Following Spotify’s launch of the ‘Car Thing’, which turns your car’s stereo system into a Spotify Player, the ‘Home Thing’ is a conceptual device that turns any speaker at home into a dedicated Spotify playback device. Armed with a simple circular interface and a rotating crown, the ‘Home Thing’ is a nifty little accessory for speakers you may have lying around the house. Especially the wired kinds.
Designer: Juan Cruz Ottonelli
The ‘Home Thing’ is a neat little device to give you control over your home-based speakers. Sure, you could use your phone to control them too, but the Home Thing provides a much more reliable experience, especially with older, analog speakers that don’t have Bluetooth connectivity. Plug the tiny puck in and your speaker instantly becomes a Spotify playback device. It can now be controlled via Bluetooth or WiFi, and even manually using the circular touch display.
The display has a rather fun UI and is for the most part touch-responsive. You can tap to play/pause, swipe to switch tracks or view playlists, and access all of Spotify’s features barring probably something as niche as videos (like JRE), because of the circular display. The Home Thing also comes with a rotating crown that works either as a seeking tool, allowing you to rewind or fast forward songs and podcasts, or as a volume tool, although most speakers will probably have their own volume settings.
