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

arstechnica.com

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

#81

Post by CoastalCoder »

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.

This reminds me of a funny book title: "Don't Vote - It Just Encourages the Bastards" [0]

[0] https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Vote-Just-Encourages-Bastards/dp...

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

#82

Post by atlasunshrugged »

complaintdept wrote: post #15
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…

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.

Just a note, from having worked in a Congressional office that phones are usually answered by interns and a staff assistant, mail is opened almost exclusively by the staff assistant, but this is still the lowest level position in an office so the marginal difference is pretty minimal. And for any issue that's time sensitive, don't bother physically mailing because it has to go through extensive security checks before it gets delivered to us. I'd say the ideal way to maximize impact with an elected official here is to ask them the question publicly (FB, at a town hall) and try to garner as much support as you can so they feel like they have to answer you positively.

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

#83

Post by KptMarchewa »

Mountain_Skies wrote: post #34
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.

That's a good idea in theory but most people have dozens of issues that are important to them and there's rarely a candidate for office who is aligned with them on everything, so they have to pick which issues are their most important. And of course their position on every possible issue isn't know when evaluating candidates. Some change their position after being elected. Sometimes issues come up that weren't really…

That's the problem with FPTP systems. In true multi-party proportional systems, people can align with the candidate on much more than few extremely polarizing points. Also gets rid of most effect of gerrymandering.

On the other hand, later coalition building often results in significant compromises too.

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

#84

Post by bonestamp2 »

m-p-3 wrote: post #14
murillians wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Car Thing was only a remote for your phone's Spotify app. It was targeted towards people that had bluetooth or aux inputs to their car's stereo, but not Apple CarPlay or Android Auto that allowed you to control Spotify directly through the radio.

I don't have Android Auto but I can at least control my phone media playback through the head unit and the steering wheel controls over bluetooth. I suspect this was mainly for people who only have the ability to send audio to their head unit without actual controls in some older cars.

That's one use case. The other use case is people who want a dedicated Spotify display in their car. It's especially nice in a new car because you can have your Nav or something else on your car screen and have a second display for your music. Yes, you can also use your phone for that, this is just another option.

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

#85

Post by eurleif »

jsheard wrote: post #49
eurleif wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Yes, but that's just when Google will stop hosting the tool that lets you reflash it. The tool works without Google's servers, and is already hosted elsewhere: https://github.com/luigimannoni/stadia-controller-flasher?ta...

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

#86

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF »

croes wrote: post #78
thayne wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I don't know for the US but in other countries you can vote but make it invalid, so it counts for the total votes but not for a candidate.

One can write in a candidate in the US so just pick your favorite fictional character.

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

#87

Post by jsheard »

eurleif wrote: post #85
jsheard wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Yes, but that's just when Google will stop hosting the tool that lets you reflash it. The tool works without Google's servers, and is already hosted elsewhere: https://github.com/luigimannoni/stadia-controller-flasher?ta...

Oh right, I assumed it required Googles servers to sign the firmware for your specific unit or something.

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

#88

Post by tra3 »

jdoss wrote: post #63

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.

I’ve been trying to buy one for months. Glad I didn’t. I was going to use it for the same purpose as you. I just love that knob. Wonder if I there’s something open source out there.

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

#89

Post by jmull »

The title seems a little misleading… the article is largely about how unclear the refund process is to customers.

Clearly Spotify sees Car Thing as a mistake. That’s ok, mistakes happen. But they should really be working to make sure customers aren’t paying the price for their mistake (as much as is feasible, anyway). It sure doesn’t sound like they are doing that.

BTW, there could be code in there they don’t have the right to open source, so I don’t know whether to judge them on that aspect of it or not.

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

#90

Post by bravetraveler »

CoastalCoder wrote: post #81
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.

This reminds me of a funny book title: "Don't Vote - It Just Encourages the Bastards" [0] [0] https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Vote-Just-Encourages-Bastards/dp...

I haven't read it, but judging by the title, I think it's in the same absurd spirit. I say all of this in jest to get reflection and a response.

Behind my post is a very slight elbow at the person suggesting more people write their representative. As if they'll just hop-to. Or succeed.

We skipped a lot of steps/pieces. Most don't even care or know who their rep is. More voting, less buying trash.

'Identity politics' in concert with the internet, dopamine, and rage have won.

The government serving the people doesn't seem to be a significant function. Otherwise we wouldn't have to hear about how well it does. We'd live it.

We probably won't claw back what we've lost - of it or ourselves. The incentive structure is ruined

There's more to this than I could ever write about, I'll stop there

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