The Spotify Car Thing cost $100, but I can't use it anymore.

airportline@lemmy.ml to Mildly Infuriating@lemmy.world – 1234 points –

EDIT: The only reason why I still had it at this point was because I could use it with other apps. However, now that my Spotify Subscription is cancelled, it doesn't work with anything. It's mildly infuriating because today, I can't still use it with other apps like I was able to yesterday.

Please don't make the same mistake I made. No one should buy this.

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That's really dissapointing, did Spotify seriously release a hardware device that expensive, and mandates a subscription to operate?

It's a shame because it looks quite nice too, and is sadly guaranteed to be e-waste at some point

Are you kidding me? It's been par for the course as far as car assessors go. Sirus radio was like 100 and still required a subscription. A lot of GPS were that price and most had subscriptions.

Don’t know why you’re being downvoted - enshittification as a viable consumer business model was pretty much proven in the auto space.

Just like they want to charge you to use the heated seats you’re paying the gas to lug around anyway

Just like they want to charge you to use the heated seats you’re paying the gas to lug around anyway

That's not the same thing at all. As bad as e.g. Sirius or GPS subscription might be, at least with those the subscription is for ongoing access to new data being transmitted to you. In contrast, a subscription purely for the use of hardware already included in the car is literally theft.

The hardware is free for subscribers to the service...

Just because it's percieved as normal doesn't mean it's something we should put up with though.

With GPS subscriptions (the ones I'm aware of anyway) they will still navigate you from A to B when you stop paying the subscription, you usually just miss out on traffic updates, map updates and other localized enhancements. If there are any that deny you navigation outside the subscription that's plain scummy IMO.

I'm not familiar with Sirius Radio but from what I can see online, it's a satellite radio subscription service that seems to bring new things to the table (like starting a radio station at the beginning of a last song etc). The hardware appears to actually serve a purpose, i.e. it's the satellite receiver for the radio service subscription. I believe we could compare this to buying a Starlink dish for internet access, and paying the monthly subscription. The spotify device shown here is not a standalone device and is only fitted with bluetooth IIRC, requiring a phone for operation.

In comparison to Spotify, Sirius does not appear to have ever had a free plan - whereas Spotify does... I see is no reason why Spotify could not make their free plan usable on this device.

Edit: fix typo

The device is free to premium users. It's a marketing device for the premium subscription.

The box clearly states that a premium subscription is required.

Glad to see someone mention that the subscription being required for use is clearly conveyed. It’s not like this was some hidden information

Those I don't fault. Sirius has satellites to maintain and they don't get ad revenue.

GPS makers, well making maps on that scale is very expensive. Not everyone can be google and give it away to end consumers by harvesting user data and selling ads to businessplaces.

Spotify though, fair enough to charge for the hardware but once bought should work with the ad-supported version of their product....

The hardware is free for subscribers...

If you buy it outright it tells you that you need a subscription.

I could still use it for playing music in other apps. Now I can't.

https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2022/11/01/spotify-car-thing-root-achieved/

You can root it. Didn't look too much into it but you might be able to do something with that.

Also failing that, get a short range radio transmitter. They're cheap and the audio ain't great but you can plug your phone in and get audio on your car.

Car thing doesn’t handle the audio, they have to pair their phone to their stereo with Bluetooth or an aux cable anyway.

How is that any different than just using the app on a phone in a mount then?

It adds a tactile scroll wheel.

Is that it? I'm sure you can find a replacement that doesn't require a subscription if that's all you cared about.

Yeah it’s a dumb gadget even at the $45 they eventually cut the price down to. It’s basically got an always shrinking market of people who don’t have CarPlay or Android Auto, and the niche who don’t want to use a phone holder, Siri/Google, and car mode in the app.

It was free for premium subscribers and was marketed to those who had older cars.

I think I got an Echo Auto for $25 (during the public tests). It doesn't need any kind of a subscription to use as far as I'm aware. It only does streaming still, but there are Alexa skills that let you stream from your Plex or Jellyfin server.

Yes, but the Echo platform is a tool to gather user data.

Man you are seriously going to hate the future lol

I mean, it's basically a cheap smartphone or computer tablet, with a lower resolution, but nice quality screen, and a giant volume spinner. $100 does not get you much at all in the phone and tablet space. I don't think there's much of any profit margin, if at all for it.

Poor-poor multibillion company has to nickle and dime you earn sometging to eat

I considered getting one of these a couple years ago and saw Spotify was discounting them heavily and even giving them away for free in some cases. I didn't wind up getting one but do wish they would release a simple player + speaker like this for home use.