Since its release, ARC has been in a constant state of motion, which makes sense given its dynamic Roon on-the-go character. Each new update has added subtle tweaks, expanded functionality, performance enhancements – and, in many cases – bold new features completely unique to ARC.
It’s no wonder music lovers can’t live without it – it’s the only way to take all your favorite music and Roon’s best features with you wherever you go. Our latest ARC release continues this exciting momentum. We’ve got even more ways to play, engage, and reconnect with your music library, a range of new download enhancements – and an electrifying, highly addictive new Smart Downloads feature that’ll choose a rotation of your local music files for you. So you can spend that time listening to music instead!
Here’s a quick checklist of new release features we’ll cover; read on for more details:
- New Play Now and Shuffle play-actions for ARC’s Albums, Tracks, and Downloads tabs
- Download speed acceleration
- Download quality settings
- Background downloads
- Bulk downloads
- And most exciting, Smart Downloads!
Away we go!
Rediscover your music collection with new Play Now and Shuffle features
Our new Play Now and Shuffle additions satisfy one of our most frequently seen customer feature requests! We agree 100% with our customers’ feelings on this one; the more ways to play or shuffle everything, the better!
There’s something hugely satisfying about shuffling a carefully curated music library. There’s no way to predict what favorite or lost jewel from a dusty corner of our collection might come next. Shuffle is a simple, incredibly effective, entirely spontaneous way to reconnect with our music.
Play now works similarly but potentially more precisely – depending on how you use it. You can navigate to the Albums, Tracks, or Downloads tabs and play everything. Or, you can combine Play Now and Shuffle with ARC’s favorites, tags, filters, or sorting features to hone your browser lists to your specific desires. Play the list in order or create a carousel of sound. Like all things Roon, the choice is yours!
These engaging new play actions work for all ARC users, whether your music is streaming only, all local files, or a mixture of both. Even better, use them with Carplay and Android Auto on your next music journey.
Expanded download features provide more choices and increased flexibility
There are a lot of factors involved in how quickly ARC grabs your download selections, from the size and format of the album or playlist you’re pulling to the nature and speed of the Wi-Fi network or data connection you’re using to do it. Then there’s ARC’s side of the equation.
Many who rely on ARC’s download capabilities asked if there was something more we could do on our end – so we’ve added a suite of new downloads superpowers to make the entire experience better. We’ve done some work under the hood and are pleased to report we’ve doubled local library download speeds! We also realize that data rates can be expensive and mobile device storage space is precious, so we’ve introduced download quality options – another frequent customer feature request.
Background download enhancements have been on our radar for a while. Now, Android downloads will process in the background. On iOS, due to the tricky way these tasks are handled, downloads will operate at a reduced speed when the app is in the background. For best results on either platform, keep ARC open and in the foreground for downloads to finish processing whenever possible.
We’ve also gotten user requests for a way to grab a bunch of stuff from a local library all at once. So, we’ve added a new bulk download feature. Like Play now and Shuffle, you’ll find it in the elippsis menu of the Albums, Playlists, and Downloads tabs. Combine it with favorites, tags, filters, and sorting to further hone your download queue to a more precise list of must-have music, and then grab it all with a single click.
Introducing Smart Downloads: Say goodbye to the tyranny of choice and hello to dynamic listening possibilities
The tyranny of choice is real! Anyone who has stood frozen with indecision in the condiment aisle of their local grocer, held a menu with the thickness of a dictionary, or had a mental short list of “albums to buy” suddenly vanish from their memory the moment they stepped into a music store can relate to this. Too many options can be overwhelming.
Selecting local music to download in ARC is no less plagued by this debilitating phenomenon. It’s the musical equivalent of choosing a favorite child. Luckily, Roon knows your music and what’s been happening in your local library – that knowledge allows us to build ground-breaking new features like Smart Downloads.
Smart Downloads generates a medley of listening possibilities for you, saving you from indecision and leaving you more time for listening. It’ll pull recently played favorites and new discoveries, stuff you’ve had on heavy rotation, your go-to playlists, and forgotten gems you haven’t spun in a while. And it’ll rotate that selection weekly to keep things interesting.
To fire it up, connect to Wi-Fi, hit the Smart Downloads bolt icon, give it some storage space, select your download quality, press enable, then the Downloads tab to watch it grab a rotation of your favorite music and some you’ve forgotten.
Press the download progress or Smart Downloads menu icon for even more options and control! For more details and an in-depth Smart Downloads how-to, check out our Knowledge Base article. Smart Downloads provides yet another exciting new way to reconnect with your local music – and it’s only available in ARC!
Conclusion
We hope you’re as excited as we are about ARC’s new features! At Roon, we’re committed to continually improving our product and making it the best music experience possible for all our users. With these new updates, we’re confident you’ll have even more ways to rediscover your music library and enjoy the benefits of Roon ARC’s innovative technology.
ARC is included with every Roon subscription. Still not using Roon? See what all the excitement is about with a free 14-day trial!