Popular Post DancingSea Posted November 23, 2019 Popular Post Share Posted November 23, 2019 On 11/22/2019 at 2:45 AM, firedog said: Roon said straight out at their forum that the $500 lifetime was/is a money loser for them and not a sustainable economic model; I write this not as a criticism of Roon, but rather out of software economics curiosity. All the other players in this space, A+, Amarra, HQP, etc have not taken the subscription route. These charge for a license for a given rendition, have free minor updates along the way, and then offer major, optional updates for an additional fee. With Audirvana I paid $74 for 2.6 and paid another $40 to upgrade to 3.5 about 2 years later. The question is why are Roon’s financial needs so much greater than the other software players? Why is a $500, and now $700 for a lifetime license, not sustainable for Roon? Is it because Roon is a larger company compared to the one man bands of A+ and HQP, thus have more mouths to feed? Following the A+ pattern I described above of a 2 year upgrade cycle, it would take approximately 30 years to equal a total of $674 paid to Damien. I use Roon everyday. Roon is a premium product and when combined with HQP, makes an outstanding system. I understand Roon wants to maximize their profit and will charge what the market will bear. I understand that a continual stream of annual fees will make Roon more money. But I don’t understand how a $700 lifetime license fee is specifically unsustainable, or even $500. Roon does seem to have a corporate structure of VP’s, COO’s, CFO’s etc. While HQP and Audirvana have a corporate structure of perhaps a few house pets. And maybe that’s the ultimate difference of why Roon needs more money, to pay the big salaries? It’s an interesting strategic quandary. The low price to get more folks in the tent vs a significantly higher price to get more from fewer. I like Valence and appreciate Roon’s move to incorporate Pandora like recommendations, and the new radio features are interesting, but how much more can really be done to improve Roon in a major way? And it seems they will one day have to move to monthly billing. But isn’t $10/ month about the ceiling for album sorting software? How could they charge more? Seems they need a lot more customers and not yet higher prices. lucretius and blue2 2 Link to comment
DancingSea Posted May 13, 2020 Share Posted May 13, 2020 On 5/11/2020 at 6:21 AM, DarwinOSX said: You use Roon extensively and think it's just album sorting software? Seriously? I have no idea how someone who is an audiophile thinks $119 a year for what you get with Roon is too much money. It's a bargain. I do think Roon is drastically overpriced. I also own a lifetime Roon membership, which I also think is overpriced. And I exclusively listen to music via Roon/ HQP4, and I think HQP4 is overpriced as well. It's possible to think something is overpriced and yet still own, use and respect it. Price is one thing, performance is another. How one correlates the two is entirely individual, there is no right or wrong. Link to comment
DancingSea Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 On 5/13/2020 at 12:29 AM, firedog said: You are obviously free to think things are overpriced, but your opinion isn't really based on anything other than your personal idea of money and value. Roon has stated that the lifetime subscription will stop being offered in the not distant future as it is not a viable economic propostion. Miska will tell you that he's not getting rich off of HQP, and has other work that he does to support himself. If your idea of fair pricing was applied, apparently both products would cease to exist. The whole thing is a matter of personal opinion when it comes to matters of value. There is no right, or wrong answer. Only your own 😉 bobbmd 1 Link to comment
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