Community revives Spotify's Car Thing as open-source device after discontinuation

Spotify's Car Thing, a device designed to control music in cars, was discontinued in 2022, with plans to phase it out completely by December 2024. Despite this, a community of developers has emerged to repurpose the device, demonstrating its potential beyond Spotify's original intent. The Car Thing, which has limited specifications, was made open-source, allowing users to modify it. Projects like DeskThing and Nocturne have transformed the device into useful tools for desktop applications and alternative music playback, respectively. This situation highlights issues of planned obsolescence in technology. While Spotify aimed to phase out the Car Thing, the community's efforts show that older tech can still have value and functionality, reducing electronic waste.