I built a home virtual server host on Proxmox. It destroyed itself 3 times in 6 months. I gave up and installed server 2019 with HyperV. Has been rock solid for years.

If you run windows then try 🪟+. (Full stop) To access an array of ascii emoji.

Torrents are all well and good until you want an album from more than a couple of years ago.

My current workflow. Find a band that I like. Add it to lidarr. Wait 10min. All of their albums are in Plex and can be streamed from anywhere in the world.

Not sure if you mean find recommendations of new stuff to listen to, or the download source? Recommendations from Last.fm Download source is currently Deezer. Lidarr+ scripts has a bit of a learning curve https://github.com/RandomNinjaAtk/arr-scripts

Spotify was OK back when I used it after Google Music died. YouTube Music’s algorithm sucked so I used Spotify for about a year. Then I installed Plex for movies and TV but also found it was also great at streaming music. PlexAmp gives me access to a good suggestion algorithm. I made the decision to give them my $$ instead. Now with lidarr+scripts I can have any music I want with almost zero effort. Plus, as the OP said, I get the fun little side hobby of music curation.