Great to hear you switched. I just switched from Windows 10 to Linux Mint. I had actually used Ubuntu circa 2007-2009, but switched to Windows because it was just easier. I never really loved Ubuntu. Linux Mint seems amazing so far. Very intuitive and user friendly. I can see non techies in my family using it on their Windows 10 machines later this year.
I still use bandcamp a lot. Rip CDs I get from other artists directly. Rutracker for stuff that’s unavailable from the artist or label. On my PC I use jriver to organize and listen to my digital audio library. I use syncthing to send selected files to my mobile. On my mobile I use SicMu player. This system works pretty well for me and it strikes the right balance - supporting artists when I can, getting a variety of high quality files, not paying for any streaming service, not having physical clutter… and it’s fun to curate my mobile playlist. Feels like the good old ipod classic days.
Sadly, a big part of these (admittedly clever and funny) put-downs is to enforce conformity. Makes it hard to have some degree of self-expression when you know you’re going to face ridicule for the smallest thing.