CD Players Soon To Disappear From Cars?

[bronsin]

Thats what I read in msnbc.

Next thing you know they'll be doing away with my telephone.

Comments?

[Cyn97]

Meh... with USB, Aux ports and BlueTooth streaming these days, I really couldn't care less.

On the topic of telephones, I've been wanting to do away with my landline for some time, even with the rediculous Cellphone rates in Canada lol! I'm just too lazy to follow through...

[Kioshi]

I personally use my phone via AUX jack and play my music that way in the car.

I USE to burn CDs in mp3 format but searching for songs became hard that way.

As long as they dont remove the conventional radio option out of cars. I still like to turn the dials on my volume instead of touching a volume + or - UI.

[WeeYari]

Can't remember the last time I actually played a CD.

[Nanook]

I can't believe they haven't already replaced cd's with memory chips. Especially, in cars, no moving parts, all electronic connections. Of course many newer cars have hard drives built into the entertainment system. I do like the 6 disc cd/dvd player in my Jeep. 4gb worth of music,mp3 format is a lot of music. Even when ripped @ 320k quality. It is easy to search for music also,by using the folder feature. I do have to remember what disc though, but i burned them alphabetically by artist. Ie; 12 stones - disturbed disc 1, drowning pool - judas priest disc 2.

[Kal-El]

Well, considering record companies have already announced they will be phasing out CD's in the next several years (except for special editions, ect. - they say) , it's safe to say automakers will follow and stop installing players.

[enviri]

what i really dont get is the lack of technology in car entertainment. you got ALOT of space, yet a cellphone is packed with more features than a 500 dollar radio. you got things like an iraspberry for $25 and it has an ability to do alot..jsut needs addons that total 50$.

[Yury]

Good riddance.
All my CDs has been in a box on a top shelf of a closet since 2008. First, I replaced them with mp3 cds, but then I replaced all headunits in my cars with usb capable ones. Now all I need is a couple of 10$ usb sticks. Done, done and done.

Btw, the most expensive of these usb/bluetooth headunits was 250$

[bronsin]

HA! Someday my CD collection will be worth a FORTUNE when the electromagnetic pulse form the nukes the Koreans, Iranians, and Chinese are going to bobmb us with wipes out all your electronic data!


YESSS!!!!

[Damo]

The installer at my local car stereo dealership was trying to talk me out of getting an Alpine IDA-X305S, saying it has no CD player.
"Exactly" I told him.

The inconvenience of CD's aside, my ipod classic has had a new lease of life, with all my CDs now being ripped in a lossless format, theres no need to compromise.

CDs are a hindrance. It also means I can listen to my own bands recordings at a higher quality than CD anyway.

Bye CDs, nice knowing you!

[fnkngrv]

Can't remember the last time I actually played a CD.

I actually have been burning discs much more as of late for the first time in a couple years due to the quality and gain of a disc being so much higher than an input.

[bronsin]

Yeah isnt audio quality sacrificed with downloaded music?

"But wont people reject downloaded music once they hear it?"

"Nah....mo money fo uns!"

[TRDMarty]

What?? No 8 track or casset comments?? :confused:

[ilikerice]

ok someone been playin' Fallout too much...first all these countries need to do is feed their rocketeers more than a bowl of rice.

On the CD front..what's a CD? I android my car since the first G1, never had a CD either in the Yaris or the Civic

I am part of that cult also....

I am ok with CD's being faded away like the cassettes. too much to carry around.

[Hamster]

Wow, am I the only person who plays CD's in the Yaris? Of course, the CD's I play have copy protection that prevents them from being ripped. The CD's are actually German language pop music purchased from Germany. I'm not going online and paying for mp3 versions. I already paid 'em once, I'm not going to pay them again for the same music. Screw 'em. But other than that, yeah, I agree, there's really no need for a CD player anyway. Just like there's no need for cassette players in cars.

[bronsin]

I am old (55) and have already bought ALL the music I like on CDs starting 25 years ago. Still have the CDs and they will prolly be good long after I am dead.

Theres nothing new in music I want to listen to!

Thanks to the internet no artist can make money any more composing music like in the good old days before you wippersnappers ruined the music business!

[Kal-El]

I am old (55) and have already bought ALL the music I like on CDs starting 25 years ago. Still have the CDs and they will prolly be good long after I am dead.

Theres nothing new in music I want to listen to!

Thanks to the internet no artist can make money any more composing music like in the good old days before you wippersnappers ruined the music business!

You make a real point. Notice artists are not making as many albums anymore, and music of less quality. It all comes to incentive, in other words MONEY. Much less opportunity to sell albums = less work from artist. This is regardless of the fact that a lot of their money is from touring. You can still tour with just one album every 2~3 years.

[Idahotom]

So, at 62 years old, when slipping a CD into my stock Yaris sound system, I can no longer feel cool and with it as I remember 8 tracks, and for that matter when all we had was scratchy AM radio? !

Actually I get 99 % of my noise through my Sirius deck, got one in the plane, crane, and the Yaris, SIMPLE and least amount of hassle. I'm glad I didn't make a big investment in CD's, I learned my lesson from 8 tracks I guess, still tweaked about that! Don't even ask about my big record collection I had back in the '60's....

[daf62757]

I am old (55) and have already bought ALL the music I like on CDs starting 25 years ago. Still have the CDs and they will prolly be good long after I am dead.

Theres nothing new in music I want to listen to!

Thanks to the internet no artist can make money any more composing music like in the good old days before you wippersnappers ruined the music business!

I am about the same age. I only listen to Classic Rock and for the most part, all the songs will never change. I do get CDs from the public library and upload them to my computer which gets loaded on a IPod and used as a hard drive for my Sony Radio in my Yaris. Unless some great Classic Rock band cuts a new record that I like, I am just about set for life.

[bronsin]

You make a real point. Notice artists are not making as many albums anymore, and music of less quality. It all comes to incentive, in other words MONEY. Much less opportunity to sell albums = less work from artist. This is regardless of the fact that a lot of their money is from touring. You can still tour with just one album every 2~3 years.


I remember when bands (the Beatles) used to complain the record contracts they had with record companies were taking all their money away. What did they get...15%?

Now there are NO intellectual property rights to ANYTHING. Everything is now FREE on the internet!

Free in a pigs eye.

[Shroomster]

HA! Someday my CD collection will be worth a FORTUNE when the electromagnetic pulse form the nukes the Koreans, Iranians, and Chinese are going to bobmb us with wipes out all your electronic data!


YESSS!!!!

I thought compact discs had a shelf life of about 10 years give or take a few before the audio quality started degrading.....

[bronsin]

I have plenty from the 90s and they are still good...

[mr_miles]

I occasionally wonder if my cd player in my headunit works, lol. it has USB on it and my ipod is routed to one of the storage bins. my first car had an 8 track player in it, and i kinda miss it. it was neat. it came with a steppenwolf tape in it when i bought it :thumbup:

[Damo]

I play and tour in bands a fair bit, and Ive got to disagree, there is PLENTY of money still to be made if youre clever enough about how to do it.
What we are seeing less and less these days is obscene amounts of money being outlayed to MAKE a band, with the record comapny taking it all back at the end of the day. Their revenue stream comes primarily from music sold under their label, so when people download the music illegally and no money fills their coffers, its less they can afford to throw at a new project that people otherwise wouldnt care about.

The advent of the internet and file sharing is a double-edged sword for some... Bands trying to get somewhere with nothing but label support are going to struggle, but the amateur muso revels in the free ability to share and promote to a Worldwide audience.

Bands pretty much HAVE to tour these days to make money, as its the one thing they can do (also, perhaps merch) that allows them money directly in the bank, without fear of it being shared illegally. Of course, touring can be expensive and certainly separates the artists who have followers from those that think they do! :)

[Yury]

I have plenty from the 90s and they are still good...

I had one or two go bad all of a sudden. And not the CD-R type, actual albums from a store.

CD-Rs are failing on me regularly. Several years and they are garbage.

[Captain Slow]

doubt it....look how long cassette decks stuck around in cars.

my wife's 2004 Honda Pilot still has one! cassettes were obsolete by 1997 (at the latest).

of course in the late 90's (in my late teens) I still had a portable 8-track player that took something like 16 D cell batteries. my friends and I used to sit in the shed behind my house, listen to 8 tracks and get drunk, hah.

[Captain Slow]

Thanks to the internet no artist can make money any more composing music like in the good old days before you wippersnappers ruined the music business!


While I do agree that it's unfair to artists it's also in many ways been a boon to many small artists that would never have gotten any following. The simple fact is that some people make way too much money for certain things. Sure I do think a band should make money for playing music (but it should first and foremost be about doing something you love, if you also make a living that's great).

A good example is novelists. The vast majority of novelists have to work a day job to pay bills, they write because they want to write. I think it's great if a musician or sports star can make a living off of doing what they like...but they also don't need gold-plated toilets and 7-figure salaries for doing it either. The one thing the internet actually has done for many artists is to free them from the yoke of record labels that stole practically all of their money.

In the end things always work out, the internet music age helped weed out a lot of the ones who were only in it for the money. People that love music will continue to make music, don't worry.



As for the CD issue, I do use CDs in my car, but only the MP3 disc function. I can't stand having only one album on a disc....too much swapping. So even the albums I have in hard-copy get ripped and put onto compilation discs. I can fit a large amount of music into one of those small binder CD holders that goes in my glove compartment.

[Shroomster]

Most likely, they (cd players) will become an add-on, just like tape decks. Every new car on our lot has a cdplayer/radio with aux jack....only one still without an aux port standard? Ford crown vic/merc grand marquis......what is even weirder is the new ford edge doesn't have an aux port(or I haven't found it yet), instead it has rca inputs o.O

[bronsin]

Yeah "shared illegally" is causing a lot of grief people dont need.

There is a terrific ammount of illegal stuff going down on the interent besides sharing too. Maybe half of everything that goes on?

Plus I hear theres sites run by child molesters saying "What I do is normal".

The internet is one big shit factory.

Nothing going to happen about it anytime soon either...


I play and tour in bands a fair bit, and Ive got to disagree, there is PLENTY of money still to be made if youre clever enough about how to do it.
What we are seeing less and less these days is obscene amounts of money being outlayed to MAKE a band, with the record comapny taking it all back at the end of the day. Their revenue stream comes primarily from music sold under their label, so when people download the music illegally and no money fills their coffers, its less they can afford to throw at a new project that people otherwise wouldnt care about.

The advent of the internet and file sharing is a double-edged sword for some... Bands trying to get somewhere with nothing but label support are going to struggle, but the amateur muso revels in the free ability to share and promote to a Worldwide audience.

Bands pretty much HAVE to tour these days to make money, as its the one thing they can do (also, perhaps merch) that allows them money directly in the bank, without fear of it being shared illegally. Of course, touring can be expensive and certainly separates the artists who have followers from those that think they do! :)

[RedRide]

Quality audio has been dumbed down so much in the past few decades. .....now the average consumer thinks that audio from a mp3 player fed through cheap ear buds is great audio.

While audiophiles still exist and things like vinyl and vacuum tubes/valves are making a comback due to the better sound, the average consumer is now satisfied wth junk audio played through garbage speakers.
So, the recording companies are laughing al the way to the bank and telling customers they can just DL music and play it on their junk systems like happy idiots.

As far as car CD players, the same applies. Just think of all the monery they will save not instaling CD players in cars!
Even a couple of dollars per car mutiplied by hunderds of thousands can add up and the average consumer will be happy with less.
It's an established fact that MP3s add certain kinds of distotion that CDs do not for example.

BTW, I run as fast as possible from anything labeled HT. HT simply means junk audio for the masses to any audiophile.
Call something HT and the average consumer thinks it's great audio!

[Damo]

While audiophiles still exist and things like vinyl and vacuum tubes/valves are making a comback due to the better sound
Ive been a pro musician for over 20 years now, and a budding recording engineer for the last 3-4.

Some elitists do try to claim that there is a huge favorable difference with vinyl over digital formats when it comes to sound, but personal preference is not fact. The 'fact' is that vinyl pressings have absolutely horrendous amounts of artifacts in their sound, which some may prefer, but the sound is NOT superior to a digital format, especially with recording equipment being used today.

HOWEVER, the big thing ruining modern recording is the war for volume, and from that comes equally as horrid compression of recorded material. Itunes is also notorious for adding things like soundcheck and loudness options, which kills the dynamic range of music, but as we've been discussing, kids these days are accustomed to thinking louder is better.

Its obvious when you look at the number of youngsters installing their audio systems for maximum bass or maximum volume. Thats like turning the colour, brightness and contrast on your tv up to 100% to make it stand out on a shop floor with other tv's around. It gets your attention, but the image isn't displaying as it was intended and its horrible to look at.

Fortunately, there has steadily been an awakening from some circles though, and some bands are now opting for the full dynamic range being left in tact in their recordings by not wanting to compete in the loudness war. Commercial releases are unlikely to go down this road while the listening audience remains oblivious to how music should sound, but we can hope :)

[bronsin]

Remember tape hiss on cassette decks back in the 70s? Cassettes were supposed to be so cool and replace vinyl records. I didnt notice until my roomate pointed it out to me.

Of course vinyl records have nasty pops on them from dirt on the records.

All of this just underlines how old I have gotten. CDs were the greatest thing and now they are history. Ive already been through vinyl becoming history. And cassettes.

[RedRide]

Well, whether a tube/valve or a transitor is better can certainly be debated. However, it is usually agreed that tubes/valves can often give a warmer, more musical sound for whatever reasons. This is when comparing equal qualty systems.

MP3s do impart certain orders of distortion that many interpret as sounding somewhat better with cetain types of music (mainly rock) but, it certainly is not a totally accurate sound.

I completly agree that compression is degrading good music and I'm a big proponent of high dynamic range in all components, not just in the program source.
One irony is, when CD were first available to the public, one of the main selling points was a wider dynamic range over vinyl. WTF happened? :wink:

Also, I hate the obsession with overbearing bass! Give me a "flat" sound!

Tape hiss was mostly elimated with "Dolby" encoding.

As far as pops and clicks on vinyl records..........
Yes, on records that were not treated correctly. My records never suffered from this.
The ability to treat recordings like yesterday's newspaper was the main selling point of CDs.

BTW, I have been a musicain (bass guitar) an audiophile since the late '60s.
So I do not "hate" bass. I just want a well balanced bass. :smile:

[jambo101]

Can't remember the last time I actually played a CD.

On a recent trip to Florida and back my 2 teenage girls never played a CD the whole trip, it was all downloaded music on their iPods or Satellite radio.
I'd say music on hard copy is just about done, Books may also be headed in the same direction as E-readers become more popular..

[bronsin]

I'd say music on hard copy is just about done, Books may also be headed in the same direction as E-readers become more popular..

Ah now the bastards will do the same thing to writers that they did to musicians! :cool:

[RedRide]

Perhaps we should eliminate movie theaters and just watch movies on a smart phone's tiny screen?
Then, should we eliminate real food and just take a nutrition pill?

New technolgy is great but, we must be careful not to replace an augmentation to something as the only way to access it.
The digital technology should make life easier, not replace real hard copys of anything!
Would one want to replace their wife with a facsimile on an I-pad?


Consider this.... I remenber when we all watched a TV on about 5" screen and we could not wait until they got bigger. Now people want to watch TV on a 4" screen. Is this progrees or regression in the false name of progress?

There are certain things that have stood the test of time and we should all think long and hard before throwing them in the dumpster of history.
I know many people who have abandoned their land line phones and just use their cell phones. Then, they complan that their carrier frequently drops service. This almost never happens with a land line! Yes, I have a cell phone but, still keep my land line!

The digital word is somewhat fragile, this is a given and as a society, we should never place all our eggs in one basket

BTW, I got my first computer over 30 years ago so, I know the digital world has its place. The challange for all of us is to keep it in its place

[Idahotom]

I had a huge collection of wax cylinders, with all the latest tunes, but when the 78 came out they were instantly obsolete, I've been trying to catch up ever since!

[RedRide]

I had a huge collection of wax cylinders, with all the latest tunes, but when the 78 came out they were instantly obsolete, I've been trying to catch up ever since!
That was just an improvement of the same technology, not an abandonment of the entire technology! :wink:

Some day, we might all realize that the digital technology as we know know it is obsolet also but, it may be too late to save the world's knowledge as most digital info is susceptible to radiation.....both man made and natural.

BTW, it is not a widely known fact but, some Russian fighter jets still use some vacuum tubes in their critical circuits because if there ever was a nuclear war, solid state circuits could be wiped out and cripple certain functions of the the aircraft.
Yes, Russia, (along with Chiana) still manufacture vacuum tubes and are considered very high qualty!

Most high qualty guitar amps still use vacuum tubes!:smile:

[bronsin]

I know the digital world has its place. The challange for all of us is to keep it in its place

Years ago, when a person was about to go around the bend, they would call everyone they knew on the telephone and talk for hours. Psychiatrists called it "telephoneitis."

Considering how obcessed people are by their cells phones these days (to say nothing about how long they spend talking on them) we as a society are securely in the looney bin.

[RedRide]

Years ago, when a person was about to go around the bend, they would call everyone they knew on the telephone and talk for hours. Psychiatrists called it "telephoneitis."

Considering how obcessed people are by their cells phones these days (to say nothing about how long they spend talking on them) we as a society are securely in the looney bin.
That just goes to show you that there are looneys in every generation.

[sqcomp]

I recall debates regarding the "warmth" of tubes and vinyl versus the "cold accuracy" of digital formats...

S/N ratio and the ability to play dynamic tracks effectively at any level with no audible distortion is what does it for me.

Whether that be a CD player or an MP3, WAV, FLAC (whathaveyou), I don't care. All I need is to experience the ambiance of the recording or recorded event, especially the live tracks. In my little world, it's connecting the piece of equipment together to have a signal chain that is a lossless as I can get. The source with a digital out from the CD mechanism (CAT5, S/PDIF, etc) to the processor, and ultimately to the amplifiers (which is still uncommon), keeps the recording as close to true to life as possible.

IMHO of course.

[RedRide]

Keeping everything/all componets digital to maintain its faithfulness to the original sound is senseless if one considers that most of the original sound was not digital to begin with.

It we were to do a blind analog vs digital sound test, I would wager that most could not tell the difference with few favoring the analog.

Some have just been brainwashed/conditioned into believing digital sounds better than analog is in every case.
If one truly understood how digtal sound is created, they would understand that its impossible to reproduce absolutely every variation in the sound as analog can.

Shure, digital sound can often sound pretty damn good but, good analog can sound even better.
S/N ratio and has nothing to do with digital vs analog. Granted, all things being equal, digital media can give a bit more dynamic range than say, analog vinyl but, not by that much in most cases.

BTW, most would be shocked to learn/hear just how good AM radio can actually sound with a properly designed AM tuner. The problem is, just about all the AM sections of radio tuners, even on the best equipment, is just an after thought and often even purposely made poor quality to make the FM sound even better by comparison. :smile:

[sqcomp]

Indeed.

I agree completely that the original sound in most cases isn't digital. I also agree that most could not tell the difference between a digital source and analage source (depending).

S/N ratio for me is trying to get the best range above the noise floor. I'm not trying to change the source music, rather just trying to eliminate/reduce outside influences from the source (whether it be an analog or digital soruce). Am I going to hear the difference between 60dB and 90dB? Maybe, maybe not. This depends on all the other multidude of variables.

Don't think me an "enemy" of analog at all. As a matter of fact, You would have probably enjoyed the setup we had going on at CES last week...We had Alan Hulsebus senior engineer from JM Labs really enjoy the tube pre amp & amp setup working with our 1/4 wave BIBs.

[RedRide]

FWIW..... Tecnology to eliminate the pops, clicks other surface nose that can develope on vinyl records was develoved in the 1970's. It works. much like oversampling does with damged CDs.
However, it was abandoned by the original maufacture when CDs came on the market for puely economic reasons and was never picked up by another company for the same reason.
By todays standard, the tecnology was very simple.


I frequently play a CD of my mp3s in the car's CD deck. Yes I can play the same MP3s via the aux jack with most any mp3 capable player.
However, that's a bit contrived with the extra wire/ conections involved, is it not? Also, the volume is often not adequate. This is (positive) progress? I thought progess was suppose to make things better and easier, not more difficult with less quality.

Liike I previously said, it simply about the complanys saving money by falsly claiming its progress and is what most peoole want!

Eliminating the cassette decks made good sense as a RWCD took the place of a cassette for the most part and was much less contrived. However, any MP3 player in any form does not equal a CD in this respect!

I don't mind a contrived sound systems for the home (I have one:smile:) but in a car, keep it simple and let me concentrate on driving!

IMO, we are putting all out tecnological eggs in one basket labled "smart phone". If the smart phone was truely smart, it would tell us not to do so! Remember what happened to the great library at Alexandria when they engaged in a similar folly of concetrating information/knowledge.

With increasing frequency, we hear of digital info that has been compromised to one degree or another. :wink:

[Hamster]

Hey RedRide, I just wanted to say that I agree with all that stuff you said. I'll keep my old, heavy 11 inch (or 12 inch? I don't know) TV. I don't have a Smartphone, and never want to get one. I have just a regular flip phone, and the texting capabilities have been turned off. I have yet to buy an mp3 player. I don't feel like I need to buy a new computer every couple years. By the way, I am not an old person. I'm 27. However, I see all these people glued to their phones all day long, or spending their hard-earned money on (Chinese-made) big screen TV's. And do those things make them happy? Is it adding to their quality of life? No. So why bother with it?

[RedRide]

Don't get me wrong, I love alot of the newer tecnologys like, HD TV for example. About a year ago, I sold my perfectly good 32" 16x9 CRT TV for a 46" LED TV and I love it!

However, we must all be the master of all tecnologys and not let them be the master of us as you pointed out.

BTW, there is a misconception (fostered by comedic media) that older people do not like or understand modern/new tecnologys. This is totaly false for the most part.
Don't forget that those in their mid 60s for example, have seen the birth of the transistor and the development of the whole digital revolution.

Truth is, they simply know how to be the masters of those tecnologys they want while shunning those they trully do not need.
Example... I presently have three computers at home (that I built myself) that are connected to the net. WTF do I need (and have to pay for) a telephone that also can connect to the net for?
I also have a "flip phone" with a camera as I think also having a camera is handy to have at times. However, I just use, and only pay for its use, as a telephone with no texting.
I treasue my privacy and time when I can not be contacted and often turn my cell phone off if I do no not need it. If someone truly needs to contact me (family and close friends), they have my land line number and they can leave a message.

Endless and often pointless text messages are for children!!
Why are so many people now so afraid that they are going to miss something if they are not in contact with 100% of the people they know 100% of the time? They must be leading boring, miserable lives to be constantly so concerend about what other people are doing!

I'm getting a bit annoyed being bombarded by "scan this with your smart phone". When did advertising become entertainment that we woudd seek out? :rolleyes:
It's another example of people allowing a tecnology to be their master

[bronsin]

It's another example of people allowing a tecnology to be their master


When we were married in 1980 we decided I would work and she would stay home and have and raise the children. It was great not having my wife exposed to the crazyness of the world.

But years passed the kids grew up and she joined the workforce.

One day she said:

"You know Im the only one in my office who doesnt have cable TV, a cell phone, and a car with electric windows and keyless door opener."

I said

"The house is paid for the kids are thru college we have two new cars and we dont own anyone a dime."

[RedRide]

BTW, I always tell people that they should own a car and not to let a car own them, no matter how much they might like it.:smile:

[Hamster]

Oh yeah, that scan with your smartphone stuff....I also find that that so annoying! And all it does is bring you to some sort of advertisement (like we need more of that).