Spotify won't open-source Car Thing, but starts refund process • Hacker News Board

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

#61

Post by jvanderbot » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:04 PM UTC

bravetraveler wrote: post #21

complaintdept wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Write your elected representatives, preferably by snail mail (they take it more seriously that way). With Right to Repair being talked about so much right now, the time could be right to get this into the public mind. Car Thing could be what nucleates anti bricking legislation.

Conversely, stop voting for people that need coerced to their job. I know this is reductive - save your fingers. Write, but do the not-vote-thing if they don't listen. The desire to not be hoodwinked has already been expressed. Just not this specific way. Or, expressed more positively I guess, vote for those who don't need goaded to do the obviously good thing.

There are a whole bunch of "Right" things to do. How does one choose? By listening to the people who they represent in real time.

Otherwise, how can they possibly set priorities once during election season for the whole term for any possible future issue?

Democracy is closed-loop control. You need a feedback signal. It's a feature - not a bug.

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

#62

Post by crazygringo » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:05 PM UTC

goodluckchuck wrote: post #28

Philip-J-Fry wrote: post #9

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.

No, courts don't just make up precedent out of thin air.

Courts follow laws as written, and make decisions and establish precedent whenever laws are vague, in edge cases, or when laws conflict.

But for stuff like this new laws are absolutely required. Why would you prefer unelected judges to be making stuff up, instead of democratically elected lawmakers whose literal job it is to decide these kinds of policies with input from constituents?

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

#63

Post by jdoss » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:07 PM UTC

I am pretty bummed that they are discontinuing it and not open sourcing the hardware. I use mine at my desk every day to control my desktop Spotify and it is pretty nice having hardware controls for my music.

Shame on Spotify.

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

#64

Post by crazygringo » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:07 PM UTC

internet2000 wrote: post #24

[flagged]

Besides the EU having zero jurisdiction over it, the word you're looking for is "deafening".

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

#65

Post by thayne » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:10 PM UTC

bravetraveler wrote: post #53

croes wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does the not-vote-thing help? The result is calculated on the basis of the votes cast. So if you have 10 votes of 20 possible you get 50%, if 5 don't vote it's 10 out of 15 = 66.6%

It's more... 'vote, but directed elsewhere' - I'm not really championing for non-participation. It already won. I'm posting fairly incendiary stuff because most don't vote, yet everyone has an opinion.

That assumes there is a candidate to vote for who cares.

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

#66

Post by sentrysapper » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:11 PM UTC

As someone that doesn't own, but rents cars for errands, the Car Thing made perfect sense. Instead of spending several minutes trying to find a good station or pair my phone, which wasn't always an option, I could pop that in a vent and start jamming.

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

#67

Post by jakjak123 » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:12 PM UTC

mgkimsal wrote: post #59

Gasp0de wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We live in a time where AI chatbots speak way better english than outsourced support workers in 3rd world countries.

unless the bots have been trained on outsourced support worker chat threads?

I dont like this timeline

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

#68

Post by masfuerte » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:14 PM UTC

giancarlostoro wrote: post #8

nickthegreek wrote: post #4

I used the support link provided. They tried to give me 3 months of premium instead of a refund. I declined. They replied: >Thank you for waiting! As I can only suggest you for free Premium in your account. The actual Car Thing refund is done by the specialty advisors, so I'll create a case related to your issue and transfer it and the right team will get back to you through email. Sounds good? So I am now waiting fo…

When the Fitbit Ionic had a recall, I applied for a refund 2 years later, sent in the watch (you have to mail it), and it took months to get my cash. I wouldn't hold my breath, it might take a while, which I think is fine, so long as they get it done.

I applied for a ticket refund for a heavily delayed train in the UK. A month after I applied they agreed and said they would deposit the money into my PayPal account. Three months later I remembered to check, and they hadn't. When I contacted them they were all "lol, whoops, how did that happen?". And finally paid me. Big companies really do take the piss.

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

#69

Post by bravetraveler » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:15 PM UTC

jvanderbot wrote: post #61

bravetraveler wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Conversely, stop voting for people that need coerced to their job. I know this is reductive - save your fingers. Write, but do the not-vote-thing if they don't listen. The desire to not be hoodwinked has already been expressed. Just not this specific way. Or, expressed more positively I guess, vote for those who don't need goaded to do the obviously good thing.

There are a whole bunch of "Right" things to do. How does one choose? By listening to the people who they represent in real time . Otherwise, how can they possibly set priorities once during election season for the whole term for any possible future issue ? Democracy is closed-loop control. You need a feedback signal. It's a feature - not a bug.

I agree. I'm not advocating to not vote or engage. Quite the contrary. It's between the lines.

I'm not sure we have that feedback loop. Last I looked, non-voters beat voters consistently.

A vote of no confidence in the false dichotomy is better than non-participation. Break the eggs/make the omelette.

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

#70

Post by bravetraveler » Fri, May 31, 2024, 3:17 PM UTC

thayne wrote: post #65

bravetraveler wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's more... 'vote, but directed elsewhere' - I'm not really championing for non-participation. It already won. I'm posting fairly incendiary stuff because most don't vote, yet everyone has an opinion.

That assumes there is a candidate to vote for who cares.

Hah, indeed. I'm sure there are... attention/traction is difficult though.

I'm more and more disenfranchised. Opportunists steal the show.

I still pay attention/go to the booth, yet I'm sour because the larger group confuses public servants for celebrity.