A few quick questions on Nucleus

  1. it needs a license (it’s not included) but whether that’s „extra“ depends on your scenario. If you already have one, you can use it. https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/nucleus-manual
  2. Yes
  3. Yes, https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/nucleus-media-storage-and-audio-devices
  4. Yes, https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/faq-what-audio-file-formats-does-roon-support
  5. Yes, but it’s not great. https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/roon-os-cdrom
    See the many existing forum threads about ripping, such as this currently active one: About to start ripping CDs (the search feature on the forum and in the online documentation is your friend)