Roon playing to Sonos and some other endpoints.
Sonos app for things Roon won’t stream like SoundCloud, MixCloud
Spotify app for discovery- either Spotify features, Shazam to Spotify, IG posts
Tidal app for mobile, car, Sonos at work
Soundiiz for coordinating playlists between Spotify and Tidal. Two sets of playlists - Tidal playlists and Roon playlists which are different
Rob.
I use iTunes now primarily for metadata editing. When it’s the way I want, I copy the modified file to my roon ssd storage. I’ll probably switch to a more capable metadata editor but I have apple tvs around my house so like all my media running in an apple environment even if I rarely use it for music. I have two licenses for roon so I use the 2nd as either a backup on a Mac Pro in my house if my primary on a nucleus+ has issues, or I use the 2nd license on a MacBook when I’m traveling to use remotely (and I have synced my music on a portable ssd). When I need more than this I have a chunk of my music loaded on a AK SP1000 DAP or just listen to Qobuz.
I was a very very early adopter to computer audio. I was using computer audio more than a decade before Roon existed. Even before JRiver existed. And Foobar2000 was not yet on the scene. Computer audio got serious when Otachan created plugins to get better sound out of Winamp and Foobar. I remember using Winamp before the year 2000, back when computer audio was fun.
Do I still use some previous software…yes. Actually I don’t use Roon at all anymore, my wife uses it for background music in the kitchen and the outside patio.
I like music…ie the sound of music, so pretty cover art does nothing for me.
My personal rankings;
GUI - 8 [pretty but is weak on customization]
Functionality - 7 [creating playlists, navigating around menus]
Sound - 4 [dry and without emotion]
Library management - 4 [no file structure view]
Internet radio support - 3 [copy/paste url is years behind]
Third party content support - 2[one point for Tidal and one point for Qobuz]
Roon for home.
Tidal for Andoid Auto, travel, commute etc.
Spotify for 3rd party playlists - I had stopped Spotify but got it free with my phone contract.
My Wife’s use
CDs (all 12 that she plays)
iPod shuffle - loaded up by yours truly.
Roon everywhere at home including wireless streaming when relaxing / gardening etc.outside. DAP when on the road.
Roon mostly at home, dBpoweramp for the increasingly infrequent rip, Qobuz on the move in particular because of its offline library, Qobuz at home when the Roon search takes ages and then doesn’t find stuff, J River and J Remote for old times sake very occasionally. Oh and very very occasionally Audirvana if I want a laugh.
Polygamy.
I still use iTunes to manage my personal library.
I use Pandora in the car or when working out.
Lately I’ve discovered Audirvana (like the SQ and price but not the UI; have not decided whether to buy a license).
Polygamy since nothing is perfect.
Roon for main playback
Foobar2000 + facets for file management tasks since it can do folder browsing
Tag&rename for tagging
Jriver as a single file player without ading it in to my main library
Polygamy as well.
At home mostly Roon, but for my NAD and Bluesound endpoints in conjunction with the Bluesound app when I’m not behind my laptop as it allows for easy volume control using the hardware buttons on my Android smartphone.
In the car and on the go I use the Tidal app.
Polygamy.
Roon when I want to enjoy music.
JRiver and Mp3tag when I have to do stuff to my music.
Roon at home. Spotify whilst travelling and commuting.
When this thread began (over 3 years ago…) I was still using dBpoweramp and Media Monkey. I was no longer using any other player software (goodbye Media Player, goodbye Zune, goodbye Groove, and jRiver had never made it past the trial period for me - twice).
Now that CD ripping is supported on ROCK, I’ll be relying on Roon for the occasional metadata edits.
So as I and Roon have both got older, I’ve become monogamous.
Monogamy–Roon–Still getting to know it after 3-4 months. Primarily an MQA listener so Tidal Masters are my source
Ah another software junky
Try TagNRename, Muso, Jaikoz
ROON at Home
iTunes on the Go
Definitely a poly-relationship.
I spend most of my time elsewhere and come back from time to time to check a pulse and see if Roon can do any new tricks. Not an exciting relationship…
Primary - DIY Arch Linux w/MPD + Cantata as a GUI. Much, much better file handling, much better Internet radio choices [built in].
Secondary - Moode
Polygamy - because music for me the last years is 75% music discovery and 25% playing my vinyl and digital library.
When not Roonin’, I use Sonos because it supports a lot of services I use, including
I have Sonos around the house, and the family use Spotify.
I do use players like Audirvana and Pine Player to quick play things that is not (yet) in my Roon library.
On the run: Tidal on iOS, simple as that.
Roon for my Tidal collection and for playing background music throughout the house. MP3Toys mostly for my own collection. Why? Because it lets me find everything I want in seconds. Everytime I fire it up there is an immediate feeling of relief to recognize my own curated collection again. Roon is severely lacking in overview which makes it hard to get in touch with my own collection. Roon has some great features but it is too much focussed on one album at a time and It’s album browser which is supposed to give you an overview is pretty much 15 years outdated imho. plus Roon lacks user customisation, it doesn’t feel “human” My family never use Roon, they use either MP3Toys or Spotify. Other than that Roon is great but I really do hope they start concentrating the development on being a good music organizer instead of being an audiophile niche product.
Mostly I use roon for background pop music on radio these days. No one else in the house uses it, they prefer Spotify. Mostly I get good results with the genres I am interested in and I like the Qobuz integration in that context. I like the internet radio feature as well although that’s quite clunky.
After a couple of years trying, I never did manage to migrate a JRiver Classical library properly and have just given up. I use Idagio and Qobuz directly for streaming Classical and whatever is the simplest tool to hand for my local library. I am going through a phase where that is often the original physical media these days. If I can find quickly what I am looking for in roon, I use that. There probably are ways of refining my search when something doesn’t come up but roon search logic is way past my pay grade so when that happens I just use windows explorer instead and left click to whatever is there. foobar2000 usually.