Music Server format?

Roon is software subscription ($120 yr) that combines your library with a rich grphics and music database.  It is a player that handles virtually every music file format including high resolution files.  it has powerful yet easy to use features that allow for whole house music systems where different music could be playing ineach room (endpoint) or the same music in every room. Or it could be as simple as running on your laptop with headphones. It can be integrated with a Tidal subscription (10 or 20 mth depending on service). You have hyperlinks between artists, albums, composers with bios and reviews. Roonlabs.com for more info.

Roon is definitely a high fidelity product meant for listeners who want to get the best out of their hifi investment. But, though sophisticated, it is easy to use.  Very powerful features.  

Roon can help manage your library but youll still need to use another piece of software to rip cds.  The Roon community forum is another excellent resource for help from people who are doing or have done what you want to do. I recommend it and if your pc is ready, give the Roon free two week trial a go. At the very least, join the Roon community and start asking questions there.  Start by describing the size of your collection and what you want your server to do. Looking for a multiroom setup or just a great way to listen to your cds sitting in your listening chair and controlling playback with your phone or pad? See you there.

dBpoweramp has a setting for "uncompressed" flac, which is basically wav with really good metadata. I've used this since it was released for Mac. Highly recommended.

......Seems like any on line music purchase requires you purchase entire album even if you only want three tracks.

Try Chandos and Linn.
They allow purchase of individual tracks in an album. :)

Thanks to all of you for replies. Never knew how helpful these blogs could be. Light years of information.
Still lost but at least some really interesting avenues to try.

Awooof

When you get the ripping, formats and playback software sorted there's also the computer's operating system to consider. Windows, for one, does hundreds of things in the background that have nothing to do with music playing. "Stripping out" a Windows install can noticeably improve playback sound quality. You can either do this yourself (daunting at the least) or there are commercial products that will do it. Windows Server 2012 R2 seem to be the preferred OS for this.