Let’s cut right to the chase. Spotify has launched its first physical product, a little piece of tech called Car Thing. And, get this: It’s a thing… for your car. Cue brain explosion.
Car Thing, it’s self explanatory
Car Thing is what Spotify calls a “smart player”, a small touchscreen display with a dial and some buttons that you plug into your car to play music through its speakers. It sounds simple enough, and while it’s not rocket science to get working, it isn’t exactly plug and play either. You’ve got to plug it into your car’s USB port or 12V outlet for power, and then connect it to your phone via Bluetooth. And then plug your phone into your car via Bluetooth, an AUX cable, or a USB cable before you can get it working. Oh, and you need a Spotify Premium account too. Not hard, but lot’s of things to remember here.
From there, you’re ready to jam. You can use the dial to scroll through Spotify (if you for some reason don’t feel like using the touch screen), and the four buttons on top can be set up as shortcuts to your favourite playlists, podcasts, artists, and stations. Voice control is supported too, though you may want to read through what Spotify does with your voice commands before you opt in.
Car Thing comes with three mounts, so you can put it on your dash, air vents, or even your CD player if you want. It’s a cool way to bring an older car into the modern age of music streaming tech, but probably won’t be much use to someone with a ride sporting an infotainment system already.