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Spotify Car Thing will be discontinued

support.spotify.com

111–120 of 240 posts

Re: Spotify Car Thing will be discontinued

#111
What are the actual practical nuts and bolts problems with making bricking devices like this illegal? Someone in comments mentioned licensing contracts and things that might require them to but that seems resolvable. This seems so anti-social, anti-environment and not even benefitting them selfishly. Just a waste

Re: Spotify Car Thing will be discontinued

#112
post #94

I firmly believe that permanent key fusing to lock bootloaders should be outlawed. At the very least the keys (and schematics) should be released once the device reaches EOL. Otherwise we're just manufacturing e-waste.

Or just stop this nonsense of needing updates to keep things working, which then allows updates that break things.

Have proper standards how music is transmitted. Have devices support those standards. Have those standards be long-running.

Re: Spotify Car Thing will be discontinued

#113
post #94

I firmly believe that permanent key fusing to lock bootloaders should be outlawed. At the very least the keys (and schematics) should be released once the device reaches EOL. Otherwise we're just manufacturing e-waste.

Or just stop this nonsense of needing updates to keep things working, which then allows updates that break things. Have proper standards how music is transmitted. Have devices support those standards. Have those standards be long-running.

Situation: there are now 15 competing music streaming standards.

Re: Spotify Car Thing will be discontinued

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just stop this nonsense of needing updates to keep things working, which then allows updates that break things. Have proper standards how music is transmitted. Have devices support those standards. Have those standards be long-running.

Situation: there are now 15 competing music streaming standards.

FM and AM were only 2 and were long running

Re: Spotify Car Thing will be discontinued

#115
Incidentally, I just installed Navidrome on my Alpine Linux server for test, and it's currently scanning all my local music library. The heck if I'm going to depend to any proprietary device/format that is going to become a brick, then e-waste, as soon as the company behind it makes it obsolete. Happened a million times and will happen again.

https://www.navidrome.org/

Yes, I would totally push for legislation forcing manufacturers to unlock bootloaders and release tech info when they stop selling devices, so that hardware can be repurposed; landfills are already full of perfectly functioning stuff that could be put again in operation if manufacturers weren't so stubbornly hostile to anything Open Source.

Re: Spotify Car Thing will be discontinued

#117
post #93

Not surprising, given the awkward position the product was in, targeting customers who don’t already have CarPlay or Android Auto (lower end of the market), but are also willing to pay for Spotify Premium and a good smartphone data plan (higher end of the market).

This is somewhat out of touch.

Even a cheap car car costs £1000's up front (or £100's/mo financed), with recurring > £100 a month in insurances, fuel, and repairs.

A spotify subscription costs £12/mo, and a family plan £20/mo.

A more than good enough data plan is £10/mo.

A more than good enough smartphone is £100.

The vast majority of older car owners can easily afford a Spotify subscription.

Re: Spotify Car Thing will be discontinued

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Or just stop this nonsense of needing updates to keep things working, which then allows updates that break things. Have proper standards how music is transmitted. Have devices support those standards. Have those standards be long-running.

Situation: there are now 15 competing music streaming standards.

EU legislation on power chords gave us micro-USB phones, when USB-C could have been a better option, but a real solution would be let consumers decide inputs/outputs.

Re: Spotify Car Thing will be discontinued

#119
post #93

Not surprising, given the awkward position the product was in, targeting customers who don’t already have CarPlay or Android Auto (lower end of the market), but are also willing to pay for Spotify Premium and a good smartphone data plan (higher end of the market).

This seems like a very US-centric view or the world. If you make a decent amount of money you have to spend it on a car? Lots of people don’t care about cars and/or don’t spend a enough time in them to justify spending a lot on it.

What a weird critique. American or not, if you don't have a car you're probably not in the target market for a CarThing

I purchased mine without any intent on using it in a car, and in fact I never did, but it was clear that I was engaging in out-of-bounds behavior in doing so.

Re: Spotify Car Thing will be discontinued

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Situation: there are now 15 competing music streaming standards.

EU legislation on power chords gave us micro-USB phones, when USB-C could have been a better option, but a real solution would be let consumers decide inputs/outputs.

The EU legislation will require USB-C, not micro USB
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