Skip to main content
  1. Home
  2. Audio / Video
  3. News

Spotify’s Car Thing now available to anyone for $90

Simon Cohen
By

If you took note of Spotify’s very limited release of its Car Thing music player and thought that it might make a good addition to your vehicle, we have good news: It’s no longer an invite-only exclusive. If you live in the U.S. and have a Spotify Premium account and $90 burning a hole in your pocket, you can grab one of these devices for yourself.

As a quick refresher, Car Thing is a device that’s meant to make it a lot easier to navigate and play audio from Spotify in your car. Car Thing doesn’t offer any functions that you can’t get through your phone or your in-car infotainment system (if it has Apple CarPlay or Android Auto), but if you’re one of the many folks who don’t want to use (or can’t use) one of those options, Car Thing is a $90 convenience.

Related Videos
Spotify Car Thing is now available to everyone.
Spotify

Using a combination of a four-inch touchscreen, a large jog wheel, preset favorite buttons, and voice commands, Car Thing gives you a lot of ways to get to the content you want to listen to without having to rely on your phone. Unfortunately, you can’t completely ditch your phone — Car Thing requires its internet connection for streaming — so it’s not a true stand-alone device.

Related

You connect Car Thing to your phone over Bluetooth, and for a truly wireless experience, you can connect Car Thing via Bluetooth to your car’s audio system. Wired connections are also supported if your car doesn’t do Bluetooth.

Spotify says it gathered valuable insights during the limited release window for Car Thing. It claims that Car Thing users played more music from Spotify while in their vehicles, and that users found it easier to access that content thanks to the Car Thing interface, which is exactly what Spotify set out to do with the device, so mission accomplished.

But Spotify also let it be known that it’s not quite done developing the gadget. In a blog post, it describes a few new ideas it’s working on: “Night Mode, which dims screen brightness in the evening, and an Add to Queue command.” Hardly earth-shaking, but it’s good to see that the company is actively working on ways to make the device more useful. After all, Car Thing doesn’t work with any other streaming services, so at the very least, it needs to be an awesome Spotify accessory to justify the $90 price.

We should be getting a Car Thing in for review shortly, and we’ll be able to give your our thoughts on whether it’s going to be $90 well spent or not.

Editors' Recommendations

Topics
Pioneer Elite’s latest flagship AVR is jammed with new audio tech
Pioneer Elite VSX-LX805 AVR with a TV.

Pioneer electronics makes some of the best AV receivers money can buy, and its flagship Pioneer Elite brand is about to push that envelope further with the announcement of its latest AVR (audio video receiver), the Elite VSX-LX805. The 11.2.4-channel network receiver will be available this Spring for a premium $2,999, but that big price gets you big power at 150 watts per channel, a new 32-bit digital audio converter, some AI-driven room calibration, and some audiophile upgrades.

The Pioneer Elite VSX-LX805 is the first Pioneer receiver to be designed in cooperation with Premium Audio Company since its licensing agreement with Pioneer/Pioneer Elite in 2021, which put them in charge of marketing and selling the brands' AVR business globally (except in China). PAC is a powerhouse of home audio gear, with huge brands under its umbrella, including Klipsch, Onkyo, Teac, and Energy, so expectations are high for its new arrivals. 

Read more
I used two of the year’s oddest tech gadgets so you don’t have to
The open Nokia 5710 XpressAudio and Huawei Watch Buds

If you’re intent on not keeping your true wireless earbuds in a normal charging case, and want to hide them inside a different gadget, now is your time. The Huawei Watch Buds is a smartwatch with a pair of true wireless headphones inside, and the Nokia 5710 XpressAudio is a 4G phone that stores a pair of earbuds in the back.

It’s a bizarre niche that I’m surprised contains two products. I’ve used them, so it's my duty to report that both are a bit silly — and I don’t want to use any more of them, thank you very much. However, for the few people out there thinking they want to buy one, this is what they're like. For everyone else, you get to marvel at two of the oddest tech products seen in a while.
Phone or smartwatch?

Read more
What is Dolby Vision? The dynamic HDR format fully explained
An example of the difference between Dolby Vision and regular HDR.

Of all the new TV technologies to emerge over the last few years, it's arguable that none has had as big an impact on overall picture quality as High Dynamic Range, or HDR. When properly implemented, HDR makes everything pop, while enhancing details and improving color. We think it has been more impactful than the move from Full HD (1080p) to 4K Ultra HD or even 8K resolution.

But not all HDR is created equal; in fact, HDR is a catch-all term that refers to several distinct and competing technologies. The one with the biggest brand recognition is Dolby Vision. Dolby Labs has done such a good job of marketing Dolby Vision as its own platform, many consumers aren't even aware that it's an HDR format.  That shouldn't be a surprise: TVs that have Dolby Vision technology are often labeled as "4K HDR TV with Dolby Vision," making it seem as though the two terms aren't related.

Read more