Always up for something new: Roon 1.8

Yep...

 

I have had a love-hate relationship with Roon for years. I have to kick myself about not buying a lifetime subscription years ago when I tried it the first time. It think it was about $150 back in those days. I was not convinced at the time it would survive long term. I guess I got that one wrong!

 

I'm a huge fan of Roon as well. I spent years using JRiver and was fine with it, but I've got a huge library and it started having serious stability issues. I tried Roon out of frustration a few years ago and was immediately hooked. There was a slight learning curve when it comes to library management but it was well worth it. To this day I always appreciate how well it works and how good it sounds.

Looking forward to 1.8 and hopefully continued growth for the company.

 

Honestly my roon has been behaving strangely although I'm.not sure it isn't my Ropieee.

Got to be honest and say I'm sick of wireless issues and can't put a wire in the wall.

 

Very excited about 1.8. Today’s pt. 4 email makes me excited about what they have done for classical! The improvements to Focus look fantastic. I am sure there will be a way to turn it off and just scan local library (at least through a bookmark.

Great software, and I am glad to be a card-carrying lifer.

 

Are you new to Roon?

 

Not really, I have used it for about a year. Several months ago I added the Roon Nucleus to my setup and Roon is now my primary listening source.

 

Kind of hoping in this big update that they get a new influx of editorial content and get rid of that Steve Thomas Erlewine guy. He pops up on like 75% of the records I own, and poops on every one of my faves

 

@trickness Steve Thomas Erlewine is a critic for AllMusic.com. The commentary in roon isn't written by roon employees- the roon application just scrapes biographies from allmusic and displays them in the app.

 

I'd love to see a feature where you could export a playlist or section of your library to an external player like an Astell & Kern or a SD card for a Portable Player for offline use.

Maybe an option to "fill up available space" with your most listened to music.

 

I am absolutely aware of that. I just wish they would get better editorial content - All music guide has been around for ages supplying this kind of information to every site on the Internet, and the quality is fair to middling. Given how expensive the app is it would be nice get get better editorial. And honestly this particular writer is often very dismissive even about really classic, excellent records

 

Mine too, four years later.

 

Totally agree with this. Roon needs to improve on its editorial content. The one they scraped from AllMusic had me rolls my eyes most of the time.
I know it’s impossible to write content like that by themselves, but to have something from publicly available website display it in a nicer format.. I think it’s kinda lazy move.

 

I'd guess Roon is focused on the app, sound quality, functionality, compatibility, feature set, UI, partnerships with streaming devices and services... I don't think they have any desire to be in the music-critic business.

On STE, do you have some examples of things you like that he doesn't? That's the thing with lots of music out there... there are critically acclaimed records, and things that are fan favorites -- and sometimes the twain don't meet. Or maybe it's just that your tastes and this guy's tastes are wildly different!

 

It has indeed been around for ages, pre-web even. You reminded me of how filled with awe I was in ‘92 or ‘93 when a classmate in university showed me how to use the school’s mainframe to ‘telnet’ over to umich to access the all music guide as a ‘guest’. Amazing to have that reference even if some of the reviews were snarky.

I recall Microsoft once licensed the reviews from Q Magazine for a music CD-ROM offering. Now that Q is defunct, I wonder if their archive is still available for licence?

 

honestly I don’t wanna read any criticism about any of my records. Just give me the metadata of who played on them, when it was released, any factual background or historical perspective from the time, I don’t need some self appointed critic to tell me that my record is lame while I’m listening to it.

 

Have you looked at Powerline Ethernet? I had the same problem in my two-room apartment and bought two units. You just plug them into electrical outlets in each room, connect Ethernet cables to them (plugging one into your router), and you've got your network connected via your electrical wiring. The only caveat is that the electrical outlets must be connected to the same circuit.

 

Unless there was some sort of super early adopter discount, I think the cheapest lifetime has ever been was $499. I got in at that price about 6 months before they raised it up. I've been paying annually since it just came out, and don't remember seeing a $150 price ever; paying annual was like $120/year so if there would have been a lifetime option for just $30 more, I absolutely would have jumped on that.

Maybe for beta use or something, but I remember picking it up right out of beta. Don't beat yourself up too badly

 

honestly I think the problem with using AMG the way Roon does is that the content is in the form of a critical review, by one person. It’s not aggregated, like from a variety of sources so you get different insights, you’re stuck looking at a review from some person and if they don’t like the record every single time you listen to it you have to see this crappy review. I don’t want Roon to review my records - it would be better if it was presented like Metacritic reviews where you see an aggregated score from 10 or 15 different review sources.

But honestly I think it would be fare more useful if there was some kind of overview of the record including historical photographs, interviews from the time it was released etc. - and ideally, that would be regularly updated, not static.

 

Well, the data you're looking for is all there, either in "album info" or "credits"... ("Album info" is a separate tab only on phones/tablets... it's on the main screen in the desktop versions)

If you go to allmusic.com, you can see there are quite a few different reviewers (Erlewine, Collar, Jurek, Deming, Thomas, Phares, etc...), but I'd guess that certain reviewers focus on specific genres/subgenres -- and that's why you're seeing the same people reviewing the albums in your library.

I find them interesting, and i think there's a lot of cool info in the review. Backstory, personnel, relationships, etc... But I certainly don't let them make me feel bad about my music if I disagree with them.

Could request a feature I suppose: "Hide All-Music Reviews" but I'd suggest simply not reading the reviews if you're offended by them. (Yeah, i know that's a simplistic answer, but still.)

I agree with you, though, that more photos, if available for an album or session... or links to videos/documentaries, etc... would be super cool.

 

yeah, I don't let it bother me- the allmusic entry for my band isn't nice! lol

 

We may be stuck with their review, but we aren’t stuck with their star rating. It is gratifying to read the album review then say “oh yeah? Well take this!” And add a couple stars.

 

I know where the other information is and I look at it all the time, but it’s not really presented in an “entertaining” way. And it could be.

 

Well tomorrow is the big day and looking forward to the update!

 

Yeah I am too. I’m a little bit worried about bugs and everything working properly with my nucleus, fingers crossed the update doesn’t put the kabosh on anything!