Spotify alliance with Uber not as trivial as first thought

MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif. -- App-based cab alternative Uber announced this week an alliance with music subscription company Spotify. Now you can listen to your music while getting from point A to point B.

My reaction was: how silly? Who leaves the house for a cab ride and thinks about whether to listen to Prince or the Foo Foo Fighters?

Certainly not I. Just take me where I want to get to, as quickly as possible, and let's say goodbye.

Uber drove to the #TalkingTech garage here to show off the new feature -- which is currently available in 10 Uber cities, including New York, Los Angeles and London, and after taking a ride -- I still think it's trivial, but there is a method to the madness.

The point isn't to plan out your playlist for the ride, but to take control of the cab drivers audio system, and to play DJ. Don't like the song you're listening to? No problem, just click next on your smartphone. Too loud? You can turn it down without having to ask him or her.

That said, my reaction in the back of the Scion as we drove around Manhattan Beach listening to my playlist was this:

-- I had taken control of the car audio and subjected the driver to my music, and it seemed rude. I do plan my playlists when I go bike riding or walking -- always, but those are private occasions between me and my headphones. To play DJ in the back of somebody's car--perhaps if we were riding with a bunch of people to a concert or club, we might want to select the music. But for me. I vote for silence or conversation with my Uber driver. You?

The good news for Uber is that promoting the in-car DJ gives the company something more positive to talk about than why it snoops on reporters -- which had the firm in damage control this week. And for Spotify, it beats trying to explain to its 12.5 million customers why the No. 1 album of the year, Taylor Swift's 1989, isn't available to listeners. (Swift yanked the album in a dispute over royalties.)

To play DJ, you need to link your Uber with your Spotify account, and then once you've called for the car, you get to choose what music should be playing when the vehicle arrives.

Bohemian Rhapsody anyone?

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