Debugging a Pinell radio and replacing dead Spotify Connect with a YouTube Music bridge

Has anyone debugged or reverse-engineered an older Pinell internet radio? I have one where Spotify Connect is effectively dead, and I'd like to repurpose it rather than replace the radio.

I'm especially interested in:

• what hardware/platform/module these radios use internally (for example Frontier Silicon/Venice or similar)
• whether there is an accessible UART, JTAG, serial console, or other debug interface
• whether anyone has dumped/extracted the firmware or obtained a shell
• whether Spotify Connect runs in the main firmware or a separate module/service
• whether the existing network/audio stack exposes something useful such as UPnP/DLNA

The end goal would ideally be to replace or hijack the dead Spotify functionality with a YouTube Music bridge/receiver. Since YouTube Music does not have a Spotify-Connect-style receiver protocol, I'm also interested in running a bridge elsewhere on the LAN that presents itself to the radio through a protocol it already understands.

Has anyone opened one of these up or know a good starting point for debugging it?

Short version

Repurpose the radio as a speaker, yes. Drop YouTube Music into the dead Spotify Connect slot, no.

Pinell internet radios almost all run Frontier Smart Venice modules (same family as Hama, Medion, Roberts, TechniSat). Control is FSAPI via OKTIV/UNDOK. Spotify Connect is a licensed client inside that firmware, not a separate box you can swap.

Why Connect is dead

Spotify has required vendors to keep the Connect SDK current. Older Venice-era units often never got a matching update, so Connect simply disappears from the Spotify app even though the radio still boots. That is not the same as Frontier shutting down Nuvola (the internet-radio/podcast catalogue) at the end of October 2024. Pinell moved IR/podcasts to airable, so DAB/FM/internet radio can still work while Connect itself is gone.

YouTube Music has no public Connect-style receiver. Casting is Google Cast / Lounge and authenticated. You cannot implant a YTM receiver where Connect used to live on these closed modules.

What actually works

Use something the radio already speaks:

1. Bluetooth (if your model has it) — YouTube Music on the phone → A2DP. Phone stays in the path; not Connect-like, but it works today.
2. Aux in + a real Cast target — Chromecast Audio, a Nest Mini analog out, or a Pi with a DAC. Cast from YouTube Music to that box, feed the Pinell's line-in. This is the durable "radio as a powered speaker" setup.
3. Network play, if the model still has it — Older Venice 6.5 units often expose UPnP/DLNA DMR or a Media/My Music source. A LAN box can decode YTM and serve a plain HTTP MP3/WAV stream (OwnTone, Icecast, Home Assistant with a stream proxy). YouTube Music URLs themselves are a poor fit for picky DLNA clients, so re-serve a simple stream. Venice X often dropped DMR; check whether this radio still lists a network/media source.
4. FSAPI is useful for power, volume and source switching (Home Assistant has a Frontier Silicon integration). It is not a YouTube Music library.

Firmware replacement / debug consoles are the wrong first move on these units. The useful question is which sources this exact model still lists.

So: keep the Pinell. Put YouTube Music on a bridge the radio already understands. Do not expect Connect-equivalent YTM on the radio.