We used a cradle for DS and will be for this baby.. but only because its a family thing and we didnt have to pay for it. Otherwise i honestly dont think its worth the money. I know it wasnt in our case of DS as he was only in it for 6 weeks as he got too big after that.
We also didnt have him in our room. We did for the first night but he made too much noise and we were awake all night. He spend the first few nights in the cradle in the lounge room which is just out our door, and then we just moved him into his room.