Underneath the dial is a back button that takes you to the Now Playing screen, returns to Home or to closes the player interface. To navigate through your content library, you can rotate the dial and press it or tap on the screen to see specific track details for a playlist, album or podcast. You can also say “Hey Spotify” to play each of the presets if you can’t, or don’t want to, press any of the buttons.
You can press and hold one of them to save whatever is playing or use a voice command to set them hands-free. Spotify says those four items are also stored for offline playback. Four preset buttons along the top allow you to save your favorite music, podcasts and news for one-touch access. It also reminds me of the satellite radio receiver I used in the pre-merger days of Sirius and XM Radio. The gadget is noticeably smaller than a smartphone, though it kind of resembles one due to the touchscreen. The company includes CD player, dash and vent mounts in the box for you to choose from. In either case, your phone is the internet connection and the ticket to Spotify content while the Car Thing is mostly a controller and display. The device can connect to your car stereo wirelessly via Bluetooth or wired with an aux or USB jack. Car Thing connects to your phone via Bluetooth and it’s powered by the 12-volt port. As most things are these days, the device can be controlled by voice (“Hey Spotify”), but it has a dial, touch screen and preset buttons for physical interaction as well.
First and foremost, it’s a dedicated player for Spotify’s music and podcast library. Now Spotify is ready for select users to get their hands on a refined version of the voice-controlled in-car player.īack in 2019, the company pretty much tipped its hand entirely on Car Thing. When the company first revealed a piece of hardware called “Car Thing” in 2019, Spotify was clear the test was meant “to help us learn more about how people listen to music and podcasts.” It also explained that there weren’t “any current plans” to make that device available to consumers. In fact, I was convinced it would never become a thing the public could actually use. At this point, we’ve seen rumors, job listings, blog posts, FCC filings and more rumors about Spotify’s in-car music player over the span of a few years.
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