Spotify has discontinued its Car Thing, the company’s first venture into hardware. This $80 device was designed for older cars without built-in infotainment systems, allowing users to control Spotify through voice recognition and buttons. However, Spotify has announced that they will be bricking the device on December 9, rendering it completely unusable.
Despite the disappointment from users, Spotify is not offering trade-ins for the Car Thing devices. Instead, they are instructing users to reset the devices to factory settings and dispose of them in accordance with local electronic-waste guidelines. This approach has upset many Car Thing owners, some of whom have expressed their dissatisfaction on Spotify’s community forum and Reddit. Some users have threatened to switch to rival subscription services, while others have requested compensation or for Spotify to unlock the devices for developers to create their own software.
The lack of support and options for Car Thing owners has left many feeling as though they are being punished for supporting Spotify’s hardware endeavors. Some users have stated that this experience has deterred them from considering any future products released by Spotify. While the streaming service has not indicated whether they plan to reimburse Car Thing owners, they have stated that the purpose of the Car Thing was to learn more about how people listen to music in their cars, and that the discontinuation of the device marks the end of their hardware exploration in the US.
