Install curl with apt (and not snap)

After switching my desktop to Linux from Windows^[1], I ran into an issue installing Node. The official directions recommend using nvm, but the nvm install 24 command was failing with a lack of permissions:

Downloading and installing node v24.6.0...
Downloading https://nodejs.org/dist/v24.6.0/node-v24.6.0-linux-x64.tar.xz...
Warning: Failed to open the file /home/seanmcp/.nvm/.cache/bin/node-v24.6.0-linux-x64/node-v24.6.0-linux-x64.tar.xz: Permission denied
curl: (23) client returned ERROR on write of 1360 bytes

download from https://nodejs.org/dist/v24.6.0/node-v24.6.0-linux-x64.tar.xz failed
grep: /home/seanmcp/.nvm/.cache/bin/node-v24.6.0-linux-x64/node-v24.6.0-linux-x64.tar.xz: No such file or directory
Provided file to checksum does not exist.
Binary download failed, trying source.
Downloading https://nodejs.org/dist/v24.6.0/node-v24.6.0.tar.xz...

Warning: Failed to open the file /home/seanmcp/.nvm/.cache/src/node-v24.6.0/node-v24.6.0.tar.xz: Permission denied
curl: (23) client returned ERROR on write of 1360 bytes

download from https://nodejs.org/dist/v24.6.0/node-v24.6.0.tar.xz failed
grep: /home/seanmcp/.nvm/.cache/src/node-v24.6.0/node-v24.6.0.tar.xz: No such file or directory
Provided file to checksum does not exist.

The permissions in the .nvm/.cache/ directory looked fine, sudo didn't work, and Claude Sonnet 4 wasn't helpful. I went searching online and found a question and answer from three years ago that recommended:

1. Uninstalling curl with snap: sudo snap remove curl
2. Reinstalling curl with apt: sudo apt install curl
3. Running the nvm/Node install commands again

Doing that fixed the issue for me.

I would have never considered curl as possible source of my issues. So I'm thankful that questions/answers like that exist on the internet.

I think I need to learn about the differences between apt and snap, and why you would choose one versus the other. If you have a good resources for that, please let me know.