First some background. Back in October 2021, Spotify announced the Car Thing. This was a $90 USD device that went in your car and allowed you to stream from Spotify in your car. The device had a 4-inch touchscreen and knob for easy navigation, as well as support for Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and voice control. But you needed a data connection of some sort and you also needed to be a Spotify Premium account holder to use it. I at the time questioned how useful this would be. But clearly Spotify felt there was a need for this device. Though it killed the product in 2022 as I am guessing that the money wasn’t rolling in because this product existed.
Fast forward to earlier this week when it was announced by Spotify that it was going to remote brick this device and users could dispose of it responsibly as e-waste. Effectively, Spotify was killing the product and making sure there was no possibility that it could return.
Cue the outrage on multiple fronts. Reddit and Spotify own forum among other places were soon filled with angry owners of the device venting their frustration at the company for this move. Some called this move unacceptable and many wanted a refund. Some even wanted the company to open source the device to keep it alive. Thus while I had my reservations about the usefulness of such a device, there are clearly many who found it useful.
Here’s my thoughts on this. What this seems like to me is that Spotify used its user base as a beta test group for a product. And now they want to kill the product because it didn’t work out the way the company wanted it to. Which is code for it didn’t make Spotify a pile of money from this device. Now if someone wants to pay up to be part of this beta test, is up to them. But for Spotify to brick the device and tell users to throw it away is completely unacceptable. Yes they did say to dispose of it responsibly as e-waste, but that’s still the wrong message. Because the message I would be getting if I were a Spotify customer is not to support them in terms of getting any other piece of hardware that they might come out with. And in an extreme case, I might be rethinking my support of Spotify in general. As in cancelling my subscription. So far from what I can tell, Spotify really isn’t saying anything than what is in the document that I linked to above. Nor have they answered questions about the possibility of open sourcing the device. But if they did open source the device, it would make them look a whole lot better than they do right now. Spotify really needs to recognize that they have stuffed the handling of this situation and rethink this. Because right now, they look like a bunch of clowns who don’t care about this subset of their user base. And for those like me who don’t have a Spotify account and who are watching this from afar, this situation and how it is being handled doesn’t give me an incentive to get a Spotify account. Even a free one.
Over to you Spotify. Though given your past track record in handling bad situations, I fully expect you to continue to screw up the response to this bad situation.
Why I Think Spotify’s Handling Of The Demise Of It’s Car Thing Device Quite Frankly Sucks
Posted in Commentary with tags Spotify on May 26, 2024 by itnerdFirst some background. Back in October 2021, Spotify announced the Car Thing. This was a $90 USD device that went in your car and allowed you to stream from Spotify in your car. The device had a 4-inch touchscreen and knob for easy navigation, as well as support for Apple CarPlay, Android Auto, and voice control. But you needed a data connection of some sort and you also needed to be a Spotify Premium account holder to use it. I at the time questioned how useful this would be. But clearly Spotify felt there was a need for this device. Though it killed the product in 2022 as I am guessing that the money wasn’t rolling in because this product existed.
Fast forward to earlier this week when it was announced by Spotify that it was going to remote brick this device and users could dispose of it responsibly as e-waste. Effectively, Spotify was killing the product and making sure there was no possibility that it could return.
Cue the outrage on multiple fronts. Reddit and Spotify own forum among other places were soon filled with angry owners of the device venting their frustration at the company for this move. Some called this move unacceptable and many wanted a refund. Some even wanted the company to open source the device to keep it alive. Thus while I had my reservations about the usefulness of such a device, there are clearly many who found it useful.
Here’s my thoughts on this. What this seems like to me is that Spotify used its user base as a beta test group for a product. And now they want to kill the product because it didn’t work out the way the company wanted it to. Which is code for it didn’t make Spotify a pile of money from this device. Now if someone wants to pay up to be part of this beta test, is up to them. But for Spotify to brick the device and tell users to throw it away is completely unacceptable. Yes they did say to dispose of it responsibly as e-waste, but that’s still the wrong message. Because the message I would be getting if I were a Spotify customer is not to support them in terms of getting any other piece of hardware that they might come out with. And in an extreme case, I might be rethinking my support of Spotify in general. As in cancelling my subscription. So far from what I can tell, Spotify really isn’t saying anything than what is in the document that I linked to above. Nor have they answered questions about the possibility of open sourcing the device. But if they did open source the device, it would make them look a whole lot better than they do right now. Spotify really needs to recognize that they have stuffed the handling of this situation and rethink this. Because right now, they look like a bunch of clowns who don’t care about this subset of their user base. And for those like me who don’t have a Spotify account and who are watching this from afar, this situation and how it is being handled doesn’t give me an incentive to get a Spotify account. Even a free one.
Over to you Spotify. Though given your past track record in handling bad situations, I fully expect you to continue to screw up the response to this bad situation.
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