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Spotify's Dash-Mounted 'Car Thing' Now Available for $89.99
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I don't want to take my phone out of my pocket when I get into my car. It takes effort when all I want to do is control and listen to my music.
I don’t have a car but if I can use this to control the playback on my HomePods mini on my desk I’m totally ordering this. I hate tapping the little touch areas of my HomePods mini, most of the times I end up pausing the music by mistake instead of changing the volume since it’s so hard to see the + - icons. I would totally prefer the dial and a screen showing the currently playing song would be amazing.
Since they didn’t rip it off, I’m going to assume never ?
I’m not against it, but I’m not sure how I feel about the price on this at ~$90. This isn’t for me personally for my vehicles, but I guess it depends how much somebody values their music to spend this kind of money. I personally think the price isn’t to high, but it will provoke consumers to question if they should just use their phones or spend this type of money on a ‘another’ device to add into the car.
My last thought on this, and is more of a side note:
I could totally see these things getting stolen if an ‘opportunist’ sees these attached to a vent or the dash in a vehicle.
My last thought on this, and is more of a side note:
I could totally see these things getting stolen if an ‘opportunist’ sees these attached to a vent or the dash in a vehicle.
There are plenty of vehicles on the road that have bluetooth, aux, and/or usb that do not have CarPlay or something similar.
CarPlay launched 7 years ago, but it took a while for many car manufactures to get on board. Aux input has been a staple in most cars for almost 2 decades.
For myself, I own five cars:
Only one had CarPlay from the manufacture, 2019 Jetta.
The next newest one from 2015, a Mazda5, I installed the CarPlay head unit. That one, and came with bluetooth, Aux input, and USB input, but no infotainment system.
The next one, 2003 Mazda Protege5, I installed an non-CarPlay head unit.
The next one, 2002 Ram 1500, had a non-CarPlay aftermarket head unit installed when I bought it.
The oldest, 1991 SW20, I installed non-CarPlay aftermarket head unit.
So in my own personal experience, 80% of the vehicles that I currently own could have benefited from Spotify's Car Thing.
My case may not be the norm, for people are keeping their cars much longer.
Because, at least in the US, people are keeping their vehicles longer. Many vehicles do not have CarPlay nor any infotainment system.
The average age of vehicles is currently over 12 years old, and that number keeps climbing.
2010 is about what the average year of the vehicles on the road in the US, so you are not too far off.
According to this, the average vehicle in the US was 12.1 years old:
Cars on American roads keep getting older
The average age of vehicles on U.S. roads has been rising for decades as cars grow ever more durable — and expensive.
read below, you NEED a smartphone to use this thing, so it's an ADDITIONAL device that basically is a (more) convenient (?) interface into the app? whether you use aux, USB or BT doesn't matter, you do need a smartphone.
And take the BT connection, how many BT device can a cr connect to? I've had quite a few cars and they could only connect to 1 (one), so either the phone OR this thing ... you can give me any use case you want, imho it's a dumb thing.
Introducing Car Thing from Spotify
Technical information of Car Thing, Spotify’s new smart player designed for your drive.
carthing.spotify.com
Car Thing connects to the Spotify app on your smartphone and uses the mobile data or Wi-Fi connection from your smartphone to work.
CarPlay head units are getting really cheap.
A few months ago, the AppRadio4 CarPlay head unit I installed in my wife's car started to have issues, mostly with registering touches. It got to the point that it basically didn't work.
I decided to get the CarPlay Boss BCPA10RC, which has a huge 10.1" screen. It can sometimes be found for about $200. I payed $280 and the one I got came with a back up camera.
I was a little worried about the quality, but once installed, it is great. The touch screen is so sensitive. I also love how it has a big volume knob.
But to your point, I think one could get a CarPlay head unit for really cheap, but maybe the install costs would make it not worth it to some.
If someone installs it themselves, this could save a lot of money.
There are a lot of single din CarPlay head units now.
Not sure fo the Z4 set up, but the Boss BCPA10RC has a huge 10.1" screen, that "floats" over the dash. It is adjustable up and down, and directional. As long as there isn't anything in the way of the screen, like HVAC buttons for example, this set up might work for your.
This is the one I purchased:
BOSS Audio Systems BCPA10RC Apple CarPlay Android Auto Car Multimedia Player - Single Din Chassis with 10.1 Inch Capacitive Touchscreen, Bluetooth, No DVD, RGB Illumination, Rear Camera Included
BOSS 10" 1DIN CARPLAY ANDROID CAMERA I
www.amazon.com
As an Amazon Associate, MacRumors earns a commission from qualifying purchases made through links in this post.
I wasn't necessarily defending the Spotify Car Thing, but just defending against the the usual comments these articles bring about how alternatives to OEM infotainment systems are useless in [whatever year it is]. That is what I thought your comment is about.
I personally wouldn't use the Spotify Car Thing, but see uses for it.
The same argument could be made about a CarPlay head unit.
So don't use BT. There are multiple choices to connect the device to the car.
Again, I personally wouldn't use this, as I would just rather install a CarPlay head unit than use something like this, but for some others, that might not be an option for them.
I am not going to knock someone if they like the Car Thing or could get some use out of it when I wouldn't.
This would be perfect for a single din replacement stereo with Bluetooth audio connectivity or an aux input. Lots of those sold to retrofit Bluetooth into older cars.
if people want to use this thing that is fine by me, I for sure won't nor am I subscribing to a music streaming service and I never will. I have never bought a headunit of any kind for any of my cars, back in the 70s it was just radio, then came cassette players, then CDs, then iPod and then iPhone, has always worked for me but we are all different, which is fine.
There are plenty of people just like you.
But CarPlay head units, add on devices, and alternative to OEM infotainment systems are for the people who are not like you, and there are plenty like that as well. If there wasn't, the alternatives wouldn't be made.
Many people are driving in older cars that do not have CarPlay and do not want to use their phone as their infotainment display.
A lot of older cars do not even have Aux, BT, or USB.
Some people want to have modern features without buying a new(er) car.
We are all different and have different priorities in life. Live and let live.
I personally would not call someone's use case for the Car Thing "dumb".
Where did I say that? I said “… it’s a dumb thing”… you are putting words in my moth, I’m done with this conversation
Not putting words in your mouth. You said it right here in this post:
Funny enough people think this thing is useless for modern cars but I use in my Tesla. Even though my car has built in Spotify app the bit rate is low and the sound quality is much lower than if I Bluetooth from my phone. Car thing keeps so my phone can stay in my pocket and I can still have a display for Spotify. I would prefer Car play but this is the next best thing.
You keep your phone in your pocket while driving a vehicle? If you took the phone out of your pocket, would the Spotify device be as useful? What if you received a call — would you then have to take the phone out of your pocket?
