Roon 1.8

[Zensō]

I do not think they have cleared the interface. On the contrary. It is more bloated than before. Now the interface is completely smeared with "recommendations" lengthwise and crosswise. I want a simple interface that I can design myself to some extent. If you could opt out of all recommendations, it would have been one thing, but now ROON seems to be on its way to becoming another program where the user is no longer the customer but the product.

I think the algorithms are useful for those who don’t manually manage their libraries (I fall into this category). For those who don’t want recommendations and prefer to manually tag, bookmark, etc., there are better products.

 

[GDK]

I think the algorithms are useful for those who don’t manually manage their libraries (I fall into this category). For those who don’t want recommendations and prefer to manually tag, bookmark, etc., there are better products.

I agree with this. I also think that a lot of the current frustration stems from lifetime subscribers who enjoy managing their collection actively. They see that Roon is moving in the "wrong" direction for them. Those lifetime subscribers also tend to view themselves in quite high regard on the Roon forum. IME.

 

[amirm]

I had a forced update last night so there must have been some bugs.

 

[GDK]

I had a forced update last night so there must have been some bugs.

There was a known large one for certain users whose native language wasn't English. I am shocked that they released it, or at least did not warn people about it. The latest update apparently fixed that.

Normally, Roon doesn't announce updates - they just arrive. However, my understanding is that our friend John Darko had been given an advance beta to trial and apparently he accidentally leaked the proposed release date. What follows is pure speculation on my part: I guess that Roon decided to try to make lemonade out of the situation and decided to do a mini-marketing campaign around it in order to get people excited. Unfortunately, it worked too well and people went crazy with expectations around what was to come and were hugely disappointed. They also gave some users access to the beta last week, and some new issues were raised (like the above bug). Unfortunately, the groundswell behind the update was too big at that point and they were forced to go ahead with the release. They are dealing with the aftermath now... all thanks to Darko...

 

[Zensō]

I agree with this. I also think that a lot of the current frustration stems from lifetime subscribers who enjoy managing their collection actively. They see that Roon is moving in the "wrong" direction for them. Those lifetime subscribers also tend to view themselves in quite high regard on the Roon forum. IME.

Agreed. Roon obviously needs to grow their user base, and the trends in software all seem to be moving in the direction of requiring less hands on management from users. And now with the hegemony of streaming, algorithmic recommendations are more needed than ever (we’re essentially managing a near infinite library at this point). I can understand how this would be frustrating for those who have invested tons of time curating their libraries, but a move in this direction was inevitable IMO.

 

[Mulder]

I think the algorithms are useful for those who don’t manually manage their libraries (I fall into this category). For those who don’t want recommendations and prefer to manually tag, bookmark, etc., there are better products.

I didn´t say it can´t be useful, I said I would like the possibility to opt out. ROON can´t really be compared to any other software. Most other software assume you are using the same computer as a transport as the one you have installed the software. ROON-Core can manage DPS, EQ etc, but the computer hosting the core can be placed anywhere in the home. For playback you only need a small low-powered streamer. There is to my knowledge no other comparable software.

 

[Sukie]

I agree with this. I also think that a lot of the current frustration stems from lifetime subscribers who enjoy managing their collection actively. They see that Roon is moving in the "wrong" direction for them. Those lifetime subscribers also tend to view themselves in quite high regard on the Roon forum. IME.

Looking at the Roon Community Forum you'd think that world ended on Tuesday. I've never seen so many people get upset by the colour purple (and I'm not talking about then novel!).

 

[Mulder]

apart from the new interface, the worst thing about version 1.8 is that it is so full of bugs. Now suddenly an upgrade came today, and now it is no longer possible to connect my DAC that I use at my desk. It has simply completely locked and is now completely unusable. And settings can no longer be made. It freezes all the time.

 

[Mulder]

Looking at the Roon Community Forum you'd think that world ended on Tuesday. I've never seen so many people get upset by the colour purple (and I'm not talking about then novel!).

There is actually a lot of people who also is upset about the bugs.

 

[Zensō]

Looking at the Roon Community Forum you'd think that world ended on Tuesday. I've never seen so many people get upset by the colour purple (and I'm not talking about then novel!).

Yeah, it’s out of control. That forum has always been filled with a lot of complaining, but this week has been over the top.

 

[JohnKay]

I didn´t say it can´t be useful, I said I would like the possibility to opt out. ROON can´t really be compared to any other software. Most other software assume you are using the same computer as a transport as the one you have installed the software. ROON-Core can manage DPS, EQ etc, but the computer hosting the core can be placed anywhere in the home. For playback you only need a small low-powered streamer. There is to my knowledge no other comparable software.

I agree, products / solutions that allow multiroom audio (in sync) + Streaming integration + DSP (per endpoint) + library management are very scarce. I can think of LMS although I have not used it myself. Roon was getting close to being the best but with library management now curtailed, I can see myself potentially reverting to using Tidal on its own with a a few Bluesound speakers / Sonos / Naim. Alternatively I would convert everything to AIFF / ALAC and use the Apple Music app with Airplay 2 all over. Tidal's recommendations and music disovery is not bad at all.

 

[GDK]

There is actually a lot of people who also is upset about the bugs.

Unfortunately, a lot of the legitimate concerns get lost amongst the multitude of complaints from septuagenarians who dislike the font choices, or fact that artists are now shown in circles.

 

[Sukie]

There is actually a lot of people who also is upset about the bugs.

I agree. But simply complaining isn't going to get a person anywhere. So many peopled stating their issue without detailing their configuration. "It's just stopped working" isn't giving Roon's software teams much to work with, but those sort of post have literally clogged up Roon Community (it's loading slowly!).

There are usually a number of simple diagnostic steps that a person can take - e.g. restarts, reinstall of back ups and even uninstall and reinstall of software. A slightly more complex version of the old "switch it off and switch it back on again".

 

[SKBubba]

After a couple of days, my only real complaint is about the broken bookmarks. They finally acknowledged they screwed up and that they are working on a quick fix.

All the UI, discovery, library, etc. changes range from improved to nice to ok whatever to just different to huh?

Otherwise it has (thankfully) been very stable in my setup, it still makes music come out of my speakers when I press play, and I'm especially happy that I can finally use my tablet in portrait mode.

 

[Tanax]

I signed up for a Roon trial to see what the fuss was all about. I think it looks great and I haven't had any problems. I don't have 1.7 to compare with though There are a few things I wish would be introduced but no where near to the level of ugency that people on their official forum is making it out to be.

 

[curiouspeter]

1.8 feels buggy. Or is that a feature?

Hopefully things will settle down quickly. I should have waited before upgrading.

 

[Dj7675]

Yeah, it’s out of control. That forum has always been filled with a lot of complaining, but this week has been over the top.

I am generally surprised when I visit there about just how negative and now much complaining there is. It works very well and since using it I listen to much more music that I ever did. Not perfect of course but fun to use, looks nice and does what I want.

 

[amirm]

Looking at the Roon Community Forum you'd think that world ended on Tuesday. I've never seen so many people get upset by the colour purple (and I'm not talking about then novel!).

I hate to say it but it is bothering the heck out of me too! It is such a sparse white UI and then tons of this one color. Must have been someone's favorite or something.

 

[Sir Sanders Zingmore]

It’s very easy to whinge.
I paid for lifetime Roon soon after it came out.
I was happy to pay for it as it was back then.
There is so much more functionality now than when I bought it. If I was happy then, I'm over the moon now.

 

[Zensō]

I thought it would be interesting to compare the interfaces of Roon, Apple Music, Tidal, and Spotify. I guess it depends upon whether you prefer purple, red, teal, or green.