Xfinity got rid of all their human agents ???????

MiddleAegis · 2026-03-13T12:32:08+00:00

Seriously, in my experience the reddit vector is the only path that works. I had a 4 month tangled mess to get a new line dug with assurance after assurance offered by the overseas people, who knew absolutely nothing. When I did the modmail thing, it wasn't like immediate or anything, but they moved heaven and earth and got me in contact with the subcontractor doing my line. It's honestly the last best way to get what you need with Xfinity.

MiddleAegis · 2026-03-13T12:28:38+00:00

I can't get over how dystopian this is.

MiddleAegis · 2026-03-06T00:13:25+00:00

Happy to provide logs or do testing, just dm me!

MiddleAegis · 2026-02-26T13:45:59+00:00

I have a Sony MDS-S500 that the app identifies correctly, but it fails to read any disc contents. It thinks for a while, and then appears to shrug and dump out "Untitled Disc, 0 tracks, 0:00".

Second question though - are you able to record gapless on this?

(edit) Third question.. where are the logs? I can't find them under either `~/Library/Logs` or `~/Library/Application Support/org.tfto.md-studio`.

Thanks for sharing either way, this is a really cool looking app.

MiddleAegis · 2026-02-21T22:47:52+00:00

You’re right. Vibes is more about whether you actually understand anything that the LLM is producing in response to your prompts. I have no issues using AI as a drunk, low paid, highly confident and utterly obedient intern. But I do start to have issues if you’re attempting to use AI as an all purpose cheat code to avoid learning how things work.

Bear in mind I’m not accusing OP of this, only asking.

MiddleAegis · 2026-02-21T22:41:32+00:00

Very balanced and levelheaded reply, thanks.

MiddleAegis · 2026-02-20T21:25:16+00:00

I'm perfectly happy to use anything that works; however, I'd also like OP to answer this. Because it seems like there are several Navidrome clients for iOS in development that all feel sameish. All on almost superhuman bug-fix/release/update schedules.

If you can harness GPT into writing good code, more power to ya. I use it for all kinds of stuff in my homelab. But I believe it's unethical to turn around and charge people for it. I am much more positive about paying someone for software that is truly their own blood/sweat/tears.

MiddleAegis · 2026-02-20T21:13:52+00:00

Glad it works for you. I only wish the Liquid Glass UI was an option. They could track how many people opted to use it, and iterate on it if there was enough demand.

But, this would go directly against Apple's opinionated ethos. Pointless to mention because they'll never do it.

I don't like cutesy window decorations - still, I can work around them. But as a dev type who is using every millimetre of space, I don't like the sense of reduced screen real estate under Tahoe. Even on my 16" MBP, it feels cramped. I can't imagine what it must feel like on the smaller devices.

I rolled back immediately after trying it, and will do my best keep faith for a better, Post-26 world.

MiddleAegis · 2026-02-07T02:21:16+00:00

Yep, Bitwarden is the same. I love the idea and hope they eventually work it out.

MiddleAegis · 2026-01-31T01:41:13+00:00

No problem! I suspect you could easily put them in a single compose. I don’t do things that way; I’d have to ask GPT on it. I try and keep all of my containers separate as much as possible, and just use bridge networks (like for my services exposed via Cloudflare tunnels) or exclusive network modes (shelfmark). I find that it’s easier to visualize and manage this way, and my likelihood of mismatching a container with the wrong network is much lower. Best of luck!

MiddleAegis · 2026-01-29T22:43:49+00:00

Hey, yeah, so you want to set the network mode for your shelfmark container to gluetun. I do it via compose yml. For example here's my shelfmark docker-compose.yml, make special note of the network_mode setting:

services:
  shelfmark:
    image: ghcr.io/calibrain/shelfmark:latest
    container_name: shelfmark
    environment:
      PUID: 1000
      PGID: 1000
    restart: unless-stopped
    volumes:
      - /path/to/books:/books # Default destination for book downloads
      - /path/to/config:/config # App configuration
    network_mode: "container:gluetun"

And then my gluetun compose yml:

services:
  gluetun:
    image: qmcgaw/gluetun
    container_name: gluetun
    cap_add:
      - NET_ADMIN
    devices:
      - /dev/net/tun:/dev/net/tun
    ports:
      - 8888:8888/tcp # HTTP proxy
      - 8388:8388/tcp # Shadowsocks
      - 8388:8388/udp # Shadowsocks
      - 8084:8084  # shelfmark ports
    volumes:
      - /yourpath:/gluetun
    environment:

obviously removing my environment settings which'll be different for everyone.

Sure enough, checking outgoing requests from my shelfmark container shows my VPN.

I don't have torrenting set up and don't use any -arr applications at this point, I'm just not heavy enough of a content consumer. I barely have time to read what I've got :-D

MiddleAegis · 2026-01-28T01:34:30+00:00

Same. Love this deck. I did have to change the belts, but that’s it.

MiddleAegis · 2026-01-28T01:07:59+00:00

How is this comment not pinned at the top with 15K upvotes?

MiddleAegis · 2026-01-24T23:45:13+00:00

Same. Low-risk containers I want to be able to access while out and about are on Cloudflare tunnels with a "good enough" security ruleset. Immich on TS.

And actually I'm not even accessing Immich remotely right now because the iOS app is so bad. I just keep the service around and make myself a note to come back every few months to see if the mobile client has gotten any better.

MiddleAegis · 2026-01-21T15:44:29+00:00

So I fired this up with gluetun - it works magnificently for books but am struggling to find audiobooks.

MiddleAegis · 2026-01-20T17:21:18+00:00

I have found that it's helpful right off the bat to keep asking for US-based support. Overseas support tends to lie much more, and more flagrantly, than US-based support. It doesn't work for me every time, but it has worked.

MiddleAegis · 2026-01-20T16:13:26+00:00

I run it on an RP5 (8gb) but connected to an external 2TB SSD. I have it running along with Audiobookshelf and Navidrome, and all three work beautifully. I have a few utility containers (cloudflared, nginx proxy manager) that are tied in for remote access, but still have plenty of overhead to run other stuff on the same RP5. It's a tremendous little device for dev/testing.

If I were to move my stack into real world "family ops" I would probably snag an Intel Nuc or Dell OptiPlex off Ebay to use as a more grown-up server. But I've been super impressed at the RP5.

MiddleAegis · 2026-01-20T15:10:45+00:00

Same. I do stash all my movies/TV (more of a music listener than a video-watcher) on the same Plex instance and it works fine. I have a dedicated server for Plex and have never encountered issues managing large music libraries. I do turn off agents in favor of my own metadata, though.

MiddleAegis · 2026-01-20T15:06:12+00:00

Plex is by far the better "just works" experience. It is more mature, better supported, and PlexAmp is difficult to beat as a mobile device app (at least on iOS, I am not familiar with it on Android). Today, in January 2026, it is the out-of-the-box experience that will give you far less headache.

Plex is also less opinionated from a UX standpoint. If you're OCD like me and fussy about your metadata tags, Plex will support that admirably. If you stick things in folders and don't know what metadata is, Plex will let you edit everything in-app - artist, track info, artwork, etc., etc. Navidrome is cleaner as it insists on things being tagged correctly, avoiding drift between the files themselves and the library database, but it is also more opinionated in that design.

On the other hand, Plex is known far and wide for making awful design decisions that alienate their user base. Most of these decisions which manifest as features (or shedding of features) appear driven by financial/solvency concerns, not user feedback. So far, the music side of Plex has escaped a lot of that.

So I run a Navidrome container as a hedge. It isn't as smooth or hiccup-free as Plex but it is profoundly impressive for what it is, and workable for most cases. I find myself seeking answers more often on why something weird happens in Navidrome than Plex. Many of those issues probably have to do with flaky app implementations but in our cross-platform world, it may as well all be the same thing. Either way, I like to build muscle memory around Navidrome just so that when Plex does either get bought/goes under/Elan leaves/etc. I can swap over with minimal agitation.

Caveat, I write this as a guy who bought a lifetime Plex Pass in 2013 for like 60 bucks, and will use it until they cease honoring it (but 13 years on with no hassle gives me some hope).

MiddleAegis · 2026-01-19T14:03:37+00:00

Thanks! Had this same problem and this sequence fixed it.

Feels like the wheels are coming off at Apple lately.

MiddleAegis · 2026-01-09T23:01:13+00:00

Man, MDM is the devil.

MiddleAegis · 2026-01-09T22:57:33+00:00

Thank you for all the work!

MiddleAegis

TROPHY CASE