Episode 14: You Will Own Nothing

What we cover

• Apple's new Mac Mini with M5 Pro and M6 chip, and the Mac Studio with M5 Ultra that can hit $18,000 (and is it worth that lofty price).
• The state of self-hosted music: PlexAmp goes free, Alex's Navidrome stack, whether Sonos is worth it, and the Apollo CAST-1 for whole-home audio.
• A roundup of favorite IP KVMs (JetKVM, GL.iNet Comet PoE, PiKVM, TinyPilot) versus built-in IPMI/iDRAC for remote server management.
• Sony's latest self-inflicted mess: an AB 2426 lawsuit over "you're only buying a license," and the bigger ownership-versus-licensing fight, the Don't Kill Games movement, and Valve's delisting approach.

First up, Alex breaks down Apple's newly announced Mac Mini with its first M6 chip and the eye-wateringly expensive Mac Studio refresh and whether anyone actually wants or needs it.

Next, we talk about PlexAmp finally going free for everyone, though no one is sure what actually changed under the hood. That leads Alex into a rundown of the self-hosted music stack he's been running instead. From there, the conversation turns to whole-home audio, with Geoff and Adam defending Sonos against Alex and Stephen's high-end audiophile skepticism, and Geoff introducing Apollo Automation's new $30 CAST-1 device, which uses ESPHome and SendSpin through Music Assistant to bring whole-home streaming to any speaker.

After that, the crew compares favorite IP KVMs, including JetKVM, GL.iNet's Comet PoE, PiKVM, and TinyPilot, against built-in board management like iDRAC and IPMI for remotely managing servers and workstations.

Then Geoff walks through Sony's latest self-inflicted mess: a lawsuit over California's AB 2426 disclosure law after Sony argued a "reasonable customer" should already know digital purchases are just licenses. That spirals into a broader debate about ownership versus licensing, the Don't Kill Games movement, Valve's more consumer-friendly delisting approach, and whether the pricey Steam Machine is worth the convenience tax. Alex also shares a fun open-source discovery of a remake of a beloved game, Theme Hospital.

Plus a bonus post show where the gang argues over Steam Deck versus Switch portability, Stephen's fight to get Plex working in Game Mode on his Steam Machine, and cheap Chinese emulation handhelds like the R36S, Odin, and Aya Neo.

Tags: Mac Mini, Mac Studio, Apple silicon, PlexAmp, Navidrome, self-hosted music, Sonos, home audio, Apollo Automation Cast 1, ESPHome, IP KVMs, JetKVM, IPMI, Sony, digital licensing, Steam Machine, CorsixTH, Theme Hospital, Steam Deck, retro handhelds.

Links

• Self-Hosted Music & Home Audio
  • PlexAmp - https://www.plex.tv/plexamp/
  • Navidrome - https://www.navidrome.org/
  • NaviBeat - https://navibeat.app/
  • AudioMuse-AI - https://github.com/NeptuneHub/AudioMuse-AI
  • AudioMuse-AI Navidrome Plugin - https://github.com/NeptuneHub/AudioMuse-AI-NV-plugin
  • ListenBrainz - https://listenbrainz.org/
  • Explo - https://github.com/LumePart/Explo
  • Apollo CAST-1 - https://apolloautomation.com/products/cast-1-audio-casting-device
  • Sendspin - https://www.sendspin-audio.com/
• IP KVMs
  • PiKVM - https://pikvm.com/
  • Sipeed NanoKVM - https://nanokvm.sipeed.com/
  • JetKVM - https://jetkvm.com/
  • JetKVM GitHub - https://github.com/jetkvm/kvm
  • GL.iNet Comet - https://www.gl-inet.com/products/gl-comet/
• Digital Ownership & Sony
  • https://www.cnet.com/tech/gaming/playstation-gamers-sue-sony-over-what-buying-a-digital-game-really-means/
  • https://www.techdirt.com/2026/09/02/sony-tells-courts-any-reasonable-customer-knows-digital-purchases-are-actually-licenses/
  • https://consumer.ftc.gov/consumer-alerts/2024/04/do-you-really-own-digital-items-you-paid/
  • https://law.justia.com/codes/california/code-bpc/division-7/part-3/chapter-1/article-1/section-17500-6/
  • https://arstechnica.com/gaming/2026/07/sony-will-stop-making-physical-copies-of-playstation-games-in-2028/
  • https://kotaku.com/playstation-store-movies-digital-studio-canal-terminator-2000711013
• Game Preservation
  • CorsixTH — Open Source Theme Hospital - https://github.com/CorsixTH/CorsixTH
  • RollerCoaster Tycoon: Wonderworks Announcement - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RollerCoaster_Tycoon_Wonderworks