Mom, you just don't get it! You don't need a remote to look for the movies! You just gotta ssh into the streamer and run a MPV command! Stop calling every night saying you can't find Happy Gilmore!
This may be overkill, but consider a used Squeezebox Radio and setting up Lyrion Music Server on your network. It uses your music library, along with optional web radio and streaming services. You can control any device from any computer in your network. The SB Radio has a great sound, even 15 years later. It has physical buttons so your kids can choose music without phone/computer. You can get a used Radio for like $30-$40 on eBay, and Lyrion is free and open source
LMS + Squeezelite would be my recommendation! Supports local music libraries, podcast subscriptions, last.fm, web radio, and streaming services! LMS would be the server which runs in the background, and Squeezelite would be the player software. Since LMS is a server, you can have other devices in your network use it too!
Also, I highly recommend the Material Skin. It's not just gorgeous visually, but it adds so many extra useful UI features the stock skin doesn't.
For whole-home audio, be sure to look at Lyrion! Formerly Logitech Media Server, it's now a community-managed project. It's easily the best open-source whole-home audio solution out there
CDs are king, but the cost adds up. A lot of artists I follow are on Bandcamp, which I use to purchase my music. I assume everything I buy there will eventually be removed, so I don't rely on them for archiving it.
But then, there's the piracy route, which I do for a good portion of my library. Rutracker is absolutely fantastic for lossless. Soulseek is solid, but you gotta use it in a smart way for some releases. Some keywords don't turn up any results for some reason. So, to find certain albums/artists, try searching for a particular song, then browse by folder on those results to find full albums, if that makes sense.
Why not use Qobuz or Deezer to rip music? Qobuz-dl and Deemix let you rip FLAC from those services if you have a streaming acct. I use Deemix with my Deezer acct to download a TON of music I cant find anywhere else.
Its a lot of work, I agree. But it's doable. At this point, as services get shittier, pirate. They need to learn that as their services get shittier, people will leave. Give them a financial reason to get better ;)
I honestly just pay for deezer. Any song I want to DL with Deemix for 12$ a month? Absolutely yes. Plus, my wife uses that account to stream on her phone, so it's a win win
Deezer can have better quality than Soulseek, but I've had a lot of success on Soulseek though. If you doubt a DL, you can always spectrum analyze it to check for obvious fake files
These rips, even in FLAC, never contain logs or cues. If you're downloading FLAC for archival purposes, these files are essential. Private trackers and SS are the only way I download music. Scene rips are a waste of my time
Oof ouch my bones