![]() ![]() Qobuz had 45% year over year growth and just got $11 million in cash, which being that they are a much smaller and more nimble company is going to make a difference for them. Add to this that Amazon is TERRIBLE in the UI department and has shown little propensity for developing desktop apps. It seems like in all these cases, Bezos just wants to be a player, not dominate the market. And if you want to see how incredibly brilliant Jeff Bezos is, check out Blue Origin, they are whipping Space-X’s…oh wait. Sure, we watch some Amazon Prime video, but it’s nothing like HBO, Hulu, or Netflix and they have all the money in the world to throw at it. Amazon’s Fire Tablets haven’t made a dent in iPad sales and Amazon’s phone is dead. Regular folks are on Spotify or Apple Music. Audiophiles haven’t been excited by Amazon. Google just shut down its music service and you’d expect they would have done better. A small streaming box (or PC/Mac) and an iPhone/iPad remote is the future says my crystal ball… I’ll probably stick with Roon + Qobuz for the next 12 mos because it seriously delivers the goods and there is no other option I can find, but I think big changes are coming in the UHD streaming world over the next year. They will also offer all this for 12.99/mo. It is a shame, and cruel, but the nature of big capitalism. If integration does not occur (and it will not if Amazon believes they have a path forward to corner the market), then about 1 year from now there may be a lot of very disappointed people wishing they could get their Roon lifetime subscriptions refunded. I think Roon’s very survival at this point depends on them begging Amazon to permit integration of the Amazon UHD service on their SW platform. They will quickly dominate the UHD music streaming world and Roon will be left with nothing but curating old ripped CD collections and purchased music. I think that if Amazon provides a way to allow their music streaming software to run on a PC/mac connected to a USB DAC and releases an app to control such a “server” remotely (i.e., free Amazon UHD Remote app), they will not need to integrate with Roon or anyone else. ![]() So far I love the Roon UI and all the connected stuff it brings to the experience (lyrics, notes, etc), however US 120/year is expensive on top of already paying 14.99+ for HD streaming. ![]() I suspect that more people will be moving to the streaming-only approach in the future as the quality and selection keep getting better and prices keep decreasing. I have no stored digital music whatsoever. Running everything on a headless mac mini with external USB DAC controlled by an iPad. I am currently on a trial of Roon, Audirvana, Qobuz, and Amazon HD. ![]()
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