Why are you bickering with me about it? I don't appreciate people asking questions in bad faith just so they can make a spicy comment. Think I like it?
There are choices, it's just they all suck unless you're willing to move. Nobody's arguing that it is a local semi-monopoly.
There's other options, but they're all MUCH slower. If you want a different ISP with comparable or faster speeds, you need to move. In my case, internet is bundled with HOA fees. And there is no other fast option available at my address anyway.
It's not a full monopoly. You can choose another ISP, but it's just that in practice you'd need to physically move to a new location to make that change of vendor.
Yes, I've done almost exactly this while traveling. You can even carry around a couple variously configured sd cards for different use cases. I had one with jellyfin for sharing locally and also Kodi for direct HDMI connection to TVs. There is a in app on Android for jellyfin called findroid that allows offline copies from the media server, which allowed me to not need the thing powered the entire time I wanted to watch something on my phone, just long enough to download it. Adding samba shares adds a other layer of accessibility. I had another SD Card with video game ROMs for retro gaming, but this one got left at home because it requires controllers and I didn't think I'd use it that much. I had another with "little backup box" installed for automatically backing up my photos and videos after a day out exploring with my camera.
I used a Raspberry pi 5 for all of this, running from a battery backup, because I didn't really need a keyboard once I had remote connections to my phone sorted out. Pick a rugged case and you case just toss it in your bag of chargers. It took up about as much space as a pack of cigarettes. Another option would be the Raspberry Pi 400, built into a keyboard. A little bulkier, but maybe more resilient in the face of technical difficulties.
Oh yeah, I totally support the local copy. That will save you in times up hardware failure or fuck ups. I could just never keep up with the maintenance and kind of gave up making automatic backups and syncing. But reorganizing often translates to integrating deletions into rsync or whatever syncing protocol you use, and that has caused me headaches and heartaches.
Yeah, that was a typo. Thanks, I'll fix it.
I have a very similar setup to yours, a relatively large music library around 1.7TB of mostly flac files on my server. I'm able to organize these files locally from my laptop, which at various times has run either OSX, various GNU/Linuxes, or Windows. However I do not bother pushing the files themselves back and forth over the network.
Even if I did, I wouldn't automate the syncing, I'd only run it manually after I'd done my organizing with Picard for that day. After all, it the organization with Picard isn't automated, why should the syncing be? I'd probably use rsync for this.
In actual practice I do this: Connect to my server from my laptop using ssh, forwarding X. Run Picard on the actual server through this remote connection. Picard runs just fine over ssh. Opening a browser from a Picard tag for occasional Musicbrainz.org stuff is a little slower but works. I would then use a tmux or screen session to run the rsync command when I'm done with Picard for the day for syncing to a backup if necessary.
I don't really bother keeping a whole copy of my music collection locally on my laptop or phone though, since It's been bigger than is practical for a long time. Managing multiple libraries and keeping the two in sync turned into such a hassle that I was spending more time organizing than actually listening (or making mixtapes/playlists). To listen to my music locally I've used either Plex or Jellyfin, sometimes MPD (like when my server was directly connected to my stereo receiver), or just shared the folder via samba and NFS.
There's a bit of a difference though between those computer driven iterative digital numerical methods and an analog continuous geometric object. It's like comparing pixel density and film grain. At a fine enough precision they become difficult to distinguish, but they are not the same. You could definitely use iterative methods to build a "continuous" solver at an arbitrary precision. We pretty much have to do it that way for any signficantly complex function.
Sorry, this comment got away from me and feels kind of incoherent now. I'm just trying to say that analog and iterative digital methods have subtle differences that one should remain aware of.
The same way 90s kids learned to dress like earlier generations. We learned it from the movies and TV reruns. We learned to dress like 50s greasers from Grease. We got our 60s and 70s hippy fashion sense from Cheech and Chong.
Grungy Hacker chic: See movies like Hackers (duh), Strange Days, The Matrix, Fight Club, The Crow, Blade, The Fifth Element, Tank Girl, etc. Tight fits. (You can spot the squares in this aesthetic by their baggy tracksuit fits). Lots of dark and dirty retro futurism stuff. Deliberate splashes of vibrant colors if anything other than black. Lots of strange materials you wouldn't normally consider clothing. Did they literally pick that accessory out of the trash? Maybe. Eyeliner on everyone, even the boys, especially the sad boys. Big black boots.
For more normal stuff, see the fashions in Weekend at Bernies, Wayne's World, Airheads, Bill and Ted's Excellent and Bogus Journeys, Go, Mallrats, Chasing Amy, Clerks, Friday, Point Break, My Cousin Vinny, White Men Can't Jump, Bad Boys, Clueless, Empire Records, etc. Lots of baggy fits. Lots of flannel, usually layered over a T-shirt. Ripped Jeans. Mostly muted subdue colors, with occasional splashes of virbancy, like a loud tie on a brown suit. Big and often long hair on the boys (and no beards). Sneakers. Tracksuits. Typing this out, these styles seem way too real and not all that exaggerated.
And then very briefly, there was a flash of retro swing revival and everyone wanted to dress like Jim Carey in The Mask.
I guess younger imitators might try to throw all these styles in a blender and see what comes out. Flannel Goths. Bubblegum Neon Hackers. Zoot Track Suits. Ripped Jeans and literally garbage. No clothes at all, just rocking boots and their cyber deck/stim-suit like a princess from Mars as written by William Gibson.
Have you ever worn chainmail without an undershirt? Or gambeson? It feels neat at first. Never had to worry about pinching. It didn't grab any hair. The metal will feel cool and smooth all night. But oh Lord, the awful pain it will bring to unprotected virgin nipples. Like surfing for a hundred years without a rash guard all in one hedonistic night concentrated on the area less than two dimes. NEVER AGAIN. A couple bandaids or pasties the next time and all is good.
I think you'll be fine with just a top sheet between you and the chainmail.
It's not all that bad. Ever done body work on a car with bondo fill, grinding, drilling, and sanding? It smells, sounds, and vibrates just like that, but in your mouth. The drugs will work, unless you take drugs like weed recreationally. Go ahead and tell the dentist this because you will need more than normal. Follow all the dentist instructions, especially about icing afterwards and taking ibuprofen (not for the pain, but to reduce inflammation), even if you feel okay. The worst part for me was always how sore my jaw was just from holding it open so long. Don't try to go to work afterwards, it'll just interfere with your aftercare of ice to the jaw. Besides, you'll just end up drooling on yourself. It's not so bad really. You'll be fine.
Short simplified answer: nobody wants to pay for the infrastructure. Especially in the last mile. There's probably a Planet Money episode about it. If not, there should be.