Alas, Audirvana 3.5 is DEAD - forget about any further updates to it.
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They promised on Facebook to release updates only for “critical broken features”.
These will just be minor bug fixes, if any - no new features whatsoever.
They said "only critical broken features”, so IMO it excludes even minor bug fixes.
And to enjoy new features, one should subscribe to AS.
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For 3.5, Audirvana did not release the bug fix for reading/writing metadata to a 2Gb file in Windows. So, I guess that was not a "critical broken feature’.
Nothing critically broken with this bug.
You want to play 2 GB? Subscribe to AS.
It’s not just the 2Gb bug , there’s a lot of bugs that have been there (and pointed out) from the beginning of 3.5. Roon is not perfect either, I have a couple of tickets (i.e. bug verified and Roon agreed to fix it) in from 2019. There have been many updates since then but no effort to work on these particular tickets. And to give you an idea of the bugs’ simplicity – one ticket involved a display field where they forget to wrap the text like the other fields. Should be a simple fix but Roon has not made any attempt at fixing it in 2 years. This highlights the problem with cottage industry developers. This would not happen at the big software houses.
Roon will probably end by fixing the bugs, unless it discontinues Roon, like Audirvana did with A3.5, and releases “Roon Pro”, or “Roon Studio”, for which the users will need to buy a new lifetime license.
If Roon did that, they would lose a lot of people.
Where will they go? They will subscribe to AS?
Ha Ha.
Actually, in the case of Roon, it’s not just a “lifetime license”, it’s a “lifetime billing option”.
What is that?
It means that Roon will never bill you again.
OK, sure, they won’t bill for that.
They just can say: "As we promised, we won’t bill you for Roon. But from now on, we will just release updates to fix Roon’s “critical broken features”. And for new exiting features, you are welcomed to try our new product: “Roon Studio”.
If Roon lacked integrity, they could indeed do what you say. However, Danny (COO) has already addressed this. Unless, Roon adds some module/feature that requires third party license fees, existing lifetime subscribers will continue to enjoy Roon for its lifetime, for no extra fee.
Danny has also said, “We debate killing it every few months. Nothing will change for existing lifetimes at that point. The only change will be the inability to buy new lifetimes.” IOW, the lifetime billing option may not be offered forever.
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When did he say it? Before or after the release of AS?
AS may give him the idea to do the same.
And what will stop him? Integrity has no legal value. Is there a clause in the user agreement that prevents him from releasing a new product, and keep Roon with fixes to “critical broken features”?
What will do all the people who bought Roon NUCs or Roon’s ready hardware, or set ROCK NUCs, or tagged meticulously their tracks to have a display that only Roon offers?
They will subscribe to Roon’s new product.
What new product?
The concept of lifetime differs between Audirvana 3.5 and Roon. In the case of Audirvana 3.5, a user simply has a regular old license to use that version of the software. Calling it a “lifetime license” is actually misleading.
With Roon, the concept of lifetime means you can continue to use the company’s main software offering throughout the life of the company as they continue to upgrade the software, regardless of the name they call it.
Of course, there is little I can do if Roon pulls a 180 on this. So far, Roon has maintained it’s integrity for the 4 years I have had the lifetime option.
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They can keep “Roon” alive with very little updates and call it “the main product”.
And release a version that will evolve and improve regularly, and call it “our luxury product”.
If there are no legal clauses that prevents the company from doing it, it can happen.
Sure they can do this … if they lack integrity. I cannot stop them.