Spotify, the world’s most popular music streaming service has recently launched its first ever gadget called “Car Thing”. Yes, that is exactly the name! It is basically a voice control piece of hardware that runs only Spotify music from your smartphone application and attaches to your car via a power connection.
There will be no harm in calling “Car Thing” as a basic stereo device that operates only on Spotify Music for your Car and is nothing more than that. As reported by The Verge, it is a Bluetooth enabled voice assistant stereo device that controls Spotify from your phone without the need of picking your phone up to play a specific playlist or song while you are driving.
Spotify’s first ever gadget is not very useful in today’s time, to be very honest and it seems as if its is built for older cars without stereo inbuilt. Someone should ask Spotify, “What is the point of such a device that controls only Spotify music when you already have a car built-in screen that does the same thing connected to Bluetooth? Maybe voice controls are not functional with conventional car stereos that Spotify had to release a whole new gadget for this one task.
As mentioned in a report by The Verge, it is a limited release for some users in the United States and those users must have Spotify premium to qualify for the “Car Thing”. The report further says that Spotify is billing the gadget as an exploration device and only depending on its hype in the market will it choose to release it in public.
However, talking only about the device, Car Thing is very small and lightweight with a good build and thin profile. There are two knobs on the front screen, the bigger one lets users control whatever function is there on the screen and the smaller one acts as a back button. The Verge exclusively reports that the Car Thing is not inclusive of Speakers which means that instead of users picking up their phone to control music, can now voice control their Spotify and get a dedicated functionality screen with this new gadget, that is it.
What are the odds of someone actually shouting out “hey Spotify, play next track” than simply tap on the phone to do so? The thought behind the release of Car Thing is understandable but as many analysts in the industry believe that there is not an actual requirement for this thing to be there and there is absolutely no market for such a device at present. Wouldn’t it be easier if Spotify gave access to Siri and Google assistant to control the app’s music instead?
