Us Baby Boomers have experienced the best music and cars. I am 60 and music is huge part of my life. At 22 years old I was cranking serious rock and roll in my 70 SS 454 460 HP Chevelle. I lived the movie Dazed And Confused 
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The reason I didn’t and won’t go lifetime is the shortfalls on Classical music . I still debate at renewal time whether to do it , I am doing the analysis now for December
I agree mathematically you are right but I still have a love hate relationship with Roon
I missed the 499 boat and at age 70, 6 year payback seems long , I am fit and well but ?
The situation with Box Sets remains unresolved and I maintain a legacy system to overcome this as well as other shortfalls
I could go on but it’s all been said elsewhere hence why my advice above was don’t paint yourself into a corner with Nucleus/ Lifetime
It doesn’t hurt to pay annually ( or monthly) like I do with most other aspects of my life.
I suspect life won’t be around much longer
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It’s in the terms and conditions that distribution of ROCK by vendor’s without Roon Lab’s permission is not permitted. See this post from Danny for the background.
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@JohnD wow 45 posts and only 2 from you the TS…hope we haven’t scared you away 
As you can tell lots of passionate folks here to help offer suggestions.
Maybe you can detail your current computer setup, networking and DAC options etc and we can focus a little better on some guidance.
Is that “Terms & Conditions” page the most hidden part of the Roon Labs webpage? I can’t find it anywhere without using your link or google. Also not sure it’s worded specifically enough from my experience with (getting help) writing these things for them to hold up they must be specific and also packaged with the product. Maybe they are, but seems very hidden in that case. Nothing when I download the ROCK software or on that, almost by design, confusing page. 
For me this is in line with the original post by @JohnD
Seemingly strange economic reasoning from a software vendor, that at the same time limits their reach as a software vendor. Unless they have multiple examples of misuse I don’t see the point – only to sell more Nucleus (with old fashioned business model). Anyway, too bad I guess. But not my problem thankfully. 
In Roon, go to Settings > About and there are the links to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Conditions - just above the Copyright Information section…
Yes. And how did that answer anything? So if I install ROCK on a NUC where do I see and agree to these? It’s still very hidden “online”.
Sounds like a suggestion for Roon Labs to add a link to these pages either in the ROCK KB article or the ROCK Install Guide (or both). How about it, @mike ?
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Hi, thanks for all the replies.
What I was trying to say is that I’m not interested in any DIY project. At this point in my life I want plug and play. I cut my grass and shoveled snow for 50 years and now I have someone do it for me. I don’t paint or change my oil anymore. I know I can setup a NUC if I put my mind to it but I’m not interested. I just want to listen and read. Think about what kind of PC you could build for $1500 and what you could do with it. Some companies sell high and sell low volume and some companies sell low for volume and look for subscriptions. Roon wants it on both ends, the hardware and the software. Many companies like Gillette sell their razor handles cheap because they want you to buy their blades. If Roon sold their Nucleus for $500, their subscription rate would go way up. I guess I don’t like their business model, my loss. I’m sure I’m not the only one who feels this way. Thank you.
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Yup.
It’s the old adage: ‘You pays your money, you takes your choice!’
Hi John. Of course it’s a personal choice, but Roon is not that hard to get running on your own with gear you likely have, or would have to buy to use with any digital collection. Consider that instead of a burden, it will be a journey that is educational and interesting. Digital audio gear is pretty cool stuff to play with! Especially when combined with big, heavy, black, handled amps from the 1980s!
As before, I will advocate for getting an up to spec Lenovo or Dell small form factor PC for about $700. It comes with Windows and is ready to use out of the box. Installing roon core or server takes no more than a few clicks on the roon website. No expert knowledge required.
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Why can’t you use it on a computer you already have? That is what the majority of users do.
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Bridges and servers and DACs, Oh My! Yeah. Roon sounds pretty daunting when you are trying to get starter info. I made my move when I saw it’s compatible with Airplay.
I’m using Airplay, my Windows machine(16 Gb memory) to run Roon Server with iTunes as the repository. I use an iPhone and iPad to run the Roon client. Have been pulling CDs into iTunes using lossless encoding for years to play on my iPhone.
So far I have spent ~$40 for two used Airplay (1264) devices from eBay plus a one year Roon subscription to try it out. It’s unfortunate that Roon won’t interface with Amazon Music Unlimited, but so far I’m pretty happy.
Streaming, in general, has changed how I listen to music. And I’m getting full CD quality delivered to my stereo system. In my informal A-B tests with my CD player, I don’t hear a difference.
For my small collection of SACDs, I still plug those into my Blu-ray player…
This comes down to one line from the original post. It is too expensive. I thought so too and didn’t buy Roon after my first trial. But I did recognise that streaming was what I wanted to do and I did re-assess the necessary spend after looking at alternatives. I built a NUC (Nucleus didn’t exist) because I had nothing else in spec at home. Today there are options out there to buy devices ready assembled for a lot less than a Nucleus. And to be honest a bit of DIY shouldn’t be a barrier to the pleasure a well sorted solution brings. But that is down to the OP to decide.
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Sorry guys, I’m just not interested in a diy solution. One of the things I found attractive is a nucleus with an internal drive and a cheap cd attached to get all my cds onto the drive. I also listen to a lot of vinyl Plus my Bluesound works fine too.
Today is RSD, buy some vinyl, it has superior sound to streaming in my opinion. It’s warmer, seductive and brings back memories of high school. My senior class took a trip and someone with a battery powered turntable played the Beatles white album as we all sang along to Rocky raccoon. Nice memories.
Thank you.
Since we’re stating ages here, I’m 67. However, I’d rank high on the scale of computer literacy, since computers have been a hobby most of my life. When I was looking for something to run Roon in my second home in another country I bought a reconditioned i5 laptop for $200. It has Windows 10, 8 gigs of memory and a small SSD. It’s been working well as a cheap, dedicated Roon core for three years. I attached a cheap external drive for my library, although I generally stream with Tidal and Qobuz these dates.
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It is too expensive, but that’s the price, and there’s still no comparable alternative. A little technical DIY aptitude dulls the pain. Having said that, support is first class.
Bizarrely my objection was to an annual subscription.
I thought it was “you pays your money and you takes your chances”. 