What makes this worse is the fact that it doesn't rely on servers. It's literally just a remote for the phone app. Hell, it even works offline. So the argument of them needing to pay for servers to keep it running doesn't hold up at all.
@@BBGS11_Lego yeah but U can get a Bluetooth adaptor for like 10 dollars that connects to your phone. It's a cool device but it solves a problem that has already been solved for ages tbh
This is genuinely a lawsuit waiting to happen edit: i wanna add to the people who don't understand what discontinue and "withdrawing support" mean discontinuing something means you stop production, not disabling already manufactured products, withdrawing support means they will no longer update the device or provide customer support on it, not disabling the device
How so? What are the damages? You can get your money back from them if you ask. You haven't lost anything. Edit. For those saying they aren't offering refunds. Look again. At up to date reporting. They ARE offering refunds.
@@thedrifter5531 lol, wut? The ACTUAL SPOTIFY COMPANY told engadget last Friday that if you contact customer support with proof of purchase, they will offer a refund.
@@thedrifter5531I can guarantee you somewhere in the fine print of the terms and conditions they covered themselves so they can do this legally. Big companies usually arent that stupid
@@brendanbudniak2261what about cars that don’t have displays or advanced consoles, it’s illegal to use your phone while driving in some states, so this is not useless
What's insane is that I can still buy music on iTunes Store and add it onto my 20 year old iPod shuffle, yet I still can't use an offline media remote without Spotify saying so.
I would highly recommend owning your music whenever you can and switching to an open source version of things like Spotify when you’re not using an iPod
@@UKsystems In other words, you know it's completely unfeasible but still recommend it anyway because you think it makes you look smart. Willing to be you haven't actually set up an RMS from scratch yourself. Your average end user is not going to have the technical knowhow to run and maintain an RMS. God forbid we talk about how this particular device is intended for use IN THE CAR, meaning it can't even make use of a media server in most circumstances. Or about how expensive server hosting gets, even if you run a cheap optiplex as a local-only server tied into your router. Yes, buyiing your music is better, but these streaming services provide a LOT of utility that just isn't accessible to normal people without them.
@@jtnachos16I like how you called him/her out on it. So many love talking about hosting for files/music/movies as if the ordinary folk know how. I’m a senior OT & IT Engineer for Pharma and even I ain’t got time for that ! They just love those. ”well this is possible didn’t you know ? duh“ statements.
When Google discontinued stadia, they made it so you could flash the controllers to a firmware that allows you to use it for other stuff. Hopefully Spotify does that for this
van moof in amsterdam ahahahahah crazy that people think buying a product and they not belonging to them is okay. my phone my rules. miss the old symbian days
@@brendanbudniak2261 I drive a manual 2012 honda fit, without this I would be way too distracted on the road trying to change music on my phone..For me I also believe it's an amazing little product.
just get a radio with suport for android or apple carplay. I got me one for 140 bucks. it has an 11 inch touch screen, that tilts, . and it connects wirelessly to my phone. and i can access any android app with it.
The worst part in my opinion is that when they released "The Car Thing" the yanked a their radio integration. So if you have a non Android auto/apple car play radio, that had a Spotify button, that button no longer works. And then they killed the car thing. Meaning the only functional way to use Spotify in your car is Android auto/car play or touching your phone constantly.
@@FriedTendi Surprisingly, it doesn't run Android, but Linux. There are ways to hack it, though, and install another Linux OS to it. Probably already a bunch of people working on building one.
That's grimy. They probably dropped the price to lower the amount of units they had on hand when they discontinued it. Makes it so they have to write off less.
@@emiliopena4404 I think it’s important to know that you should read the terms and conditions to a product when they can do stuff like this and you’ve purchased it
Keep in mind people who bought resold car things don’t get refunds from Spotify. And since this thing was in such high demand, the resale cost was up there when I bought it just 6 months ago.
@@beardeddawg8509 Theres a lot of reasons not to touch the factory infotainment system. Almost every reason is specific to every car. Like in a 6th gen civic, the car alarm was run through the radio, which means if you replace the radio you suddenly don't have an alarm system and thieves can clearly see that through the window. In a first and second gen mazda 3, infotainment is responsible for the MPG and DTE gauge in the top screen on the dash. Unless you get a special radio or an extra black box behind the dash to handle that, you lose that functionality. Or in a 1979-1985 mazda RX-7, the radio is an obtuse size and the dash is very brittle, so replacing it is most likely going to mean broken dashboard and parts aren't available for it.
Actually the Spotify Car Thing is open source and can run custom code. But the CPU is incredibly weak, its Bluetooth is its only source of connectivity, and the ram is so little that the Car Thing really can't do much more than it was intended for, being a remote for your Spotify app on your phone. For less than the same price as a car thing, many could pick up a Raspberry Pi 2 or 3 with a 4 inch screen module that could be used for many more uses. I say that because if you're actually willing to hack the Car Thing to get more use out of it after December, then you should be willing enough to fuck with a raspberry pi and have a much better piece of hardware with more use
Nah, it's the hyper-controlled digital era. Didn't used to be like this, it's always been super flexible -- and that's still the case if you know what you're doing
@@UKsystems Well I do, but only for the things that make sence to do. Own cloud, shared family cooud folder, streaning music and video (all somehwat legally owned). I wish I can do so for my car. Instead - once the servers are down, I will loose quite many useful functions 😮
@@user-qy2wf2lt6v there were definitely a lot of open soul solutions that can sync to a server when connected to the network and function when it’s disconnected with the locally saved variant
Well I was about to buy one, well technically I had it on order and then I saw the announcement and canceled it right away. Then I was like oh that’s probably why they discounted so heavily😂
@@brendanbudniak2261 Lot's of things are 'useless products' until you happen to need them for a specific use case. Hell even Spotify is a useless product considering you could just buy music. Doesn't justify them intentionally bricking a device that realistically requires near zero support hours from devs.
@@brendanbudniak2261 first of all it does look nice and second of all I drive a old car which doesn’t technically even have a radio. I basically have to use my phone and plug it in to have any music while I’m in the car and sometimes it’s nicer to have something like this instead of having to hold your phone. I also drive stick so you don’t really or you’re not supposed to really have your phone in your hand.
@@brendanbudniak2261 old school I have a 80s civic and a 90s civic too. Having a stereo was an upgrade. Also back then a lot of times they would get stolen or people would steal them.
@@DonPetrushka but the screen gets damaged as the sun light hits it . Using a phone on the motorcycle is not advisable. Hitting a huge pot hole is going to send your phone for an unscheduled flight.
@@TheINDIAN it 100% won't send my phone for any flight since I've got a really good phone holder locking it from all four sides. But about the sun affecting the phone, fair enough, good point. Especially if you have long trips. Buuut you still can use some "phonebrella" to protect it from the direct sun rays 😏
Buy one now while they’re super cheap and if enough people complain about it, it’ll get taken to court and either be made open source to prevent e-waste or they’ll reveal all numbers on them and if they didn’t sell a certain amount they’ll most likely be bricked. We seen the same thing happen with the zune back in the early 2000s
I bet it's actually because they are going to/have already made a successor to this device. And considering it runs on Android/Linux, they don't want anyone who knows what they're doing with tech to crack it and make it last longer so that they can get morons to buy the "newer and improved version"
@@brendanbudniak2261 if 30-40-50% off. I consider it worth it. I pay a same amount of money for a non touch portable display to open spotify all the time
@@brendanbudniak2261 it was $30, you can use voice commands, it has 4 different buttons to navigate easily, the volume knob is better than buttons or a slider on my computer screen... You don't have to like it or buy it... Why the hatred
@@brendanbudniak2261I don't understand why people would want to do that, when they can literally use their damn phone/laptop/ computer, etc, to do the exact same thing. Is this generation really that fück!ng dümb?
I have an old truck that doesn’t have Bluetooth. So I just put my phone into a wireless charger (uses the cig lighter) and then I use one of those Bluetooth/radio convertersz it comes with a remote that allows you to play/ pause/skip. It was like 15 bucks and it does the exact same thing as this
I had been comparing several music services about three years ago, and decided to stay with Spotify eventually, bcs it's literally the most user friendly service with an extensive library. And their algos just know my taste as good as it gets, recommendations are always spot on. So I can't say which one might be better right now
This. They've gotten arrogant, forgotten where they came from & who made them what they are today: *Us consumers.* They used to be niche when I first joined them.
yeah it doesn't even have code signing, Spotify just left it wide open. there's a giant community of people getting them to do things other than what Spotify intended!
Genuine curiosity how did they do that? Jw because I had one and I remember I went to use it one day and it just wouldn't do anything. Screen was black but back lit but wouldn't do anything.
Such a mind boggling decision. Just lower the price and open it to more streaming platforms so it turns a profit. Now people with this are even MORE upset with spotify
I bought one of these months ago when they discounted it to $30 and it was great. My car didn't have a newer radio so it was perfect to see what was playing and change music without going to my phone. So sad when I got the email that they're discontinuing it and it will completely stop working.
How much are they really saving by stopping support for it? I highly suspect it's just a boiled down version of Android running a slightly tweaked version of the app. They could at least leave the music playing until something later down the line organically breaks it.
@@movingtargetproductions5046 Except this thing doesn't use any servers, it's just a remote for the phone app and can even be used offline. There's literally zero reason to kill it.
I am a part of the demographic that genuinely uses the product in my old car and enjoys it. I would understand that if the product didn't perform well in terms of sales that they would discontinue support for it, but DONT BRICK OUR DEVICES. There's absolutely no reason for that when its literally just a controller interface for music. WE PAID FOR IT LET US KEEP USNG IT.
This is why I left Spotify. They hiked prices then have the audacity to start canceling support on products you've paid for. All about cash not about music.
Making e-waste by discontinuing a product within a few years of introduction should be illegal. At the very least they should have to open source it or make it continue to keep working with features sold at time of sale unless the whole company goes under.
I would genuinely pay and even switch to Spotify for a device like this. A lightweight touchscreen device strictly dedicated to music. No apps, no calls, no notifications, or any other use of the internet is extremely under-valued. Not to mention with a headphone jack 👌
I still can't believe that Spotify got rid of the useful voice control from the app in order to sell more of these. They still haven't brought it back.
Gotta love the US regulations, or lack thereof. No company should be able to do this, just brick a product after a year and make it unusable, it should be designed to work without any connection.
Gotta love how this era of humanity will be marked with so many precious resources were wasted cause some corporate doofus was like “meh, let’s just scrap this project… but make sure to brick the product just in case someone tries to do something useful with it!”
Funny that everybody always got Tatum on the thumbnail.. Jaylen has been Bostons best player and most consistent all postseason.. I’ll never understand why he’s so undervalued and under appreciated.
I like how I only ever saw news about this thing when they decided to discontinue it. This would've been really helpful for me and a few people I know like a year ago.
I think this is a lawsuit waiting to happen. They sold something to customers and then destroyed it remotely. They literally advise their customers to dispose of the device.
We need to investigate these dodgy shops in central London. There are so many of them now! And how are they affording rent? They make central London look sooooo cheap
you know you could regulate billion dollar Corps that make companies release code after they are no longer selling that item. Just an idea. I mean do you own the companies your tax money subsidizes, not really, but should you own the product your tax money funded and you paid for? ABSOLUTELY. Constitutional rights have been legislated away with case law for a long time now. We need to go back to simple America when WE knew what was right for everyone.
My car has a screen and bluetooth, but I use it for voice recognition and the playlist preset buttons. When I originally bought it, my car at the time didn't have a screen at all, and I loved it in there. Real shame they're deciding to stop supporting them. I dont get why, really.
An offline device forced to have online servers. Companies never learn… I thought this was cool but after you mentioning they’re deactivating it at the end of the year makes me not want one
This is why I haven't used a streaming music service in the last decade plus. Back around 2010 I got tired of streaming services going under and losing my playlists so now I buy all my albums and songs from amazon and own over 30 gigs of mp3s.
I hate when corporations sell items them leave people high and dry by cutting off support, you'd be surprised how many stores still keep things on their shelves that are end of life, like car gps units, or security smart cameras.
The problem with this was a lot of people, myself included, was forced to buy this because Spotify disabled Car Mode to push this product. It was absolutely BS and now they’re just bricking the device for no good reason. I’ve already bought a 2023 model vehicle with Apple Carplay so I have no use for it anymore but this move made me switch to RU-vid music.
Companies LOVE to pull this shit. They come up with cool products then do this shit. They made thousands off their customers just to spit in their faces.
Luckily the car thing IS open source and I'd love to see someone figure out a way to reactivate them once they're shut down for good because i would use the HELL out of one of these
Years ago people had already figured out how to run Debian on the thing with display, touchscreen, scroll wheel and bluetooth support. Pretti sure after this nice move from Spotify they will also figure out how to enable WiFi (Spotify never used it but the hardware technically supports it)
Companies always do this. "Lets make a dedicated device for our service!" "We sold 900,375 units!" "Let's drop the price to sell more" "We sold 1,200,397 units!" "We didnt sell the amount we wanted! Why isnt our entire user base not getting this device?? Lets shut this down and stop wasting our money" Device owners: "wtf im using this"
This is a scary thing. Because it further proves that You can own the hardware. But the software is still owned by the Company. And they can control the usability and functionality of the system.
My car is a very base model car without a radio so this car thing is a lifesaver. I REALLY REALLY hope Spotify makes the software open source so that I can at least still use it somewhat for music playing
