My new car has no CD player :-(

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by kwadguy, Jun 26, 2017.

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  1. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    Well, you'll never drive a new car again, then, unless you pay for a caddy with a CD player in it as an extra.

    Oh, I know. I have Bluetooth capability in my Cruze alone with USB, aux, and a CD player. But, you know you will see more people with ear buds and headphones while driving just like I did when they cut out cassette players.

    Honestly, I never got around to setting up Bluetooth in my car.

    Yes.
     
  2. Leggs91203

    Leggs91203 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indiana
    I do not know if this still holds true but onolder model cars, the stock stereo usually isn't the best anyways. if that is the case with your new CRV, Might have to look into a new aftermarket deck. I imagine most of even the mid-grade ones offer CD, AUX, bluetooth, and USB inputs.
    If worse came to worst, you could get an FM modulator, even though they probably do not have much dynamic range, if they are anything like how the rest of the FM stations work.

    Funny how car stereos often are. Back in 2005, I had bought a 99 LeSabre and the stock stereo had a damned cassette player. I mean damn, in 1999, tapes were out and CDs were the big thing. MP3 players or MP3 capable phones were not around just yet or maybe just very expensive.

    Oh wow, aren't you just Mr hilarious!
     
  3. BayouTiger

    BayouTiger Forum Resident

    The head unit is actually made by Harmon and they do offer firmware updates from time to time. The newer models play a lot more formats.
     
    Davidmk5 likes this.
  4. dcottrell6

    dcottrell6 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eastampton, NJ
    I don't believe I've even used the cd player in any of my last 4 cars.
    Sat radio, WXPN and an Ipod work for me.
     
  5. Bob_in_OKC

    Bob_in_OKC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, Texas
    That's what I meant was the advantage of a CD player. I didn't have to plug in my phone, unlock the screen, go to the music app, and push play. It didn't take a minute, or actually any time at all. It was just playing.
     
    SandAndGlass likes this.
  6. SamS

    SamS Forum Legend

    Location:
    Texas
    Voice control. Get in the car, "hey Sir, play Radiohead OK computer". Safer/faster than goofing around with a CD.
     
    Davidmk5 and Grant like this.
  7. jkauff

    jkauff Senior Member

    Location:
    Akron, OH
    The lack of an AUX jack is criminal. My FiiO X3 portable has a dedicated line-out, a built-in amp, and a very good DAC. Plays FLAC, too, including hi-res. It makes the pathetic factory audio in my 2013 Accord sound twice as good. Bluetooth is better with audio than it used to be, but it still sucks compared to a line-in connection.
     
    McLover, Davidmk5 and Spitfire like this.
  8. Bob_in_OKC

    Bob_in_OKC Forum Resident

    Location:
    Dallas, Texas
    The CD just plays. And it picks up exactly where it left off. When I got out of the car to pump gas I was 2 minutes into Creep...now I'm going to track 1 on OK Computer?
     
  9. Colin M

    Colin M Forum Resident

    Then computer says that's not OK! My 9y/o Murano came with radio, 6 cd & tape player. Just this January I upgraded to Digital radio android auto.
    I love the simplicity of Spotify on the mobile... create playlists select to download, switch the app to offline and USB connect phone to head unit (Pioneer F88DAB) no data use just a (the crazy) 3,333 track limit. Looking forward to CD quality, but probably overkill for the car.
     
    SamS likes this.
  10. SamS

    SamS Forum Legend

    Location:
    Texas
    It doesn't sound like you have hands-on experience with what I'm describing. It can be incredibly convenient.

    Nothing wrong with liking a CD player. But most new cars that have eliminated the in-dash CDP have replaced it with Android Auto or Apple's CarPlay. Which can inherently be safer, as well as more flexible, to the average music-lover-on-the-go. :)
     
  11. cdash99

    cdash99 Senior Member

    Location:
    Mass

    In a few years you'll be able to trade in your Apple car for a new model and receive an upgraded iPhone that has compatible technology.
     
  12. And I liked playing CDs too when that's all I had. But you still had to load them in. But now I can choose from hundreds of albums. Say the name it plays.

    When you plug your phone into Apple play it automatically unlocks.

    I'm certainly not against CDs. But I no longer have to have that binder full of 25 albums to sort through looking for a title. I wasn't looking for a new car w apple play but now that I have it I end up playing more music again.
     
    Grant, chacha and SamS like this.
  13. SandAndGlass

    SandAndGlass Twilight Forum Resident

    My car is 15-model years old. It had a factory radio with a cassette player, when I bought it used, several years back.

    I was able to have the radio/cassette switched out with an OEM CD player, which can also play CD's recorded in the MP3 format.

    When I first listen to a CD, I would go ahead and make a FLAC copy of it on the HD and convert the FLAC to MP3 files and burn them to a CD for the car.

    I like to be able to pick up a MP3 CD and pop it into the car's CD player.

    What I didn't have was a way to play digital music from my portable player.

    For those with older cars, there is a nice solution to getting a real AUX input that you can use from the headphone jack of the player.

    There is a company called iSimple, that make digital solutions for different automobiles. Back in the day, there used to be optional trunk mounted CD changers. Because of this, there are already stock wiring harnesses in the vehicles to allow for and aftermarket U/G through the dealer.

    Even though my car was equipped with a cassette from the factory, it was still equipped with the harness.

    The iSimple (isimple.com) device, plugs in to the connector that would be used for the 6-disc CD changer (if you are not currently using a rear mounted CD changer). The device has RCA jacks for an AUX input. I have a cable that lays on the carpet at the base of the driver's seat. I can plug the cable into the headphone jack of my player, start the music playing and hit the CD changer input button on the CD player.

    I usually reserve this for road trips but sometimes I do use it around town. I only select different music while I am stopped. I never mess with the interface while driving.

    I do find that it is more convenient to just push in a CD and let it play and stop, while doing local errands.
     
  14. ChuckyBuck

    ChuckyBuck Forum Resident

    Location:
    Albuquerque, NM
    For me fooling around with the music app on my phone is every bit as dangerous as texting. Guess I'll be listening to a lot on NPR in the future. Hope it's still around.
     
    Blank Frank likes this.
  15. Apple CarPlay is not that. You don't futz w your phone at all.
     
    ChuckyBuck likes this.
  16. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    The fact is that cars in 1999 were geared towards certain demographics. The LeSabre was marketed towards older people who were more likely to have cassettes than CDs.

    I have voice command in my car, too, but it doesn't work very well. I'll say something like "Play Strawberry Fields Forever", knowing it's on the USB, and the computer will tell me it didn't find it. o_O
     
  17. SonyTek

    SonyTek Forum Resident

    Location:
    Inland Empire, CA
    My 2016 Honda HR-V has a CD player, and I noticed even the 2017 model still has one. Don't know why the same company that includes one in one model left it out of another (not in the CR-V). I haven't used mine yet, as the car has 2 USB inputs, making it easy to switch between them. It won't play WAV or FLAC, though for some reason. So far, been happy with the options and sound quality.
     
  18. SamS

    SamS Forum Legend

    Location:
    Texas
    Right, and it never will. That's because your car's voice command functionality has no way to index the files on your USB driver. When you use a phone, the indexing integration is built into the voice integration of the local or online music application.
     
    Davidmk5 likes this.
  19. Grant

    Grant Life is a rock, but the radio rolled me!

    No, sometimes it does find what I tell it to play. The USB initializes and indexes the files as soon as you insert it. I know all of this. I've had this car for a few years now. It's just that the system isn't perfect.
     
  20. Tartifless

    Tartifless Forum Resident

    Location:
    France
    For me its the opposite, when i had a car with only bluetooth i found myself listening to less music.
    With cds i would sometimes purchase an album just because i find the coverart nice and simply insert the disc in my car and listen to the whole thing.
    With bluetooth i am restricted to the music that i have on my device and that i already know (even though it has thousands of albums)
     
  21. Leggs91203

    Leggs91203 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Indiana
    With bluesky saying "no quality CD player, no new car sale"....
    A good stereo in a car is nice, but isn't the primary purpose of a car used for dependable transportation?
    I have an old car with a fairly nice deck (when it works right) but I seldom even use it save for background noise.

    Yeah i just thought it was strange cause that lesabre had all the other modern features/extras of a 99 model, so it would have seemed a Cd player would have fit better but yeah, demographs...

    Now about voice command, is it true that if someone cuts you off in traffic and you say something like, "That stupid (string of vulgarities)!" the radio will tune itself to Rush Limbaugh?

    If you did ask it to play "strawberry fields forever" snd the radio found it, will the song go into an eternal loop?
     
    Grant likes this.
  22. rockclassics

    rockclassics Senior Member

    Location:
    Mainline Florida
    As I said I bought a 2017 Nissan Maxima and it has a single disc player. I should point out it is the premium Bose system with the nav system. Not sure if the standard system includes a CD player. I assume it does.
     
    John B Good likes this.
  23. Yes and the 2017 VW GTI SE has a CD player along with ApplePlay and the Fender Premium Sound system. It's been 5 months and I've yet to use the CD player. Since I have most of my CDs on a HD and can just sync playlists on my iPhone.

    Back when Tower and Virgin were open I would take road trips to LA from San Francisco several times a year and frequently buy new CDs from those stores and have new music. But now there are not always CD stores when I leave the cities so have several thousand songs on my iPhone is pretty nice.

    But I get the attraction towards CDs in cars, it's just I eventually get lazy and the same disc is in the changer for way too long
     
    Colin M likes this.
  24. rockclassics

    rockclassics Senior Member

    Location:
    Mainline Florida
    I will also add the 2017 Nissan Maxima has Apple CarPlay but no Android interface. However I am able to connect my Samsung Galaxy S5 via Bluetooth. However it drops out quite a bit....very annoying. Apple iPhone 6 does the same thing via Bluetooth. I am not impressed with Bluetooth at all.

    As mentioned using a USB stick is a good option since you can store a lot of music on one. But it is a bit cumbersome to scroll thru the various folders. But shuffle works very well. Once you figure out the specifics of naming files and folders the USB option works well.

    There is also an aux jack which I use a lot to connect my phone.
     
  25. Even though I set up Bluetooth I use Apple Play on my iPhone 6 plugged in to the USB. I leave a short cable plugged in my car and simply plug the phone in when I enter it. Keeps it charged and great for phone calls and music.
     
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