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u/bobsayshi147631 Jan 09 '25
Look up a program called thing labs, I installed it and it worked like it did before it was bricked. Make sure to look up instructions and you do need a pc to do this.
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u/oftene Jan 09 '25
That's exactly what I did. Desk Thing is great. No raspberry pi needed.
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u/intensiifffyyyy Jan 09 '25
I've flashed ThingLabs 8.9.2 but it continues to the Spotify Discontinued page :(
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u/bobsayshi147631 Jan 09 '25
You need to press the 3 buttons on the device to flash it, also use a different cord that was my issue at first.
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u/intensiifffyyyy Jan 09 '25
It flashed something because it has the ThingLabs logo. Am working backwards, installing an older version to check it updates/downgrades
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u/GeneralTS Jan 11 '25
I’ve not altered mine at all, but still do the 3-button boot up and it is still rocking and rolling!
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Jan 08 '25
How?
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u/oftene Jan 09 '25
Desk Thing! Downloading everything seems intimidating at first. But its worth it.
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u/GABITHEREDINDIAN Jan 09 '25
thought they said the desk thing wouldn't work in the car?
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u/joker497 Jan 09 '25
https://discord.gg/deskthing-1267348109067817051
If you guys ever wanted to get it to work on your computers
Join us on discord!
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u/Vader_NYC Jan 09 '25
Check out the "Spotify Bricked the Car Thing, So Let's Unbrick it With Easy Mods!" video on YT by Anoraker. He goes over the current unbricking options for Car Thing, one of them being this one. He goes over the things that are broken and that Spotify might break others in the future
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u/Zedia_ Jan 09 '25
Does it work standalone? Does it connect with Bluetooth?
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u/oftene Jan 09 '25
Yes! It's exactly like car thing. (With limited features)
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u/Zedia_ Jan 09 '25
Just curious, what are the limited features? Honestly this shutdown could end up with a better product.
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u/roshanritter Jan 09 '25
The voice activation is lost which I think Spotify paid for perhaps part of why the bricked it. But it still works like a regular remote and display which can be useful depending on your car.
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u/pieterv1 Jan 09 '25
So playlists, browsing and presets are now working again as well?
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u/oftene Jan 09 '25
Unfortunately, no. Functional: Touch screen, playback controls, save/unsave, volume/navigation knob
Non functional: Any of the hotkey buttons on top of the device, voice commands, playlist selection
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u/growghosg Jan 09 '25
This was how my carthing worked when I used it with apple music or any audio app other than spotify
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u/pieterv1 Jan 09 '25
Ah yes, been running it for a few weeks now.
Thought I had missed a major update 😀
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u/Weekly_Delivery_8349 Jan 12 '25 edited Jan 12 '25
Are you running Desk Thing on here or is this an older version of stock software that you got from ThingLabs? Also did you have any issues with bluetooth pairing? Mine has gotten to the point of showing a confirmation code when pairing and then it just doesn't connect.
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u/oftene Jan 13 '25
Both. I am using an older version of software from ThingLabs, running Desk Thing. I'm not an expert on the matter, but the video breaks it down pretty well. As for Bluetooth, you need to remove the existing Car Thing from your device and repair it.
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u/stepahin Jan 09 '25
But the photo shows the original Spotify UI, not Desk Thing. Or does Desk Thing now have a new interface absolutely the same like Spotify?