I have formal education, from 1997, which serves nothing for the kind of technologies we’re using now. Even though I work in IT (call center) I’ve had to read a lot on networking to make sense of what I wanted to achieve. I also don’t know anyone else in my office that does this so I’ve been relying on online communities and my failures. I’ve learned so much by failing.

I use Jellyfin but never even thought about it for streaming music.
Navidrome and Symfonium is my choice as well and I could not be happier. I really appreciate that the team behind Navidrome still works on it but it 100% serves my purpose right now.

Accessing from the webpage, if you go to “Settings” > “Home” you can change the sections
This is what i have. “Recently Added Media” shows new additions for each of the libraries you have setup.

I also recommend Wholphin, it’s faster and has better UI than the official Jellyfin app

I’m already 10 years ahead on this. I’m gonna outlive you all

IT worker, close to 50 years old, only ever could afford low-mid range tech, gamer. Been using windows for over 30 years and linux for 8. Linux works better than windows and it allowed me to improve my tech skills beyond a desktop machine.

Don’t uninstall it before you’ve tested cosmic. Just select the Desktop you want to login with, make it default. When you’re comfortable with it, you can think about removing Plasma.

Many have already mentioned tools that I also use and appreciate immensely.
My pick is Steam. I’ve picked up on gaming in the past 2 years and it’s very stable right now. Every game that I have interest in just works, I can install games, including early access or demos without looking at the compatibility or the release date. The download speeds of games are high (imho at least where I’m located, and compared with a PS5). My partner is a heavy gamer and has to yet find a game that doesn’t work on her machine.

My small selfhosted system appreciates this very much. Having Debian as my base OS makes everything easier.

When I started using Linux i knew that i didn’t want Gnome for it’s style so i went with a distro with KDE. I’ve since tried using WM’s or other DE’s but always fall back to Plasma. Best desktop I’ve used in 30 years and i barely change the defaults 🤷

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/MPRIS

In section 2.3 it explains how to use D-Bus and I think OP should use it instead

I went with GitHub. In the end it’s just an OAuth service, to provide identity. It’s not used to gather data on you (just the same we already share by visiting regular websites).
I’m still gonna lookup Headscale and Wireguard because It’s been on my radar.

From what I’ve heard of seen in the Linux community music production on Linux is not easy. There is a fair amount of tweaking to get audio working and connecting instruments.

I’ve once created a profile with about 1500 lines of code for powershell, managing AD at work. It was great to learn, it’s great for scripting and it’s very intuitive (for me at least), I also liked working with objects.
I wouldn’t use it on Linux though, I’m not sure how well integrated it is.
I’m using fish at the moment, desktop and server, and I like it primarily for the functions and the autocomplete

As others have commented, stick with the Mac.
I recommend installing proxmox on it and run the apps you want. You can run pihole in a VM.
Do you need a NAS? Not really, but if you have cash available maybe get a used tower, use the disks you have and install TrueNAS. And this will only cost you max €200

Lot’s of great answers already. I’ll just had my thoughts and hope it helps.
Choosing a Linux distro is fucking hard, but the good thing is that you already have a DE (Desktop Environment) that you like, KDE Plasma (KDE is the community, Plasma is the name of the DE) and it’s my favorite.

1 - Manjaro was my first distro for daily use. I would not recommend it, i don’t think it’s stable enough to get into linux. Would not recommend any Arch based distro.
2 - OpenSuse is an old distribution, but not beginner friendly, so maybe not a good idea to dip your toes into it.
3 - Fedora is well established with lots of documentation, a big community and a 6 month update release model that should give you the newest features very fast while still maintaining stability. I don’t recommend the Atomic distros. If you’ve already installed and it works then stick with it for a while.

There are also the Ubuntu based distros like Kubuntu, KDE Neon or Tuxedo OS. Ubuntu has probably the largest user base, so documentation is abound everywhere regardless of the distro you pick.

You’re already testing out different distros, try to daily drive for a month and read up on what makes them different. In general it’s how to install software, the release model (“Long Term Support” or “Rolling Release”) and the core system. Apps are installed on top of the system and right now come in a variety of formats. I strongly recommend that you enable Flatpak on the distro you chose and use the Discovery app for software management.

Edit: Added “Tuxedo OS”

You might have answered the OP question, and a long standing mine as well. Gonna check this up on my setup

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Font_configuration#Disable_bitmap_fonts
Check out this section. You can enable the fonts you want to have bitmap enabled

https://www.alpinelinux.org/about/ Check out Alpine. Might just be enough for what you want

Could have been disabled by the vendor. My partner has an Acer with the same issue.

I agree.
If you’re going with USB maybe check this list (it’s from 2021, which should serve very well) https://www.fosslinux.com/46681/linux-compatible-wireless-network-adapters.htm