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Spotify won't open-source Car Thing, but starts refund process

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Re: Spotify won't open-source Car Thing, but starts refund process

#41
post #22

I have to admit at least Google handled the Stadia well in this regard. The money just got refunded to me without me taking any action at all.

Both were pretty lame tbh. What would be ideal is to open up devices to be flashed with custom FW or OS installs and some rudimentary docs on doing so. That would be enough for the community to run with it if there is sufficient demand and value.

Stadia controllers got to be reflashed as standard Bluetooth controllers. I still use mine.

Re: Spotify won't open-source Car Thing, but starts refund process

#42

Are they just banking on people not caring enough or knowing about the refund process? Clearly it can't be better off for them to refund hundreds of thousands maybe even 1m+ people. We need laws that step in to make this impossible. Hardware should be designed so that it can be reused. Make it so that people can just reflash the memory at a minimum. There's no reason for something like this to become e-waste. And the…

Exactly this. They probably know the number using it down to single digits, and know exactly how much it will cost.

Full refunds no questions asked will still only get some small percentage, most people don't take the time and just toss it.

Re: Spotify won't open-source Car Thing, but starts refund process

#43
post #38

If every customer is entitled to a refund then why isn't it automatic and automated? There needs to be a term for this kind of malicious refund policy that does everything possible to prevent you from claiming it.

The account in another comments makes it clear why it's done like that: To get a refund you not only have to talk to support (i.e. spending quite some time in some chat interface), then escalate the issue (talking to another support agent once more) and THEN you might get your money. I guess only a very small fraction of people will do this, making it a very cheap way for Spotify to stop any negative press regarding…

Obviously they're doing it for PR without having to follow through, thus the maliciousness.

What we need is a law that obliges them to issue automated refunds in cases where 100% of customers are entitled to a refund.

Re: Spotify won't open-source Car Thing, but starts refund process

#44

Are they just banking on people not caring enough or knowing about the refund process? Clearly it can't be better off for them to refund hundreds of thousands maybe even 1m+ people. We need laws that step in to make this impossible. Hardware should be designed so that it can be reused. Make it so that people can just reflash the memory at a minimum. There's no reason for something like this to become e-waste. And the…

We don’t need more laws. We need to repeal the arbitration act, and let things like this get resolved in court, where we can establish a precedent against this kind of stuff.

While we're at it let's get rid of the anti-circumvention part of the DMCA as well.

Re: Spotify won't open-source Car Thing, but starts refund process

#45
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both were pretty lame tbh. What would be ideal is to open up devices to be flashed with custom FW or OS installs and some rudimentary docs on doing so. That would be enough for the community to run with it if there is sufficient demand and value.

Stadia controllers got to be reflashed as standard Bluetooth controllers. I still use mine.

Refreshed before typing this because I realised someone might have beaten me to it! - But that's a big difference here - even though the service is gone, you got the refund and still a usable device as a controller out of it...

Spotify has taken something that could be used generically too, and just decided to brick it.

Insert something about product and consumers and how its all just some big money game or something somewhere :D

Re: Spotify won't open-source Car Thing, but starts refund process

#47
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both were pretty lame tbh. What would be ideal is to open up devices to be flashed with custom FW or OS installs and some rudimentary docs on doing so. That would be enough for the community to run with it if there is sufficient demand and value.

Stadia controllers got to be reflashed as standard Bluetooth controllers. I still use mine.

My bad, that's pretty legit on Google's part!

Re: Spotify won't open-source Car Thing, but starts refund process

#48
post #45
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Stadia controllers got to be reflashed as standard Bluetooth controllers. I still use mine.

Refreshed before typing this because I realised someone might have beaten me to it! - But that's a big difference here - even though the service is gone, you got the refund and still a usable device as a controller out of it... Spotify has taken something that could be used generically too, and just decided to brick it. Insert something about product and consumers and how its all just some big money game or something…

Spotify should have the ewaste generated by this decision accounted for when considering any ESG benefits or grants.

Re: Spotify won't open-source Car Thing, but starts refund process

#49
post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Both were pretty lame tbh. What would be ideal is to open up devices to be flashed with custom FW or OS installs and some rudimentary docs on doing so. That would be enough for the community to run with it if there is sufficient demand and value.

Stadia controllers got to be reflashed as standard Bluetooth controllers. I still use mine.

It's worth noting that for some reason there's a deadline for flashing the generic Bluetooth firmware onto a Stadia controller though, you have to get it done before the end of this year if you have one gathering dust.

https://stadia.google.com/controller/index_en_GB.html

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