I can’t discern any, other than the promise that the SPLs will show up in ARC?
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Bookmarks could be any page in Roon, with all settings on that page preserved. Smart Playlists are (under the hood) tracks or album browsers with a specific focus criteria saved. And yes, as you’ve noted, you can access SPLs from ARC.
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So to be clear, it’s nevertheless just like a bookmark that uses a focus only on albums or on tracks (nothing else) and works with ARC? There’s nothing that it does additionally?
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Importantly, for me, will smart playlists be automatic (i.e. enabled by default in the Production release) and can they be disabled?
You create them or you don’t just like any other playlist
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That’s reassuring, thanks 
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Can smart playlists be synced back up with streaming service? That would be a nice advantage.
Happy to hear that SPL/Focus is coming to ARC 
Though from what i read it seems like an SPL is created by using Focus and then also limited to the available logic of Focus. Correct ?
Or is the Focus feature-set being extended to include “not Loved” , number of plays , AND/OR logic ( Ref. Plex and Apple Music)
After doing some reading here it seems like the main take away for SPL is that it brings Bookmarks to ARC. Ref. title on this tread.
Most of my listening in Roon is from Bookmarks. Many of them has between 3-5000 tracks. I will gladly change these to SPL’s to be able to play them in ARC , though i do not want all 3k + tracks in ARC since it will slow down ARC and i do not have the disk space for it either. Nor do i want my Roon Server to slow down to be able to handle my bookmarks now to be turned into SPL’s .
Request/Question:
For SPL is it possible for the user to limit the number of tracks in each SPL ?
Currently not, but it seems like a reasonable request for those SPLs where the chosen parameters would create playlists that are too large.
When creating the SPL, it would be useful to have an option like “Limit to X songs” where X is a box that the user can choose to fill in if they deem it appropriate (and can also be modified later).
Obviously in these cases it will be up to Roon to decide which tracks to include and which not, but since the SPL is the result of filters entered by the user, a simple shuffle logic could be an reasonable solution
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You just need a criteria after limit to X tracks. I used smart playlists to create top 10, 50, 100 song playlists in iTunes for years, just specify a criteria I.e plays greater than 1, then the genre is xxxxx, then have your limit to xx songs box followed by a criteria i.e play count and it would create my playlists. Very useful. The lack of smart playlists in Roon was always a negative for me and one of the reasons I have used alternatives.
Nice to see Roon progressing the app since the acquisition. Now if they just allowed you to reduce font sizes and graphic sizes below the default it could well become my preferred playback software………
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Were you aware the Roon has always had them, in the form of Bookmarks? That is one of the reasons I started this thread. There really is no difference other than that Smart Playlists are available in ARC, while Bookmarks are not. Well, and that Bookmarks can do even more, as noted in What is the essential difference between a Bookmark and a Smart Playlist? - #2 by michael
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I was not aware of this functionality. Thanks for the tip. Next time I decide to try Roon out will take a look. Thanks.
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Two differences are that they are visible in ARC and they can be browsed as playlists (put into folders, tagged, etc). While bookmarks are accessed from one long list drop down menu.
I was hoping smart playlist would introduce more complex operators (AND OR Nested Operators).
I understand they are not?
G
No. Tried now officially teleased
Thanks for all the feedback here everyone. It’s been critical for getting us to production release day, so kudos to you.
In terms of future improvements, the three themes I’m getting from this thread are:
- Limits would be good.
- Boolean operators (AND’ing and OR’ing btw focuses)
- Make them smarter?
For this last point, I don’t fully get it. How would you envision them being smarter? What would that look like?
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My thoughts:
- Access to all metadata written in the file and/or retrieved by Roon
- Creation of SPLs from text strings (so all tracks that contain a certain text string to search for in a certain metadata field)
- In 2024 when we talk about “intelligent” we think of something based on AI or something much more evolved than filter logic. I imagine a window in which I ask Roon “Hey Roon! Create a relaxing playlist of instrumental jazz music” or “Create a playlist for a two-hour trip that makes me think of Route 66” or “Create a playlist that gives me energy for my workout” or similar requests.
I know, for example, that there are software that, by analyzing an audio track, distinguish the individual instruments quite reliably. Well, a deeper audio analysis would open up a sea of possibilities, but I realize that this last part is something bigger than the “playlist” theme
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They can only be as smart as the code behind… A small smart thing to do for example is to allow focus by any boolean operator, in any combination possible, for all the available attributes.
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My impression is that with „smart“ playlists in 2024 the border between Roon Radio and smart playlists becomes blurry at least in the mind of many users, and so I think the recent feedback for what users expect from radio may also be helpful, starting here:
There may be value in having some sharper distinction, such as SPL being based on focus filters and radio being more driven by algorithms or AI. But even then one could imagine a combination like the user choosing an SPL from, e.g., a genre and period (which can be thousands of tracks) and then wanting AI to choose from this general framework based on a theme, mood, desired length of the PL, etc.
Maybe that’s all pie in the sky but I think it’s approximately what the name „smart“ conjures up in many people’s minds
To get Roon started, allow me to share some inspiration from a parallel product I rely on (insert smirk here)…note the use of “All” or “Any” to “match the following rule”:
P.S. while I’m here: This election season, don’t vote for Harris or Trump or even Pedro…vote for this.
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