HARMAN Acquires Roon

Bloated?   In what way?     You use what you want and ignore what you don't......There is not currently anything that comes close.

I can't see what it will gain me. My wife thinks what I am using now is hard. At AXPONA my wife tried ROON and she told she hopes I would never buy it. She said she wasn't interested in all the fluff ( her words). She just wasn't what she is interested in it.

When you put Roon on a Tablet like the iPad, It simply works like a menu.  Find what you like and click on PLAY....it simply cannot get ANY EASIER!!!!

Here is an example of why I think Roon is valuable. One track on the five CD collection "Box Of Sin" (a great Edsel collection of "full-length gay clubbing") has a song that is sung by Sarah Jane Morris singing with The Communards.  Roon makes it pretty easy to discover her working with one of my favorite bands well into the next century, the great Pere Ubu! It's her only appearance that I have in a collection of some 11,000 albums.

When you put Roon on a Tablet like the iPad, It simply works like a menu.  Find what you like and click on PLAY....it simply cannot get ANY EASIER!!!!    It's even easier than locating the disc, turning on the CD player, put disc into player hit play....It's about 10 times faster and easier....even to an IT Pro!

1 hour ago, botrytis said:

 

She likes - put a silver disc in - hit play. She does IT for work, she does not want to have to deal with it at home. After 35 yrs of marriage, she has a point. I respect that.

My dearest regards to Gloria! 🤗

People complain about Apple, Google, MS, etc. being snoopy. but Roon, nah. I am sorry, I want to know what it is doing on my network so much. I had two HD's become corrupt because of lax attitude on my part, when I was doing my MS and PhD. I had backups of everything, so I was fine. 

Why does the software need to the constant connection?

ARC is the reason for a network connection.  Roon never required a network connection before ARC.   I got suspended for 90 days from their forum when I made an accusation about having ARC just to gather data on people’s listening habits and the contents of their album collection.    Data has always had a market….but then I got ARC working and appreciated having my entire collection available to me on the road…

16 minutes ago, LarryMagoo said:

ARC is the reason for a network connection.  Roon never required a network connection before ARC.   I got suspended for 90 days from their forum when I made an accusation about having ARC just to gather data on people’s listening habits and the contents of their album collection.    Data has always had a market….but then I got ARC working and appreciated having my entire collection available to me on the road…

My wife used to have her own business and some of her competitors would have done anything to get her customers. They were very loyal to her. So, it is protection of that information that stops us. Just not willing.

I have seen and dealt with some unsavory characters, in my professional career, so I have that also. 

Just me. Ask @DuckToller - we met this summer. It was such an amazing trip. 

18 minutes ago, LarryMagoo said:

ARC is the reason for a network connection.  Roon never required a network connection before ARC.   I got suspended for 90 days from their forum when I made an accusation about having ARC just to gather data on people’s listening habits and the contents of their album collection.    Data has always had a market….but then I got ARC working and appreciated having my entire collection available to me on the road…

I think you responded to my question.

Imho the network usage started after the  Fall 21, the 1.8 release. I've never used arc, but core started to have extensive network usage after that update in my network.

1 hour ago, LarryMagoo said:

ARC is the reason for a network connection.  Roon never required a network connection before ARC.   I got suspended for 90 days from their forum when I made an accusation about having ARC just to gather data on people’s listening habits and the contents of their album collection.    Data has always had a market….but then I got ARC working and appreciated having my entire collection available to me on the road…

Roon had to connect to the mothership to verify your license long before ARC. This was done over the network. 

3 hours ago, botrytis said:

 

She likes - put a silver disc in - hit play. She does IT for work, she does not want to have to deal with it at home. After 35 yrs of marriage, she has a point. I respect that.

Makes sense to me that she doesn't want to do the same stuff she does for work.  My wife does not like/trust computers in general (shopping is the exception 🙃 ), but she uses Roon to listen to her favorite music and make playlists.  People complain about the search function, but she is able to find what she wants.  Once I showed her how to find higher resolution versions, she uses that feature too.  

She still prefers her Logitech Touch as an interface (who wouldn't?), but the "big rig" that is powered by Roon sounds very nice and can play loud when needed.  Different strokes and all that.  

I bought the lifetime subscription long ago, so it is free now.  To me, Roon has always been very good, but it boosted into the stratosphere when it integrated Qobuz.  Those two together have changed how I listen to music.  

The thing I love about Qobuz is you can be reading, talking or browsing about a particular artist or album and literally be listening within mere seconds!!!   I wish buying them on Roon was just as easy as I do like owning the majority of my collection so if Roon ever disappears I will still have my collection that I enjoy. 

26 minutes ago, PYP said:

Makes sense to me that she doesn't want to do the same stuff she does for work.  My wife does not like/trust computers in general (shopping is the exception 🙃 ), but she uses Roon to listen to her favorite music and make playlists.  People complain about the search function, but she is able to find what she wants.  Once I showed her how to find higher resolution versions, she uses that feature too.  

 

She still prefers her Logitech Touch as an interface (who wouldn't?), but the "big rig" that is powered by Roon sounds very nice and can play loud when needed.  Different strokes and all that.  

 

I bought the lifetime subscription long ago, so it is free now.  To me, Roon has always been very good, but it boosted into the stratosphere when it integrated Qobuz.  Those two together have changed how I listen to music.  

I don't use streaming...

I have been a Roon user for 7 years now, I also run a parallel JRiver library. Over the years I have tried most new offerings to no avail.

My only hope is that Roon carries on , yes I have a fallback position but JRiver will never support Tidal or Qobuz so don't ask.

I have had a couple of tries with Audirvana Studio but I simply cannot get on with the UI , there's not much else out there at the moment. JPlay ???

So the answer of what to replace Roon with is still very much up for grabs, maybe even the Naim app for the Uniti Atom or CA StreamMagic , but they really are a few rungs down on Roon

Maybe my TV will go Roon Ready 

17 hours ago, ssh said:

When using Roon, my sT7 feeding a uR into a Bricasti M3 DAC may need a reboot several times a year. That's with nearly 7TB of music pretty much playing music 24/7.

 

I bought in at the original asking lifetime price, $500.00 I think. Right now, Roon is still offering a lifetime subscription for $830.00. I bet the lifetime option will not continue to be offered.

 

Even at that price, even though the system needs to be connected to the internet, it still

remains the best audio investment that I have ever made.

YMMV.

I agree! I bought into Roon at the beginning for a lifetime subscription that cost me $450. A real bargain considering how good Roon is compared to the competition.

14 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Roon had to connect to the mothership to verify your license long before ARC. This was done over the network. 

So does JRiver but once that is done, it never goes back unless you choose auto update, which I don't. 

8 minutes ago, bbosler said:

 

So you don't use streaming because you think your wife's competitors might be able to hack your network and access your customer  database? 

 

You are waaaaaaay  past the point of being "paranoid enough"

 

 

I don't use streaming because artists get almost no money for it as only the top artists get money and it is pennies, but that was discussed in another thread. I would rather pay the artist, like on Bandcamp, than pay for streaming.

If you like streaming by all means use it but, paying money like that - no for me.  This is from 2023.

Tidal pays 1.2 cents per stream and that is the highest average. meaning artists who get more streams get a little more. Streaming lines the pockets of the labels, not the artists.

I'm also afraid. I use Roon for many years exclusively. I keep Foobar2000 as a AIO tool since it allows tag editing and folder browsing. I've bought Audirvana Classic and I stopped upgrading since Jriver 28.

The UNBELIEVABLE integration of local music and Tidal has changed forever my listening. Although I'm Greek and it's far from perfect I enjoy every second at least the English and Classical parts.

BUT now I fear the paywall. Crippled editions, XYZ exclusive to the brands etc. Roon has become a big player in audio and I don't think that they will let that advantage.