As a Squeezebox owner, I disagree. Their tech was good, but then the company that made them, Slim Devices, was acquired by Logitech. Everything got rebranded and then... they lost interest.

Which is a shame, but the Squeezbox world was perfect in that hardware and software worked perfectly together and it could integrate with services like Spotify, but you could actually also use it with your own music. Try that now, to have a central multi-room system for audio that is not dependent on external services.

To answer the original question: I don't trust any tech company that tries to blur the lines between physical products and digital services. That is, I don't trust any of them anymore.

Are these the Harmony Remotes that required Silverlight?

The harmony programming software is terrible. Thankfully you only need to fight with it until you get things set up nicely. The kicker for me is the fact that it asks you every time you use it if you'd recommend it to friends and family. I made it a point to say "no" every time.

Harmony remotes are merely the least bad option.

> The new one takes AAA batteries. Bleh.

That's preferable in my opinion, because then you can just keep rechargeable AAA batteries on hand and switch them out. Cheaper than proprietary un/removeable rechargeable batteries, more accessible than those coin batteries. (At least here)