The Auto Thing has been one of Spotify’s oddest trials to date. Away from the rather general and unusual name, it’s nearly so far removed from any of the streaming mammoth’s tackle hookups, especially since it did n’t mate with anyone for this in the first place. Still, Spotify easily believes that there’s a request for it, indeed if small, and is cautiously opening up its Auto Thing for purchase by any Spotify stoner if you ’re willing to stay and pay up for one.
The Spotify Car Thing is a devoted Spotify app player with a touch screen and a dial geared specifically towards that use case. It does n’t have speakers of its own, connecting to the auto for that, nor does it have an independent data connection and uses your smartphone to sluice music. It is, still, a cheaper option than buying a new auto or installing a new head unit just to have commodity that plays your Spotify melodies.
As reasonable or as ridiculous as that premise sounds, Spotify seems intent on dealing it at least to a many of its subscribers. It just blazoned a limited release for the Auto Thing, opening it up to any and all Spotify subscribers. Unlike its indeed more limited free comp to Premium subscribers, this bone will bear interested buyers to line up on a waiting list and pay$79.99 when they get their turn.
The list is open to both free and ultraexpensive Spotify subscribers in the US only, but there’s an important caveat. To actually be suitable to use the Auto Thing for streaming, you need to be a Premium subscriber. So while you can buy one as a free stoner, you ’ll have to ultimately subscribe up for a paid league to use it.
Spotify does n’t say how long the list will be open for sign-ups, and there’s really no way to know how long that list formerly is. The streaming mammoth also teases that it has pushed some software updates but does n’t go into detail about what those are.