Why I will not buy Roon

Roon Software Discussion
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I need to explore that… I’ve never used the TIDAL app to actually play music.

For me, Spotify is the undisputed king for introducing me to new music.

I have my favorite artists’ followed / playlists added in my library. Then, I listen to the various Made For You playlists which seem to be a mix of suggestions from my followed artists, what I’ve been playing recently, what I have “liked” and, most importantly, weighted by what the other 248 million users are grooving to with similar tastes.

If I like something, I “like it”, then add it to my TIDAL library for playback on my Roon system. I do a lot of listening in my car and at work, where Roon fears to tread, so Spotify has been great.

If Spotify ever launches a 44.1/16-bit CD-quality offering, I will be finished with everything else.

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it is super nice how confident are Roon about their product that they allow people that are not even users possibly (not going to read that huge amount of blah in the initial post), at Jriver forum those accounts would be removed in a timely fashion!

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Not a fan of “goodbye forever” posts/threads, but I will give some creedence to this suggestion:

I tend to agree on Roon radio.

The way I understand it, Roon radio doesn’t look at a playlist or album to determine appropriate radio tracks, it looks at the LAST SONG IN THE QUEUE. (Someone can correct me on this, but I do remember reading it. I do realize that you can start listening by selecting an artist/album and choosing Roon Radio from there, so I’m not sure how that algorithm works.)

Anyway, sometimes it’s fine (like if the last song played was hard bop jazz, it’s fairly easy to stick with that genre), but if I just finished with a Steely Dan album, and Roon Radio starts, just because Creedence Clearwater Revival or Foghat are from the same general era, I do NOT want them in my radio mix.

The only time I get the Tidal radio mix is in the car, and I will say, it probably works better. But it’s a small sample size because I generally am an album guy.

So this observation…

just seems so sweeping. Ahdunno. Maybe the big-data Roon folks could speak to this. Like, do people here generally choose an artist and select “Roon Radio” by default? Or do they play an album, and then if Roon Radio starts, well, great?

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People make posts like this because Roon hasn’t lived up to its promise in their eyes. That is completely a valid reason to make a post. If people didn’t, Roon wouldn’t have their feedback. Roon didn’t create the forum for us to continually blow smoke up their… Roon already knows what they do well, and it’s a lot.

Roon has gotten better every year because they are constantly challenged to get better. This is what makes Roon, and its community, great.

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Sure it’s like my mate who keeps posting how great Samsung is on Apple forums, Or if I decided to post on Naim forums how great my new amp is now that I’ve sold my Naim. Great product has a visionary behind it. We need to reinforce the Roon vision, not dilute it by catering for a billion different requirements. Of course this community is good, but I’d rather the Roon team follow their own path. It’s their product not ours.
H

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Okay one last try. What I said was that I could not understand posts like this. By like this I mean posts from a person that does a two week trial, decides it’s not for him (or her to be PC) and has to tell the world. I respect posts from members that criticize Roon. Heck I have myself. I want to make it better too but by and large Roon does exactly what I need it to do. It’s the person that had it for two weeks. They always pen a multi-paragraph statement. I don’t get. Never will. By the way at the end of the day we are all right. The OP for saying he didn’t like it. It’s me for saying that is silly. And it’s everyone else for whatever they say. It’s all just words.

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Wow, I applaud your tenacity to stick with Roon as long as you did! I lasted about 2 weeks before realizing what a scam it is.

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In regards to $$$ - Roon already has some 100k fanboys, I would suggest that keeps them going, so I’m not really sure what that exactly means, especially as the bulk subscribe annually.

However, constructive criticism/discussion does drive you forward, I completely understand and agree with those sentiments.

Unfortunately, Roon is not a company that discusses. Whether they read and take ideas on board, I’m none the wiser as any other user would be. Moreover, Roon has a so-called ‘philosophy’ (no idea what that actually is), so 1000’s of great ideas posted over the years fly by the wayside. Whether any of them could be implemented using the RAAT protocol and the way the software has been implemented (such as text as images), I have no idea. And I guess it’s fair as users (not business owners), that we get no say. That’s their prerogative.

Over and above that, as this discussion shows, there are just so many users with many different needs. Thus, whilst one user may think their ideas would create a better Roon, they may only cater to a very small market.

I even read somewhere here that a user bought Roon because it could stream Tidal (I think). Well nobody needs Roon just to stream Tidal. I think that highlights the various needs of users from highly complex to fairly simple.

As per your thoughts about ‘fanboys’, I think it is fair to say at least, that many comment without having tried many alternatives or perhaps did so years ago before buying/subscribing to ROON. Therefore, their comments may very well be slightly behind the times.

Certainly in Roon’s infancy, many users have said it felt like beta software. Some may still have that feeling today, yet continue to use it for lack of better alternatives. This latter point is often spoken about e.g. ‘Roon’ is far from perfect, but I’ve not found any other software that suits my needs better.

Similarly, many users do not use Roon exclusively; they combine it with other music software to cater to all their needs. On that basis, Roon for some is not a full solution in a box; it’s one of a number.

Good luck on your search & thanks for stopping by.

Cheers.

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I’m somewhat ambivalent here John - I can see both sides. I suspect it’s a bit like saying some people like to vote & others don’t. Some like to have their say (well meaning or otherwise) & others sit back and let whatever happens just happen.

Maybe it’s a cultural thing also? We don’t know where the OP comes from and certainly, there are differences based on culture.

Cheers.

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And yet, here you are :man_shrugging:

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Touche’

:laughing:

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I find this an interesting yet unsatisfyingly incomplete comment.

Firstly, I’m amazed you lasted 2 weeks before reaching a conclusion about Roon for your particular use case. For you to reach such an extreme conclusion I would have thought this would have come about within hours. The fact that you used it for 2 weeks would indicate that you were using it for something and therefore it had some intrinsic value and therefore not a scam.

Either way, I would be very interested for you to expand on what caused your extreme conclusion. With no further information given, I can only imagine that you believe it’s a scam because it costs the same as a Spotify subscription yet comes with no music and because you only use a bluetooth speaker you have no use for it’s advanced network audio capabilities. This is only a guess though, which is what i’m left doing unless you provide more information.

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Some years back I temporarily cancelled my subscription and like @Markus_Derflinger i felt I should explain myself in more detail on the basis that nothing will change if you don’t know what to change !

I sent the comments privately to Roon ,I can’t just remember who now. Whoever it was replied and asked me to post my comments on the forum partly as an exercise in transparency but mainly to air the shortfalls to the community that I had highlighted . This I did.

I resumed my choice of Roon but still sympathize with users like Markus who have a perfect right NOT to like Roon. I believe that to make any inroads into what features get into Roon you must do it from INSIDE the system rather than out hence although I am not 100% happy with Roon I persevere

I feel the comments are fair , no one piece of software covers all audio and indeed video needs .

I share the view that highlighting shortfalls is one way to bring these to Roon’s attention in the hope that they get onto the dev’s feature list

Just a thought

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Where does JRiver alter your files , as far as I know the only data added is on initial rip of track names etc

I am not aware of any of my files being altered except the tags whe I do it

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I applaud @Markus_Derflinger for taking the time to put his thoughts in writing. The most important aspect of a trial is new custom but the second most important aspect is feedback from those who choose not to subscribe. You can ignore people who simply declare a product ‘a scam’ but Roon quite rightly looks at constructive feedback, which the first posting is. And I do have to say there are a few here are a little too precious about Roon.

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I was replying to the question, how do you do this without “ruffling feathers”. I :heart: your answer.

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I would like to add to your thoughts here @Henry_McLeod, that the majority of constructive feedback is generally put forward by those who do like Roon & only want the product to grow and better meet the needs of themselves and others. They often see flaws (yes Roon is not perfect) & express themselves accordingly.

However, English is not always a user’s first language, nor are English speakers necessarily gifted writers. Hence, communication in this manner is often misunderstood/misinterpreted, along with a user’s temperament (although it is typically clear when a post is written in angst with little thought put forward).

:smile:

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The original poster had some legitimate observations, which I mostly agree with. Moreover, he provides detailed explanations AND offers suggestions for improvement. Don’t see any reason to pile on the guy. He took the time to provide detailed, constructive feedback. Roon staff acknowledges its value to them.

/2c

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85

Absolutely agree. Unfortunately some fanboys don’t quite get the point.

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How is your extended “trial’ going , are you any happier? I would have thought you would agree with the OP commentary