I agree we may seem as moaning Minnie’s but if you don’t comment no one will hear your opinion
I mentally do the pros and cons analysis of Roon and I find enough pros to keep on.
I have a need for a DLNA server for video plus some other audio devices so I run a duplicate system with JRiver. While I feel you can’t compare the 2 , the configurability of JRiver does make classical more manageable. Every time I try to use it though I lean back to Roon
I guess it’s love and hate,
My view is that you cannot expect change if you don’t contribute to the commentary on the product
It’s not quite money is no object but $120 a year is really not worthy of the debate for what you . I just want MORE
On the contrary, it’s a practical suggestion. Sonos are very good at what they do.
Roon is not a walled garden. They support many different endpoints and the customer base lots of different consumer-grade networking scenarios. If you think they’re going to be plug and play without hiccups in every situation, you’re dreaming. If you can’t deal with a certain amount of futzing and troubleshooting in some cases, this isn’t the product for you.
Incidentally, if you browse the Sonos support forum, you will see that even there where pretty much everything that can be controlled is controlled by the Sonos ecosystem, there are still technical hitches.
Only on rare occasion would I listen to classical. No offense taken.
With respect to your sorting through numerous volumes of the same artist, make a feature request, and in the meantime work out a sorting/tagging system that fulfills your needs. How would you sort them if they were in CD form? JRiver MC is a good solution. If you could decipher exactly want you want accomplished, post it in a feature request and Roon might adopt your idea. Below I sorted my SACD albums, and MQA album into folders in MY Tags for quick access.
May have been mentioned already. Most of my friends use the free version of Spotify or Pandora. They are not overly interested in hi rez or the costs associated with it. They are also not tech heads. They, like most folk, like simple things that plug in and work without issue. May be an odd comparison here but in the late sixties/ early 70’s Triumph had the Trident, (early version of the Speed Triple), and it was, and still is, a weapon. However it was a little harsh and required tweaking and a basic knowledge of mechanics for it to remain running at its best. Along comes the Honda four. Smooth, refined and as reliable as the sun coming up. Just jump on and ride it like you stole it! Simple. Guess what happened next…
I can’t talk about relative priorities (I don’t know about them). What I can say is that Classical is by no means regarded as “done” by the devs.
I think you are correct to describe Roon as having been relatively timid in resolving conflicting metadata and projects which take a “braver” stance are under active development. Artist Equivalence issues have been a driver for such work. When those projects go live the devs will be keen to hear feedback about them and that will be important when considering wider application of such concepts.
James_I
(The truth is out there but not necessarily here)
357
I’m happy to see the new build includes some UI/feature improvements and additions. Thanks guys and congrats on another release.
Most of my friends aren’t audiophiles and like the popular streaming services.
I showed it to an audiophile friend and it just wasn’t his “cup of tea”. He likes Foobar with his custom metadata and UI. All pics are scanned of actual items owned. All metadata validated as matching actual item. No “smart” additions.
All Music Guide (and other sites are accessed independently) for album info.
Recently I saw a support request here on the forums. The first response from the Roon support team, understandbly, was asking the user to describe their “network topology” among other things. 99% of my friends would not have any idea what that is. This is another reason why my friends are not using Roon. Just too techy for the average Joe.
4 Likes
Bill_Janssen
(Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)
360
The NY Times has an article up about simplified gadgetry for the non-technical, which resonates with this:
Also of note is Helm:
I think something like Helm, but for music, is a likely direction for Roon.
This isn’t a Roon problem though (Roon can be complex to setup when you go DIY, but not with off the shelf products). The same applies to any devices that have to communicate over a home network, whether it is between local devices or from a local device to cloud.
Some people do have really over-the-top complex segmented network topologies at home - house share or to isolate the kids or whatever. Often however it is just a cheap router stuffed in a cupboard somewhere etc probably running buggy firmware that needs to be rebooted daily.
I work for a company who produces cloud based software for home use on mobile devices and we get exactly the same kind of issues to deal with as quite simply the most common issue is down to poor wifi connectivity.
Users don’t really notice most of the time because many of the other apps they are using don’t have a user experience that is dependent as much on network connectivity - email, notifications etc tend to eventually work over poor intermittent connections. They probably never give much thought to when Netflix takes 20 second to start a stream and probably don’t notice the resolution is low etc, because quite simply they may not know any better and when they claim everything else is working - actually it isn’t.
I am literally the only person I know that doesn’t listen to music exclusively on a mobile device. An iOS or Android device is connected to a carrier network that is very reliable and relatively fast (where I live, anyway).
Since most (again, everyone I know) are listening to compressed tracks from Spotify, et al., the cellular network is more than capable for the task. So, if Wi-Fi is having issues, the phone flips over to the cellular network.
Ultimately, however, Roon won’t attract the general populace because… no one has a library of music anymore and without that, Roon simply has no value.
Are you serious? I’m asking because I really don’t know a single person who exclusively listens to music on a mobile device. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a living room without some kind of audio system in it…
Besides using ear buds from the phone, the only other options I’ve seen are bluetooth speakers (again, music from the phone) and, in the case of my sister in-law, a couple of Sonos speakers. But, again, all music comes from Spotify - even in the Sonos case.
I don’t know how old you are, but I am 53. My age peers (e.g. above example of my sister-in-law) are on Spotify. My father (mid 70s) uses Pandora from an iPad to an Apple Airport Express (optical out into an amp + speakers - but, again, no digital library).
My 16 year-old daughter and my 25 year-old employee - both use Spotify with iPhones. And, they both laughed at me when I asked them if they use iTunes. Again, no digital library that they own.
When I think about all my friends and family members, only three have an actual stereo setup in their living rooms. One is fairly major (with turntable too). One is a SONOS speaker. The other is an “all in one” small table top stereo radio that has a Squeezebox Touch connected via analog inputs. Everyone else is using mobile device (phone, pad, or laptop), at best connected to a couple of small bluetooth speakers. And only one of these three has music library (probably 20,000 CDs and countless vinyl). The others use Pandora or Spotify. And I’m not taking about young people, I’m referring to people between 50 and 65.
There are stats on this. Here is one example that shows physical media surpassing digital downloads, but both being well eclipsed by streaming. The writing on the wall for everyone to read…
