358
Spotify won’t open-source Car Thing, but starts refund process
(arstechnica.com)
This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.
For reference, I bought my Car Thing for about $50 in 2022 and was able to get 3 months of credit for my family premium plan ($17/mo x3 = $51), so in essence a complete refund.
As much as it sucks to lose the Car Thing, I’m happy with this outcome at least. Anyone recommend a good replacement for an older car?
I ripped out my old radio and put one that had apple carplay. Was annoying to install but worth the effort.
Seconded. Only downside is that you might need to replace part or all of your dash where the radio goes (because many radio designs are proprietary and aren’t a standard double-DIN bezel), and possibly get an adapter if you have any steering wheel controls like volume or skip. It can be a little involved, though generally the instructions are quite good if you buy from someplace like Crutchfield, or use YouTube videos explaining how to remove and replace the parts.