[Feature Request] some features from roon

Plex Labs
3

(Post was getting longer than I thought when I once started :slight_smile: )

Message from a Roon lifetimer for many years. Good to read suggestions to make Plexamp even better. Development is going on with Plexamp with almost every month a release, so I am confident more great features will be added soon.

I bought a Plex license earlier this year because of the possibility to use Plexamp when I am not at home.

After that I found myself using Plexamp more and more these months (even with a good looking ARC app released recently) and use Roon at the moment mostly for the internet Radio when at work.
(ARC emptied my cellular credit despite of the configuration only to download music on Wifi :roll_eyes:)

Roon can look overwhelming at first sight and it excels where Plexamp falls short a bit: metadata. But there is often something not working well.

Some annoyances: slow loading sometimes when playing music (local & Tidal and I am sure there is no congestion on my network) though I have a very decent up-to-date network and a fast M1 running Roon, recent iPhone and iPad.
Sometimes it stops playing without a clue even when playing on the M1 where the core is running.
Only looked at Discovery page in the beginning and now I try it this morning, it isn’t even loading, despite a fresh start of Roon.
Sometimes memory usage is going up to 12Gb. Desktop and iOS is crashing frequently or is not reacting for 10 or more seconds.

For now I am giving Plexamp a good try and wait for what is coming in Plexamp (and for what is Roon coming with too).

Because:

  • (edit) Sweet fades

  • it’s fast and snappy on local network, Wifi and even cellular as well

  • it loads and plays music from local and Tidal instantly also when I am in other countries

  • never had a crash

  • I really, really enjoy the Sonic Analysis for similar tracks / albums (very curious what the future brings)

  • I can create smart playlists or collections with proper AND / OR conditions (though I miss the option to select value is empty)

  • when I compare track Radio I like the music Plexamp is playing more to my taste (and Roon is playing mostly from Tidal then, though I have the same track in my library at the same or better quality)

  • search seems fuzzy in Plexamp, try to find Mazzy Starr on Roon and in Plexamp. Countless examples on the forum.

  • I have the ability to set caching next tracks

  • I have the ability to (a certain extent) configure your home screen

  • I can set Track Moods and create Smart lists with Boolean operators (though unfortunately I can not set moods to tracks in Plexamp)

What I really miss:

  • the links between Artists / Bands / Collaborations

  • links to other Artists or Albums in reviews

  • decent tagging support (see Beckfields post: Tag support for ROBUST music library organization) only if I could edit track moods in Plexamp, it would be already be awesome

  • support for Various Artists

  • to stream a Radio station to my Raspberry Pi from Plexamp

What I miss sometimes:

  • option in smart lists to use “Value is empty”

  • genre information when on album level (there is Album Style and Mood but I can’t find it)

  • the interface could get some love here and there (I mean a small round image on the artist page is not attractive)

  • information about the musicians on an album

  • ability to enlarge an image of an Artist or Album

  • Roon sometimes shows other versions of a track

  • a good queue, I am sometimes confused when the Back to is empty and I just have played some music

What I miss, and what Roon does not have too:

  • Playlist folders (and Collection folders). It gets a mess when you have hundreds. I had this well organized in iTunes and am still missing it.

Agreed with @mikesul, at this price level is it a bargain.

4 Likes