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.
The system working as intended. Now you're "locked in".
Sadly he is always right. I wish he was wrong all the time.
I'd check his wikipedia page before throwing around "always" like that.
"Just find another ~~job~~ ~~place to live~~ head unit"
-deliberately obtuse bootlickers
I cancelled my paid Spotify account because I can't get them to stop fucking recommending Joe Rogan to me.
I'm moments away from canceling. Splash screens of some bullshit podcast or something I don't want to see. Getting fed up.
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 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
Why would you even buy this? Literally just buy a phone mount and use your phone. This thing was a textbook example of a useless product.
you can try this
https://github.com/williamtcastro/carthing-non-premium-spotify
the whole ui/dashboard is just a web app, so it's pretty easy to "jailbreak" or modify
They named their device “Car Thing?” Just looked it up. Why not just buy a phone mount and play through your phone?
You can get a magnetic phone mount for like $10-15 that fits in the CD slot like in the picture. Not sure why this is a thing.
Deception followed by coersion is an excellent way to increase shareholder returns.
Why do you hate capitalism?
I have a car thing, I use it at my desk for media controls. It is pretty great.
But the product description was pretty clear that you needed premium to use it. The same goes for using any third party Spotify client. Shouldn't have expected otherwise.
Buying any physical hardware that doesn't function without a subscription should be a illegal, not something you should expect.
What is this device? I'm confused as to why it even exists.
Edit: I discovered it is literally called "Car Thing".
I've never heard of it before, it looks like a smartphone that doesn't do anything other than have the spotify app? Like is there any mapping or calling built in? And to lock hardware like this behind their premium subscription is wildly, not mildly infuriating.
I have the hobby of cracking stuff like that (but mainly windows apps to tell you the truth) and there are many-ish people out there with the same hobby. search around a bit and google stuff like "Spotify Car Thing github" or "Spotify Thing bypass" or jailbreak. Heavily rely on github and russian forums. Also random small blogs
If you're so determined though and nobody else has done it and you're fine not using it for 3+ months, there's a very slim chance that I could find the time to bypass it
EDIT: Yeap it's cracked and it's easy too
Wait, so let me get this straight.
You purchased a device that presumably has no local storage and are upset that it needs you to login to a server that can then stream you the music?
Or is this an issue of not having a paid account?
I guess Spotify didn't realize someone who didn't pay for Spotify would be likely to pay 100 bucks for a device to stream Spotify, and in most cases I'd say they're probably right.
upset that it needs you to login to a specific server before it will let you stream music from other unrelated servers
FTFY
Cars in 2030: to use brakes you need premium account. Sorry!
This thing that OP bought is a separate add-on to the car. As far as the car is concerned it doesn't exist and it's just plugged into a normal 3.5 mm aux device.
I mean to be fair, Spotify as a company clearly would rather give millions to right-wing shitheads than ~anything else.
How else will Joe Rogan be able to afford his basic necessities like subverting democracy 🥺
I wouldn't have expected them to do it any other way. The only reason why Spotify is still around is because every bit of competition is even more incompetent and greedy than they are
I betcha someone in the piracy groups can help you jailbreak that thing so it will continue to function.
Edit: Yep someone in the comments linked you a GitHub project that should work
Image Transcription:
A photo of a Spotify Car Thing with the text displaying on the screen under the Spotify logo: "Need a Premium account To use Car Thing you need to be logged in to a Spotify Premium or Premium Family account on your phone."
[I am a human, if I’ve made a mistake please let me know. Please consider providing alt-text for ease of use. Thank you. 💜]
Take a look at rooting it, maybe you can find some way to use it to stop it from just being e-waste. https://npjohnson.github.io/Spotify-Car-Thing-Root/
You paid $100 to play music that you didn't own. It feels mean to put it that way, but it was never a foolproof plan if we're being honest.
I don't use Spotify, but I selected a song on someone else's phone recently. The first time opening it in years and it opens up to an ad saying "buy our tshirts".
I couldn't help but think times must be hard 😅
I don't understand the point of this device. Why not buy a replacement radio for the car instead? I bought a Pioneer one and it was a nice upgrade to my 2012 Mazda3 since I can plug in my phone to use Android Auto and get the screen to show Google Maps + pretty much any music app on my phone.
You literally can’t buy them anymore! Spotify quietly canned the project. Support pages are still up but I can’t find a purchase option anywhere.
I bought one pretty early into launch and even then they were already heavily discounted. It was a weird choice for a peripheral, but personally I really wish they had tried a bit harder instead of giving up outright
But weird, an android auto upgrade kit for my car would cost me 160. The Spotify thing is so not a good deal.
FYI, those are known to be full of malware if you buy the random branded ones off Amazon. It’s Highly recommend that people go with known reputable brands.
Honestly, what else did you expect? Lifetime Spotify Premium for $100? It was a shit product ever since it was launched. You bought it, it's on you.
This type of shit is why I just want a vehicle with a CD player that can hold multiple discs. Then I could just burn my favorite music onto a few discs and not have to worry about not having paid to have access to the music I want and don't have to worry about a song I dislike popping up randomly.
...or with a usb/sd port, there's no need to go back all the way to 90s/2000s tech for simple offline music playback
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