Spotify will block all car-related products it has ever sold

Owners of Spotify's soon-to-be-defunct Car Thing device are begging the company to open source the device to save landfills. The hardware was originally made to plug into a car's dashboard or auxiliary outlet to let drivers listen to and control Spotify, and Spotify has not responded to their requests for relief.

Spotify announced this week that it would disable all Car Things purchases made on December 9th and would no longer offer refunds or trade-in options. On its support page, Spotify said:

As part of our ongoing effort to streamline our product lineup, we're discontinuing Car Thing. While this decision may be disappointing, it allows us to focus on developing new features and enhancements that will create a better experience for all Spotify users.

Spotify has not issued any further instructions to device owners beyond asking them to reset their devices to factory settings and safely dispose of broken gadgets in accordance with local e-waste guidelines.

The company also said it has no plans to release a successor to Car Thing.

Premature death

Car Thing was released to limited subscribers in October 2021, before being made available to the public in February 2022.

Spotify revealed that it had stopped manufacturing Car Things during its Q2 2022 earnings call in July. In a chat with TechCrunch, the company cited several factors, including product demand and supply chain issues. A Spotify representative told the publication that the devices will continue to function as intended, but it appears that it was a temporary situation.

The discontinuation was a warning that Car Thing was in danger, but at the time Spotify had cut the price of the device from $90 to $50, which may have prompted people to buy a device that would be useless in a few years.

But Car Thing's usefulness has long been questioned. The device has a 4-inch touchscreen and a simple knob for navigation, and it supports Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and voice control. But it also required users to subscribe to Spotify Premium, which starts at $11 per month. To make matters worse, Car Thing requires a phone with data or Wi-Fi connected via Bluetooth to function, making it seem unnecessary.

Spotify said in its first-quarter 2022 report that its exit from Car Thing hurt its gross margins and took a €31 million hit from the business (about $31.4 million at then-current rates).

A plea for open source

Following Spotify's announcement, some Car Thing owners have taken to online forums to voice their disappointment with Spotify and plead with the company to open source the device rather than end up in a recycling center. At the time of writing, there were more than 50 posts on the Spotify community forum expressing concern over the discontinuation, many of which are demanding refunds or calling for it to be open sourced. Similar discussions have taken place elsewhere online, such as on Reddit, where users have described the news as “completely unacceptable.”

For example, a Spotify community member named AaronMickDee said:

I don't want to just throw away devices, I think there's a community out there that would love the idea of ​​having a device that could be customized and used for more than just playing music.

Is Spotify planning to unlock the system and allow users to write or flash third-party firmware onto the device?

Sources 1/ https://Google.com/ 2/ https://www.wired.com/story/spotify-car-thing-brick/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article

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