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[JimH]

Yes.  Here's why.
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,138602.0.html

Who should buy it?

Who is strong in audio but might also want to be strong in video?  Sonos, for example.

Thanks for your ideas.

[dtc]

I don't think Sonos is the right candidate. Their system is based on their own speakers and their connection software. That gives them a lot of control over the system, but limits their ability to work with other products.

Linkplay might be a better fit. They have a broader offering and their Wiim products are not as proprietary as Sonos. With Wiim they have a pretty good reputation in the audio market.  Wiim users common use LMS which is an open source system, but not nearly as flexible as MC.  MC would also add video capability. And, since they support streaming services, it would will a gap that MC has struggled with.  The question with them is whether they want to expand into a system as complicated as MC.

[oct02]

My bet would be DiscoGS. A metadata-rich JRiver, with the ability to chart all album artists and labels would be the dream of audiophiles who care for their music libraries. It would make it so powerful that no music lover would want to use the streaming platforms. On the other hand I have seen your original post and the best option would be to move it to open source and turn the company into a consultancy for professional uses like Red Hut does. That way he would leave a legacy with a huge footprint and great work. But I have read that his code is really very complicated and extensive and I don't know how a community of open source programmers could cover it on the fly when it has been written for decades. The open source option is the best if really brilliant and committed developers take it over. But on the other hand I dream of DiscoGS metadata. Spotlight gives me 1% of what I need to navigate my library.

Best wishes.

[Awesome Donkey]

Been thinking about this, and I haven't been able to come up with a good potential fit. Gotta agree with dtc about Sonos, they had a issues over the last few years including an attempt at forced obsolescence of their older products, which I believe when they tried to do this it got some pushback from customers and they reversed course. Not to mention walled gardens are not fun.

P.S. Since the Powerball jackpot is currently $1.23 billion, I think I may get a few tickets and see if I get lucky tomorrow night. If I do somehow win, I'd buy it! Wish me luck!

[JimH]

Hope you win!

How about an O.S. company?

[BryanC]

I can't think of any that would keep MC running as a whole, most would just vulture what they needed for their own products.

I'd like to see MC continue with some more radical changes e.g. moving the front-end to WebAssembly (w/ modern toolkit), or major design changes to improve performance (still very slow at times on Linux). If there's anyone in-house that has a long-term vision/plan then just give them the reins and let them carry on. If not, I'd like to see it open-sourced and then users can fork and experiment on their own (and inevitably rewrite it in Rust). You'll probably need an official maintainer with merge rights so make sure there's someone that actually wants that role because it's not for everyone.

You have some loyalty to your customers but much more to the team you built so I'd ask them what they want to do and listen to them. From an outsider's perspective I had imagined Matt taking over as CEO after Jim retired and the business continuing on without much interruption, but maybe that is not the case.

Do you still want to see MC live on and continue improving? Does selling it and losing control accomplish that?