I know there's a dedicated group of people who wish they could modify the VxWorks OS on the MS 300/750 so that they could access the Gracenote database...not keeping up with this simple functionality is somewhat baffling on McIntosh's part. Why not put a post out there for one of the original Escient developers to just get this function working again, vs risk all the negative feelings, etc? What a huge opportunity this could be, and would do a lot to change the perception of McIntosh digital offerings....I know it's easy to be an armchair quarterback, but with Escient no longer existing, there's gotta be a reasonable way at this point...
Anyways, it looks like Autonomic is hard at work with the firmware updates, besides just the html5 web interface. Since they reacquired in May 2020, they've been busy addressing the firmware updates, which haven't happened in 5 years. To answer my own question earlier in the thread, here's what the autonomic blog says new firmware does (aside from the voice integrations, the rest of the updates are significant and substantial)...now I'm salivating for the new firmware:
RELEASE 6.1.20201216.0, December 2020
New features
Replace Flash Web UI
RELEASE 6.1.20201201.0, November 2020
General software improvements
Improve NAS compatibility
Scheduling
Improve preset reliability in Tunebridge schedules
SiriusXM
Protect other services from inactivity timeout
Spotify
Improve reliability when moving from one track to the next
Improve reliability loading user playlists
Improve handling for account used elsewhere
Tidal
Improve re-authentication process
RELEASE 6.1.20201022.0, October 2020
New features
Add Amazon Alexa integration (see the setup guide here, requires a TuneBridge account)
Add Google Home integration (see the setup guide here, requires a TuneBridge account)
General software improvements
Improve USB DAC configuration and playback reliability
Improve support for KP-6 All Off
Improve device output configuration
Improve performance and reliability in systems with multiple streamers and amps
Improve MRAD feedback
Improve performance while recalling presets
Improve reliability of new control connections directly after boot
Improve over-volume protection
Scheduling
Improve schedule reliability
Improve schedule configuration page
Turn off zones at end of schedule
Crestron
Improve stability and reliability while browsing
Local content
Improve cover art performance for local content
Improve m4a format playback reliability
Support newer SMB protocols for mounting NAS drives
Support NAS paths with spaces
Amazon Music
Fix for playback of tracks with certain special characters in title or artist
iHeartRadio
Fix authentication issues
Pandora
Improve stations list update logic
RADIO.COM
Enable Skip Next/Previous for podcasts
SiriusXM
Improve playback reliability
Spotify
Improve Spotify playlist handling
Reload content of updated playlists
Fix issue switching between Spotify connect and browsed Spotify content
Improve browse reliability
Improve reliability when switching between Spotify Connect and native playback
Improve error handling while loading user's saved content
Ensure content is loaded in language appropriate to the user account
Allow login through control client
Tidal
Replace user/password login with OAuth login (see here for more information)
TuneIn
Fix playback auto-resume on power cycle
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