A few years back my sister sent me a digital internet radio as a
christmas present. I quickly made use of it since I like internet
streaming radio, and it was convenient to plug it into the main stereo
system.
Problem was, to configure it I had to log into a cloud server. but I
was able to set up a domain that resolved to an RFC1918 address on my
LAN, and play my own stuff from my private stash with playlists and
whatnot (rather than just on the computer).
I did this for years.
Late last year, however, things started to misbehave. The menus on the
radio all changed, and then it started re-connecting to the wifi, even
while playing music from my local LAN (causing irritating
interruptions). I knew it was a problem but thought it was WIFI
interference. Turns out it was WORSE... and I only recently found out
when searching for something else.
The company who made them, Grace Digital, <
https://gracedigital.com/>,
no longer had a contract with the 3rd party cloud supplier "Reciva".
And so, as a result, "Grace Digital Internet Radios manufactured between
2007 and 2017 will stop working" but they "graciously" (NOT) offered a
whopping 30% discount for a NEW radio that does not have this problem. Wheeeeeee.
https://swling.com/blog/2020/11/grace-digital-internet-radios-made-between-2007-and-2017-will-stop-working/
https://swling.com/blog/2020/11/the-reciva-internet-radio-station-aggregator-closing-down/
I suggested they take over the web service themselves, purchase the
domain, and 302 it to their own servers, update the firmware to use a
different server URL, etc..
The reply was basically an EXCUSE: "we do not have access to their
code" etc. etc.. OK _I_ know that if you SUE them you can get access if
you have already made reasonable offers for it (you know, PAY UP).
and SOMEONE out there has the source for the firmware, and all you do is
have them EDIT IT, BUILD A NEW IMAGE, and HAVE END-USERS UPDATE IT!!!
(and it's cheaper than discounts I bet)
So they are basically FULL OF SHIT. I suggest NOT buying ANY "cloud
based" product, EVAR, even as a present for someone else.
Why? THE RADIO IS ONLY A FEW YEARS OLD - 2015-ish - and there is NO
excuse for OBSOLETING a PERFECTLY GOOD PRODUCT LIKE THAT!!!
The CLOUD is *HIGHLY* *OVERRATED* !!!
It seems, though, there WAS a way to hack it, but I would have had to do
it last year.
https://swling.com/blog/2021/03/how-to-give-your-reciva-wifi-radio-a-second-life-before-the-service-closes-on-april-30-2021/
I have to wonder, though, if I can diddle with the DNS on my LAN a bit
and make it work anyway. But it almost seems like too much trouble
without their web site. So I've decided to just use a Raspberry Pi to
do the same thing. (I'll need to order a spare now)
(since a new Grace Digital radio is around $200 or so, and my 30%
discount only drops it to $140, I could get an RPi for a fraction of
that to do the same thing and have it do other cool stuff as well...)
--
(aka 'Bombastic Bob' in case you wondered)
'Feeling with my fingers, and thinking with my brain' - me
'your story is so touching, but it sounds just like a lie'
"Straighten up and fly right"
--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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