Spotify debuts its first-ever hardware device, Car Thing, a smart player for vehicles

It’s available exclusively in the US on a by-invite-only basis.

Spotify Car Thing

Image: Spotify

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Spotify has launched Car Thing, a wireless voice-controlled smart player for vehicles and the streaming company’s first-ever hardware device.

Car Thing is currently available for free as a limited, by-invite-only release exclusively for the US market. Interested users, who must have a Spotify Premium subscription, will have to sign up for a waitlist and hope that Spotify gets in touch. The Car Thing’s retail price would otherwise be $79.99. It is unclear if Spotify will test drive the product outside of the US.

The gadget isn’t designed to “compete with in-car infotainment systems” but rather to serve customers wanting a more “seamless and personalised in-car listening experience,” according to Spotify.

“Our focus remains on becoming the world’s number one audio platform – not on creating hardware – but we developed Car Thing because we saw a need from our users,” the brand wrote in a statement. “No matter the year or model of your vehicle, we feel everyone should have a superior listening experience.”

“With Car Thing, we’ll now be bringing our entire catalogue of music and podcasts to a wider range of users across an even wider range of vehicles.”

Car Thing can be mounted onto dashboards, air vents and CD players, and connects via Bluetooth, AUX or USB. It has a touchscreen, a large navigation dial, voice control and four assignable preset buttons to pull up your favourite music, podcasts, playlists and news.

Spotify Car Thing
Image: Spotify

In other Spotify news, the brand also launched Mixes, personalised playlists curated by machine learning, this month.

Learn more at carthing.spotify.com

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