It's unclear when exactly Spotify Car Thing will be available for a broader audience, but anyone interested can sign up right now.Īs for whether or not Spotify Car Thing will be a hit, that remains to be seen. They'll still need to pay shipping and handling if chosen, but that brings the cost of Car Thing down to just $6.99. Spotify Car Thing has an 'anticipated retail price' of $79.99, but Spotify users can get it for free for a limited time by signing up for a waitlist. In addition to controlling music playback via the touchscreen and buttons, there are also built-in microphones that allow for 'Hey Spotify' voice commands. Once everything is all set up and ready to go, Car Thing makes it easier and safer to use Spotify while behind the wheel. Spotify says Car Thing also needs to be connected to the user's phone via Bluetooth to actually power the Spotify interface that it shows (think of Car Thing as a sort of remote to control the Spotify app from the phone). The display measures at 4-inches, the whole thing is 4.6-inches long and 0.7-inches wide, and it needs to be connected to a car via Bluetooth, a USB outlet, or AUX cable to sync up with the vehicle's speakers.

Related: Spotify's New Mixes Explained: How To Use Playlist Changesįirst of all, what exactly is Spotify Car Thing? The final product looks much different from its previous iterations, featuring a rectangular body with a touchscreen display, four preset buttons, a rotating navigation dial, and buttons to go back and mute/open settings. Fast forward to April 2021, and Spotify Car Thing is finally a reality - kind of. During all of that time, however, Car Thing was never released as a consumer product. The device looked much more complete than the first leaked render from 2018, with Car Thing now featuring a color display and multiple buttons for controlling music playback.

Then, in May 2019, Spotify officially announced its Car Thing experiment. The device was first leaked back in April 2018, with product renders showcasing a circular, monochrome display with two playback buttons.

Leading up to this official announcement, Car Thing was something Spotify had been working on for a long time. Car Thing is an odd device designed with a very specific use case in mind, but for regular Spotify users that spend a lot of time on the road, it looks to have a lot of potential. After dominating the world of music streaming, Spotifyis now launching its first hardware release with Car Thing - an accessory that allows users to safely control their Spotify listening while in the car.

Car thing spotify