Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers • Hacker News Board

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#281

Post by bell-cot » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 9:42 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #270

banannaise wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't punish the behavior you want to see. Would we rather they defaulted there? Sure. But it's arguably an even better signal to see that they're willing to listen to their customers even when there is no direct financial incentive for them.

Their financial incentive is negative. They were hoping to force everyone to buy new speakers, driving sales. But if the community is able to get open source firmware to run spotifyd on them, there is a non-zero (not everyone, but it's non-zero) amount of people that will just not buy new speakers from them.

> Their financial incentive is negative. They were hoping to force...

Maybe?

People stuck with Bose bricks might show a preference for non-Bose replacements.

People who thought Bose speakers would stay useful longer might prefer Bose, or be willing to pay for a more expensive Bose speaker model.

(Yes, I agree that some PHB's at Bose were almost certainly imagining that their customers would be forced to re-purchase Bose speakers. I'm questioning the validity of their initial assumptions.)

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#282

Post by FredFS456 » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 9:50 PM UTC

gaudystead wrote: post #213

FredFS456 wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I bought one just this week because of this. They really went above and beyond: - mechanical CAD, schematic and PCB files: https://docs.teufel.de/download/MYND/Open_Source_Hardware_Fi... - firmware: https://github.com/teufelaudio/mynd-firmware - Bluetooth API documentation: https://cdn.teufelaudio.com/image/upload/v1748589486/product... - battery repair/replacement guide: https://cdn.teufelaudio.com/products/MYND/pdf…

This is really cool! I'd be curious if one could 3D print different resonance chambers to get different desired sounds from the speaker.

They do have very basic EQ but for sure you have enough documentation to modify the speaker itself if you'd like.

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#283

Post by sjs382 » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 9:52 PM UTC

tw04 wrote: post #252

Wafje wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bose should not receive praise for this move. Bose only took this action after community backlash. In an older version of their end-of-life announcement, most functionality of the speaker systems would have removed and transformed the devices into dumb-speakers/amps. Good that they changed their statement and took the right action. Even better for the community for stepping up and 'forcing' Bose to do so. Sources: ht…

> Bose should not receive praise for this move. Remind me of any other vendor in recent history that end of lifed a hardware product and then open sourced it whether they got backlash or not. Because I can’t think of a single one. So yes, Bose absolutely deserves praise.

Google refunded all Stadia purchases, both hardware and software, after they discontinued the platform/product. Then they added functionality (the ability to operate the controller as a generic Bluetooth controller) afterward to keep the hardware from becoming e-waste.

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#284

Post by monocasa » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 9:54 PM UTC

tw04 wrote: post #252

Wafje wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Bose should not receive praise for this move. Bose only took this action after community backlash. In an older version of their end-of-life announcement, most functionality of the speaker systems would have removed and transformed the devices into dumb-speakers/amps. Good that they changed their statement and took the right action. Even better for the community for stepping up and 'forcing' Bose to do so. Sources: ht…

> Bose should not receive praise for this move. Remind me of any other vendor in recent history that end of lifed a hardware product and then open sourced it whether they got backlash or not. Because I can’t think of a single one. So yes, Bose absolutely deserves praise.

Except the title is wrong; Bose didn't open source anything.

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#285

Post by monocasa » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 10:01 PM UTC

stavros wrote: post #54

jan_Sate wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They're just publishing API documentation. No source code of the device got published. At least people can create their own implementation of the API tho.

If the publish the API for the server, as well as allow the device to specify the API hostname to connect to, that's all I need. We can write our own server implementation fairly easily, and this saves us the hassle of having to reverse-engineer the API, plus makes setup much easier if we can just tell the device where to connect. I wish more manufacturers would unlock their devices for local use when they don't want…

They did not publish enough API docs to write an alternative backend.

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/01/bose-open-sources-it...

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#286

Post by cssinate » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 10:07 PM UTC

walterbell wrote: post #70

Thanks Bose for opencycling Bose hardware into OSS audio ecosystems that could support multiple vendors. https://github.com/captivus/bose-soundtouch This library provides a clean, Pythonic interface to control SoundTouch speakers over your local network, ensuring your speakers remain fully functional even after cloud services end. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyrion_Music_Server Lyrion Music Server (LMS) is a stream…

I've just created a TypeScript version of the same API as the Python interface. https://github.com/cssinate/bose-soundtouch

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#287

Post by cssinate » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 10:09 PM UTC

Just a separate post in case people found this helpful. Here are some APIs available so you can build your own apps:

- Python: https://github.com/captivus/bose-soundtouch - TypeScript: https://github.com/cssinate/bose-soundtouch

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#288

Post by tverbeure » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 10:10 PM UTC

Wafje wrote: post #225

ktg0215 wrote: post #8

This is how "end of support" should be handled. Instead of turning devices into e-waste, open-source them and let the community extend their life. Kudos to Bose for setting a good example. More companies should follow this approach - especially as right-to-repair becomes a bigger issue.

Bose should not receive praise for this move. Bose only took this action after community backlash. In an older version of their end-of-life announcement, most functionality of the speaker systems would have removed and transformed the devices into dumb-speakers/amps. Good that they changed their statement and took the right action. Even better for the community for stepping up and 'forcing' Bose to do so. Sources: ht…

Is the world a better place before or after Bose decided to change course?

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#289

Post by yoavm » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 10:13 PM UTC

After my last Sonos, I gave up on smart speakers. Recently I discovered Squeezelite-ESP32 / piCorePlayer and I'm not going back. I'm free to choose my own speakers (and people sell great 2nd hand dumb speakers for nothing!), I can stream, sync, etc - and they integrate great with Home Assistant. No more proprietary protocol for me, thank you...

Re: Bose has released API docs and opened the API for its EoL SoundTouch speakers

#290

Post by ted_dunning » Thu, Jan 08, 2026, 10:14 PM UTC

fragmede wrote: post #270

banannaise wrote: post #261

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don't punish the behavior you want to see. Would we rather they defaulted there? Sure. But it's arguably an even better signal to see that they're willing to listen to their customers even when there is no direct financial incentive for them.

Their financial incentive is negative. They were hoping to force everyone to buy new speakers, driving sales. But if the community is able to get open source firmware to run spotifyd on them, there is a non-zero (not everyone, but it's non-zero) amount of people that will just not buy new speakers from them.

If they can make this OS story go viral, then they stand to have a lot of customers defect from their competitors even people who would never really care about open source.

Could easily be net positive.