But have they figured out how to keep the wheels from falling off?

If enough people steal via self checkout they will go away. (This is not shopping/self checkout advice)

Are you using the VPN on your laptop or phone only? If so, maybe try to run your VPN at the router level and see if you can cast then? It might work…

For music:

https://www.f-droid.org/packages/it.vfsfitvnm.vimusic/

Or

https://www.f-droid.org/packages/com.anandnet.harmonymusic/

There’s also alternatives for YouTube like newpipe & libretube etc