EDIT: The only reason why I still had it at this point was because I could use it with other apps. However, now that my Spotify Subscription is cancelled, it doesn’t work with anything. It’s mildly infuriating because today, I can’t still use it with other apps like I was able to yesterday.

Please don’t make the same mistake I made. No one should buy this.

  • Izzy@lemmy.worldEnglish
    72·
    1 year ago

    What is this device? I’m confused as to why it even exists.

    Edit: I discovered it is literally called “Car Thing”.

    • Candybar121@lemmy.worldEnglish
      23·
      1 year ago

      I’ve never heard of it before, it looks like a smartphone that doesn’t do anything other than have the spotify app? Like is there any mapping or calling built in? And to lock hardware like this behind their premium subscription is wildly, not mildly infuriating.

      • schmidtster@lemmy.worldEnglish
        11·
        1 year ago

        Man we’ve hit the point where people don’t even know about Sirius or XM radio do they? You paid to listen and you had to pay for the receiver, oh and likely an adapter to get it to work on the vehicle too.

        • dan@upvote.auEnglish
          4·
          1 year ago

          I got a SiriusXM antenna thing and they paid me for it lol

          My car radio (a Pioneer one I installed many years ago) supports SiriusXM; I just had to get the right receiver for it. SiriusXM were having a sale where you’d pay $70 for the receiver but they’d give you a $70 rebate, making it free. During the rebate period, Crutchfield had a sale where they reduced the price of the receiver to $30. I bought it for $30, filled in the $70 rebate form, and they gave me the whole $70 rebate.

          I’ve been on a $5/month promotional plan for a few years. Whenever the price goes up, I complain to them and they reduce it back down. It’s a pretty good service for $5/month, since you get both satellite and streaming included. Satellite is good since it works all over the USA - good for road trips.

          • schmidtster@lemmy.worldEnglish
            3·
            1 year ago

            Oh jeez that’s not a bad deal at all, and that’s almost what I was doing. I would just let the subscription/deal lapse and they would call and ask why I didn’t renew. Told them I’m not paying $15 a month and than they offer the $60 for a year or 2 years.

            At the time they didn’t even have dedicated car units, you had to have one of their portable units, and an am/fm adapter or tape adapter.

      • NaN@lemmy.sdf.orgEnglish
        3·
        1 year ago

        All it provides is a simplified ui and voice control, the same voice control as the Spotify app. It doesn’t even play the audio, it is a remote for the app on your phone which is doing the real work.