When we rolled out our initial batch of playlist feature improvements in February of this year, we hinted at more great things to come. Today, we’re excited to deliver the goods and a solution to one of music streaming’s biggest annoyances. In the spirit of naming a trusted, reliable tool after its job, we’ve branded our new playlist feature Playlist Improver. It’s short, simple, direct, and awesome. It’s also a dream come true for Roon’s dedicated playlist creators.
Our Playlist Improver earns its name by instantly remedying unavailable and duplicate tracks in your lists or upgrading songs with higher-quality selections or the primary version in your library. You can approve and save changes to playlists of all sizes with just a few clicks or review and savor each suggestion individually. Like all things Roon, the choice is yours. We’ve even given it a cool twist for added flexibility that we’ll cover below.
Read on for a how-to and more details!
The music gods sayeth let there be streaming
And then the lawyers arrived. Who are we kidding – after that whole Napster rumpus, the suits were on high alert!
Seriously though, as inveterate music lovers… music streaming genuinely feels like a priceless gift from the music gods. Anyone who nursed a hopeless vinyl, cassette, or CD buying habit in the days of physical media will attest to it wholeheartedly. Monthly access to hundreds of millions of CD, or better, quality tracks for less than the price of a forgettable fast food lunch is eternal fodder for our daily gratitude lists. It’s an inexhaustible wonderland of audio-sensory delights. When you combine streaming with Roon, the adventure never ends. Everything you need to journey deep into the heart of music is at your disposal.
But streaming also has a downside… we rent our streaming libraries. As a result, our albums, compilations, remixed singles, expanded reissues, and super deluxe box sets are perennially susceptible to the cruel, unpredictable, and obscure legal whims of streaming rights.
Music in our Qobuz and TIDAL accounts can disappear without a whimper or be surreptitiously replaced without our knowledge. We’ve all experienced it, high-resolution versions appear and evaporate, bonus tracks vanish and return, random tracks in compilations are obliterated, and soundtracks are rarely intact. It’s a mess and a constant source of anxiety. We could start a support group!
It’s certainly created a pain point for Roon’s playlist creators. Roon’s treatment of your library is the polar opposite of what we described above. Roon respects the sanctity of your library choices and never replaces or removes them on the sly. Before today, that could negatively impact playlists. When tracks in your playlists disappeared from streaming, they acquired a red marque indicating their unavailability. And when those tracks went missing our ears immediately detected their absence.
You heard it too: You’re digging a favorite playlist, and suddenly, it jumps ahead several tracks. You check, and sure enough, the moths of music-streaming rights have bitten holes in it. You have to stop everything and search for a replacement track. And if you’re a music obsessive, choosing an alternate can take time. (Hint: You use Roon – you’re a music obsessive.) Frustrated and opposing voices rang out: some folks asked us to just insert a similar version, and others swore havoc and wrath if we even considered it.
Now, there’s a solution that works for everyone. Our new Playlist Improver lets you quickly address those annoyances and adds some cool tricks that our playlist curators will love.
Playlist Improver, do your stuff!
When you open a playlist, Playlist Improver scans it for potential improvements with supercharged speed and instantly detects tracks that can be enhanced.
If improvable tracks are found, the Improve button will appear directly under the playlist title and indicate the number of track suggestions you can review. Simply click the button to see the Playlist Improver menu and the number of choices available for each option.
You can improve:
- Unavailable Tracks: repairs missing tracks in your playlist using Roon’s metadata engine to search for replacements from streaming services or your library.
- Upgrade Quality: recommends higher quality versions of songs in your playlists from streaming services or your library.
- Remove Duplicates: checks for multiple copies of the exact same track and removes the duplicate.
- Match To Library: matches tracks in your playlist with Primary Versions in your library.
Cool twists: The Upgrade Quality and Match to Library tabs allow you to sample your lists with higher-quality versions or the primary version you’ve assigned in your library and choose the option you like best. Swapping between them will refresh the Improver button to indicate the number of tracks with higher-quality versions when using Library Matching and vice versa. That means you’ll likely see Improver suggestions shortly after upgrading a playlist. Don’t worry—it’s part of the fun!
When you select a menu option, Roon highlights the improver suggestions in the playlist. Use the arrow buttons to move through the suggestions, and click the individual tracks to toggle between the upgrade and the version currently in the playlist.
Playlist Improver lets playlist perfectionists click the album title to view the album and play recommended tracks to inspect each suggestion more closely. We also added a new Format column for playlists to provide more detailed format information about quality upgrade recommendations – you can enable it in the column settings.
Once you’ve selected your desired changes and are happy with everything, click Save to update your playlist. Then, bask in the sonic splendor of your renovated tracks!
Conclusion
We’re always excited to deliver new features that meet your needs, respond to your requests, and go the extra distance to ensure that Roon continually provides unparalleled music browsing and listening enjoyment.
Our new Playlist Improver remedies the frustration caused by shadowy streaming rights forces that cause content volatility and makes managing and curating your playlists effortless and fun again. It adds some cool flexibility specially designed for music fanatics and audiophiles who like to critically A/B tracks while listening for every minutely improved detail. Playlist Improver is your personal virtual assistant that makes playlist crafting a more exacting, enthralling, and exhilarating experience.
And it’s our gift to you for using Roon. As always, we thank you for being part of the Roon Community. Still not using Roon? See what all the excitement is about with a free 14-day trial!