start paying for Apple Music. We’ll use that to discover music we don’t own and Roon to re-discover the music we do.
Hyper linking, look and feel of the interface and Tidal integration.
I don’t understand how Tidal integration weakens Roon in any way. If you don’t like it, just turn it off ! For me it is a key strength.
Apple Music appears unlikely to be integrated with Roon, meaning people will have a clear choice between Apple Music/Sonos and Tidal/Roon. That choice doesn’t require thinking music for me, but I don’t need multi-zone capability.
I don’t think this will play out like Beta/VHS. There is no cost to publishers in continuing to make music available to Tidal; quite the opposite. I wouldn’t put it past Apple to attempt lucrative offers to publishers for exclusive streaming rights, but their current strategy appears to be shaving royalties, rather than attempting exclusivity.
The time and resources that Roon might have spent integrating Apple Music will be available for development of Roonspeakers, Roon Pro etc.
I’m not sure when I will “have” to start paying Apple Music but suspect it may have something to do with a gun to the head. Until then the money I save from not paying Apple might as well be sent directly to HD Tracks !
I agree @andybob , why would you choose Apple Music over Tidal. Sound quality for starters is far superior on Tidal and the Roon/Tidal integration was key for me to commit to Roon.
I wasn’t clear about Tidal. My point was that I prefer the hyperlinking in Roon without an integration with any streaming service. I don’t want to see everything that is available. I prefer to use Roon to make links and provide info about the music I already own.
I’ll use a streaming service, no matter what it is, outside of Roon for new music discovery. For me it is two different things. Roon helps me re-discover music I own, a streaming service helps me discover music I don’t own.
It was not my intent to make this a streaming thread. My point was to say I love the way Roon gives me access to my music. The integration of a streaming service kinda weakens this core strength to me because it give me links to everything and my own music can get lost in the midst of an integration with streaming.
Hyperlinking of the, partially, licensed AMG metadata.
Here’s why. I use http://www.allmusic.com for hyperlinking and better data. Still, Roon’s strongest feature is the licensing of part of that data and applying the metadata to my own music AND the instantaneous playback. Roon digs up my hidden gems and allows me to connect and learn more about the music I already have. Which makes me enjoy my music even more.
I feel that, If AllMusic makes their own app, for user’s music, I am not sure if Roon would hold much value with out expanding mobile features. Right now, Allmusic is partnered with a few streaming services; all you have to do click the song and it plays through the browser to the desktop app of the respective music service. Yet it’s not partnered with Tidal. One could make a lower cost solution by creating an AMG account with a user’s library and lower-cost-than-Tidal-streaming-service.
Roon’s instantaneous playback and integration with Tidal is next on my list. For $500 down and $240 a year, leasing a good chunk of the world’s music is appealing. However for the collector and the ownership of music, this is not part of the habit. I am a collector and that’s why Tidal integration is no.2.
Conclusion: Metadata and hyperlinking is the natural next step after the traditional LP with album liner notes. Roon provides this in a seamless package to it’s user’s own library.
@fritzg – one of key goals in developing our TIDAL interface was to explicitly solve that problem of your music vs all the music.
Actually, before I proceed, have you tried Roon + TIDAL yet? If you have, I apologize for such a question and instead will ask: Are you finding that you are shown so much TIDAL content that you can’t find your own content? … or even that your content is not given first and foremost attention with minimal obstruction or clutter from TIDAL?
@danny please don’t reduce the amount of Tidal that is showing. I would like you, when searching for an Artist/Music that it shows all for that Artist in Tidal as well as your own content rather than having to click to show the Tidal content. Roon/Tidal integration is fine as it is, surely if people don’t want to see the Tidal content then they can either switch it off or not subscribe to their service.
Yes. I’ve tried Roon + TIDAL. Had it for about a month now. It’s really not too intrusive. I just think it’s unnecessary and detracts from what Roon does best. That’s all.
The only changes I would make are 1) not having TIDAL “My Music” (a misnomer in my humble opinion) mixed in with my own new music in the Overview. and 2) When TIDAL is on, the Overview page there is one row of my music (mixed with new TIDAL) and three rows of TIDAL music. That should be reversed in my opinion. Give me more aggregations of the music I own.
LoL. I think it is funny that folks have latched on to me thinking the TIDAL integration is unnecessary. The whole point was to praise Roon for the way it helps us re-discover the music we already own.
@fritzg, sure and another thing, we can’t be sure that Tidal will be around for any length of time, but our personally owned music will almost always be there.
For me, Roon provides browsing the music collection and re-discovering/discovering connections between music. Music isn’t created in a vacuum. Artists are influenced by what they have heard and seen and by who they know and collaborate.
For example, as to re-discovering music, I’ve recently purchased Meatloaf’s “Bat out of hell” in Hi Res. When I went to Roon to play it, I noticed that Ted Nugent’s “Free for All” was now listed under Appearances, reminding me that Meatloaf had actually sung nearly half of Nugen’ts 2nd album.
I like the sound . I like the user interface .I love the remote control of my Stereo PC from my Surface Pro 3. I like the fact that I can access my 4,700 uncompressed albums on Hard Drive plus play anything else they lead me to on Tidal losslessly all from one interface. . Another thing guys…when I got home the other day my wife was listening to the stereo !.. It is just so simple and elegant to use , she loves Tidal on Roon and finding different versions of her favorite piano sonatas. Me I love the fact that she uses the stereo more and appreciates "our " investment in DACS, amps and speakers more than previously… It’ll help me with the next hardware upgrade, I wont be changing the software , I am completely satisfied with it .
The streaming protocol support (Meridian and Airplay) in a way the focused on getting the best out of each endpoint rather than a lowest common denominator.
Discovering more about my music via the metadata and links
One simple thing ‘Music Discovery’ the best I have found so far at suggesting music, reminding me of what I own and allowing a quick search to find almost any artist I have come across. With Tidal, Roon is worth every cent.
I hear what you’re saying, but as one of the folks said, can’t you simply unlink Roon from Tidal? No muss, no fuss.
On the other hand, I’d like the Tidal integration to be richer: It collects things that I’ve marked “faves”, but not music I’ve “off-lined” (downloaded essentially). This is odd, because things I like enough to download should show up in my Tidal list when playing at home.
I am currently choosing to unlink Tidal right now. Roon’s “duplicate inspector” (dupes between Tidal favorites and my library)and radio mode (no playback errors) work with no perceivable drawbacks. Tidal is a great feature for discovery. I may re link once I completely sort out my local tracks first.
The other issue that you mention-- is Tidal (for Roon) is streaming only. Two points here. The Tidal iOS app won’t offline local tracks like Spotify will. More to your point, @RobS, the “favorite” or "star"button in the app is the “operator” that tells Roon to add the music to your library.
Definitely Tidal integration is a big plus for me and has made my paying extra for cd quality worth it. I still have issues with playback dropouts and wish the roon interface was ported to Apple TV.