Spotify Car Thing is officially on sale to the masses. Its limited release trial period sold out and now anyone can buy it for $89.99.
The premise of the small player remains the same. It aims to bring deep access to Spotify to older cars that don’t have today’s nifty Apple CarPlay and Android Auto connectivity. It has a touchscreen, dial, preset buttons, and voice control. The interface is a car-friendly clone of your phone’s Spotify app with large icons meant to make typing easier than you might otherwise be used to on your smartphone.
Several updates to Car Thing are coming soon based on the results of Spotify’s research during the year-long trial period it went through. For example, it is developing a Night Mode for monitors, and the “Add to Queue” command is also coming. The latter is key if you and your friends have been trying to create playlists via voice commands for a long time road trip. We’re a bit surprised it doesn’t have a night mode to begin with, but at least Spotify is integrating it now.
If you want a Car Thing, make sure you have the proper hardware to make it work – you need to be a Spotify Premium user too. It requires a power source (12V outlet or USB outlet) and you also need to be able to connect your phone to your car’s audio system using Bluetooth, a USB cable or an aux cable, as the Car Thing doesn’t connect to sound system. If your car is old enough that it doesn’t have any of those, you’re out of luck – of course, you can always install a newer head unit to get access to some that connection option, but that costs even more money.
Those interested in purchasing can find Spotify Car Thing listed on Spotify official website here.
