Is device registring at mysqyeezebox.com necessary?

Hi there,

I just bought a 2.hand factory reset Squeezebox Radio, and had to type in my mysquuezebox.com account information to get past the startup sequence.
Is the dependency to mysquuezebox.com really necessary, or is it possible to have the devices up and running without make the registry to mysquuezebox.com?

After the powerup the firmware was updated - will this make any change the next time I make a factory reset?
Now it's at Firmware: 7.7.3-r16676

Martin