Anyone can now order Spotify's Car Thing

A few months ago, Spotify released their much-leaked Car Thing music player on an invitation-only basis to some US subscribers. Today that exclusivity is no more, and anyone can pre-order the mysterious Spotify remote.

Spotify Car Thing acted mainly as a dedicated secondary display for your phone and would seamlessly connect to both your phone and your car stereo via Bluetooth.

Spotify Car Thing features:

Use voice control for easy access:

Spotify’s voice search lets you quickly play specific music or podcasts and can even help you find something new. Just say “Hey Spotify,” then ask for a song, album, artist, playlist, station, or podcast. Car Thing can understand what you’re asking to play with four microphones along the top, even with the loud music or your windows down.

Try the dial for a hands-on way to steer to the audio you love:

You can also browse deeper, curating the perfect soundtrack to wherever you’re headed. Use the dial to browse, select, play, pause, and discover.

View the touchscreen display to see what’s playing:

You can also use the screen to see what’s in your library and results from voice search—swipe to browse further or skip or tap to play.

Choose four preset buttons to get to your favorites faster and change them anytime:

They’ll always bring you the newest podcast episodes and up-to-date news.

Spotify Car Thing is compatible with most of the cars out there. If you can play music from your phone on your car stereo today, Car Thing will work using a USB outlet, Bluetooth and AUX. Car Thing connects to the Spotify app on your smartphone and uses your smartphone’s mobile data or WiFi connection to work.

Pricing and Availability:

Car Thing from Spotify is now available in the USA only for $79.99. Car Thing requires a paid Spotify Premium subscription plan and a smartphone with WiFi or mobile data connection. You can pre-order at carthing.spotify.com.

To see how it operates, check out a full review by Joshua Chang below:

via The Verge