Keep on some Spotify hardware in your car? No, not your cellphone. Spotify doesn’t make that. It does make the Car Thing (or pays someone else to), a device we first saw in April last year. But, like, in mid-April, so there was no chance it was a joke.

Initially, the $80 (R1,200) in-car audio device was available by invitation only. That’s changed, but it hasn’t changed enough. Anyone can now buy one, for $90 (R1,350), provided you live in the United States. So it’s less a case of ‘anyone’ and more one of ‘Americans’. But many Americans will tell you that’s just how it should be.

The point of this Car Thing?

The question has to be: Why the heck would you want one of these? The Car Thing requires two things in order to function, not including the car. Users need a Spotify Premium subscription (that’s non-negotiable), and a smartphone with a working data connection (ditto). In other words, Spotify’s gadget will only work if you’ve got all the ingredients needed to stream Spotify without it. Oh, yes, and it needs to output to your car’s speakers, so make that ‘three things in order to function’.

It’s installed into your car in much the same way as old GPS units used to be. After that, it’s possible to control your tunes via the larger display. And that control is done in a few ways. There’s a physical controller, a touchscreen display, or voice control if you’re an eyes-on-the-road kinda driver. There’s no battery, so it’ll take up your 12-volt port (‘four things in order to function’) the entire time you’re using it, but it’ll let you listen to Spotify for longer. At least, that’s what the streaming service claims.

Or you could forgo the Car Thing and just rely on mounting your phone on your dashboard, streaming your Spotify through your car’s Bluetooth connection, or using your car’s infotainment system to get the job done if you’re fancy. There’s a case to be made that it’s a little safer to use the oversized display or voice control, but you could just start your podcast before you pull out of the driveway like everyone else. Perhaps it’s not such a wrench that the Car Thing is only available in the States at present. It’s not like we need the thing.