[jjav]

That seems like an unfair characterization.

The squeezebox ecosystem is my go-to example of how to do it correctly and build a product that respects the consumer.

The server is open source (just a bunch of perl) and freely distributed. It runs locally and the players don't need internet connectivity. It can never be obsoleted or killed because everything is local.

Sure, the company has long, long-since discontinued the product so they aren't developing updates. That's fair. But they also don't (and can't) do anything to disable existing functionality.

I have many squeezebox systems (including a transporter) scattered around the house and they work great, just as they did in 2003 when I bought the first one. More importantly, they will never stop working (other than hardware failure, but I have many spares).