TL;DR
- Spotify has discontinued its Automotive Factor gadget, used for listening to and controlling Spotify within the automobile.
- The corporate is successfully bricking the gadget and has inspired homeowners to “safely” eliminate it.
- That looks like a waste when the corporate may’ve opened up the gadget for tinkering.
Spotify first launched its Automotive Factor gadget again in 2021, and this was a compact Spotify participant with a touchscreen and bodily knob. The product had its followers, however Spotify has now determined to discontinue and successfully brick the gadget.
The corporate despatched emails to prospects informing them of Automotive Factor’s discontinuation (h/t: Reddit), nevertheless it additionally up to date a help web page to verify extra particulars.
Sadly, this discontinuation means Automotive Factor will not work. Which means a great deal of folks can have ineffective devices which can be principally bricked. Spotify even recommends that individuals reset the gadget after which “safely” eliminate it. It additionally notes that there gained’t be any trade-in schemes, equivalent to subscription credit score or a refund.
That is a particularly disappointing flip of occasions for Automotive Factor homeowners. The music streaming service may’ve prevented a great deal of these devices from ending up in landfills by opening up the software program. This manner, folks would have the ability to set up various working methods/apps to maintain utilizing the gadget as an in-car audio participant or for different functions.
Spotify has additionally famous on its help web page that there are not any plans to launch a alternative or a brand new model of the Automotive Factor. Nonetheless, this saga reveals that you just in all probability shouldn’t purchase any {hardware} from Spotify within the first place, as the corporate clearly has no qualms about bricking its gadgets.
We’ve emailed Spotify to ask why it isn’t opening up the Automotive Factor’s software program for tinkering. We’ll replace the article if/when the corporate will get again to us.
