a remarkably basic question about Roon

Thank you, thyname. That confirms what I've been reading. One of the reasons that I find their website confusing is that they seem to have moved away from the "end point" language and now primarily talk about "apps" and "devices," using the term "Roon ready" to signify a device that can stream Roon.

I think that part of their logic is to cater to multi-room set-ups, which is fine, and to selling their Nucleus, but I personally find it easier to think about Roon as an organizing app that I download on my laptop that will interface with my streamer, either through the laptop or phone, and allow me to control my music. That makes sense to me!

By the way, they're running a three-month trial, so that's got me a bit more motivated!

And thank you as well, kr4. Very helpful! 

I'm sorry about the confusing term "media player." That's the term that Bryston uses for the part of its software program that selects songs, shows streaming rates, and controls volume. It's the face of the interface, if that makes sense. I don't have any video set up. 

Roon. Is. Wonderful.

I wasn’t sure I would like it, and now I can’t imagine not using it. It is so much better, imo, than the interfaces/apps for Tidal and Qobuz. It’s like Wikipedia merged with Tidal/Qobuz, where you have artists, albums, discographies all hyperlinked and searchable. I have found SO much new music and so many new artists by following the rabbit trails from other artists and albums.

Having my ripped music (>600 CDs) stored on my Roon core/server (Small Green Computer), and being able to pull that up, integrated or separately along with my Tidal favorites, and to be able to search by genres and all the other sort criteria, in addition to being able to custom tag, is wonderful. I love being able to pull up the different versions of records (MQA, redbook, etc) and compare.

I am sure I am forgetting things that I love, but I can’t imagine not using Roon. I can’t wait to have other rooms running when I get some Roon-ready speakers or devices. I use a 10" Kindle Fire tablet as my remote control (or the phone in a pinch) and it works great. Oh, Roon Radio is nice too!

@northman : You got this right! The purpose of a Nucleus is though not useless. The idea is to "free" your laptop, and run Roon Core (the server) in a dedicated headless machine that stays always on. You can accomplish this not just via a Nucleus, but also by cheaper solutions, like a NUC or sonicTransporter (from Small Green Computer).

but I personally find it easier to think about Roon as an organizing app that I download on my laptop that will interface with my streamer, either through the laptop or phone, and allow me to control my music. 

Yep, it's a replacement for most media players + internet radio + DSP capacilities which are outstanding.