The second life of Spotify’s Car Thing
Earlier this year back in May, Spotify declared its in-car music player, Car Thing, would be discontinued. The clever ‘licensed” navigation that the company has delivered on its contract digital promise and all those small devices, mounted conveniently on the dashboard are now unusable, with their users hold a piece of circuitry, screens and buttons that are best employed for recycling.
The rise of the “DeskThing”
Even now that there is no support for it and spotify invited them to recycle it, some customers did not get to say their last word. To the wonders of the World Wide Web, the Car Thing has been reborn. To turn this car music player into a “DeskThing”, just be grabbing a USB cable and then opening the console.
A trip to the ‘r/SpotifyCarThingJBreak’ could help prove my point that jail breaking your old Car Thing and loading the device with a new operating system is one of the most frequent uses of this new object. Many people even search for videos to help them in every step of this operation so there should be no issue finding one that best fits the operation to be done.
The new uses of the DeskThing
With the new operating system on board you can then proceed to download apps of your DeskThing. As for some users they have decided to transform it into a music controller. Through the DeskThing app store, you can install the Spotify app, which does exactly what is expected of it: control your music.
You can also install homeowners controllers that govern audio applications on the computer including Spotify, Apple Music and others. If you need MP3 controller that is viewable and easily accessible without a need to minimize the screen and open another window, the DeskThing can be a convenient choice.
If you’re willing to get your hands dirty, you can even turn your DeskThing into a macro keyboard. There are a multitude of possibilities available to you on GitHub, including a particularly interesting macropad hack.
And why not play Doom?
And for the more daring, you should know that the DeskThing can even be used to play Doom. A technological feat that proves once again that recycling can take surprising and creative forms.
