A world with cars without cd players

[rapidfirerob]

Radio stations with variety? Really? On what planet?

KALX in Berkeley. KZSU from Stanford. College radio for me.


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[progmatist]

My first computer was a ZX Spectrum, which also worked with cassettes. I had it to learn programming, but the keys were demotivating. Press 3 keys at the same time in order to select a command and with those membrames things often went wrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Spectrum

I remember when it was a big deal when for $100, one could buy a computer in parts, which one had to solder together. It had a Z80 processor, a whopping 4K of ram, and the keyboard was like the buttons on a typical modern microwave oven. And of course, the only way to save an load was cassette. Fast forward to today when for $35, one can buy a Raspberry Pi, which is thousands of time more powerful than the top of the line in the 80s.

[ronmac]

KALX in Berkeley. KZSU from Stanford. College radio for me.


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Okay, well, that makes more sense.

[Progbear]

My first computer was a ZX Spectrum, which also worked with cassettes. I had it to learn programming, but the keys were demotivating. Press 3 keys at the same time in order to select a command and with those membrames things often went wrong.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ZX_Spectrum

The 800XL was an “upgrade” for the older Atari 400. That one quit working as a “computer” (which it barely was, anyway) after I banged the membrane “keyboard” in frustration one too many times, and it would just fill the screen with semicolons any time you booted it up.

[Jones the Jug]

The 800XL was an “upgrade” for the older Atari 400. That one quit working as a “computer” (which it barely was, anyway) after I banged the membrane “keyboard” in frustration one too many times, and it would just fill the screen with semicolons any time you booted it up.

I had the Atari 400. I got it for Christmas in 1982 and never understood why it didn't have actual buttons. I saw the Atari 800 in stores and wondered my grandparents didn't buy me that instead (more expensive). The following summer, when WarGames was in theaters, my aunt (who saw the movie with me) said "you could do that on your computer." Even at age 10 I knew that she didn't know what she was talking about. Yeah right, I could hack into weapons control systems with my Atari 400. :P

[moecurlythanu]

^ The real question is "Who did your aunt want you to attack?"

[aith01]

^ The real question is "Who did your aunt want you to attack?"

[progmatist]

I had the Atari 400. I got it for Christmas in 1982 and never understood why it didn't have actual buttons. I saw the Atari 800 in stores and wondered my grandparents didn't buy me that instead (more expensive). The following summer, when WarGames was in theaters, my aunt (who saw the movie with me) said "you could do that on your computer." Even at age 10 I knew that she didn't know what she was talking about. Yeah right, I could hack into weapons control systems with my Atari 400. :P

The US missile system to this day runs on 1960s computer technology, right down to the 8" floppies. It can't be hacked because it isn't connected to the internet.

[Dan Roth]

The US missile system to this day runs on 1960s computer technology, right down to the 8" floppies. It can't be hacked because it isn't connected to the internet.

[Progbear]

I had the Atari 400. I got it for Christmas in 1982 and never understood why it didn't have actual buttons. I saw the Atari 800 in stores and wondered my grandparents didn't buy me that instead (more expensive). The following summer, when WarGames was in theaters, my aunt (who saw the movie with me) said "you could do that on your computer." Even at age 10 I knew that she didn't know what she was talking about. Yeah right, I could hack into weapons control systems with my Atari 400. :P

I remember the Atari catalog also sold an ACOUSTIC COUPLER modem...which back then I thought was SO COOL! Alas, I would have to wait a decade to experience the joys of online community. Via Prodigy.

[davis]

As long as I can get a USB port for a thumb drive I'll be happy.

when I discovered this technology and got excited about it, my son laughed at me because it was considered passé. But that's what I use.

[NogbadTheBad]

when I discovered this technology and got excited about it, my son laughed at me because it was considered passé. But that's what I use.

I like passé, it's generally modern enough for me and cheaper than cutting edge. Hell I'm 56, I'm well past passé, I'm vintage.

[rdclark]

Your son (or at least many in his cohort) is probably comfortable with paying an immense cell phone bill to provide unlimited data for streaming, and may not even think of that as paying money for every song he plays in his car. Not even counting the monthly fees for the services. And probably owns very little in the way of physical media.

Most of us have lifetime collections and feel uncomfortable without the physical media or at least a clear path of ownership of our music libraries. It’s those libraries we want to access in our cars. The method, whether it’s a CD player, a thumb drive, or even 80 gigabytes of our own ripped CDs and digitized LPs on our phones (me), will seem passé to young people to whom the whole notion of physical or “owned” collections is antiquated. Pay-as-you-go is the 21st Century paradigm.

[Progbear]

Your son (or at least many in his cohort) is probably comfortable with paying an immense cell phone bill to provide unlimited data for streaming, and may not even think of that as paying money for every song he plays in his car. Not even counting the monthly fees for the services. And probably owns very little in the way of physical media.

This is why I use USB. I live/work in an area with spotty mobile service (sometimes none at all), so streaming while driving is a no go. It’s a bit of a pity that my car won’t actually read USB drives past a certain size, but as I have mentioned in an earlier post, “cheating” by using an FM transmitter works for me.

[aith01]

A lot of the streaming services will allow you to download music to your device, so you can pre-load stuff you like and listen to it in the car without streaming it over the data network. Spotify and Apple Music both allow for this, and I think Amazon does too now (though not sure).

Or there's the Plex route, if you'd rather have your own server. This is what I started doing, and it's pretty great.

[rdclark]

^
All true, but you don’t own the music — it could disappear from the service without warning — and you generally have to use that service’s app to play it. Satisfactory for many people; less so for people with a collector’s mentality who like to populate and organize their own libraries.

[aith01]

^
All true, but you don’t own the music — it could disappear from the service without warning — and you generally have to use that service’s app to play it. Satisfactory for many people; less so for people with a collector’s mentality who like to populate and organize their own libraries.

That's why I like using Plex. It's all the music I own, on my own server, organized how I want it.

[chalkpie]

The BMW I just got rid of in the spring (550i) had a KILLER sound system in it....I think 16 speakers plus two subwoofers, one under each front seat. Too bad the car itself was as reliable as a meterologist with a bachelor's in culinary arts.

[progmatist]

Your son (or at least many in his cohort) is probably comfortable with paying an immense cell phone bill to provide unlimited data for streaming, and may not even think of that as paying money for every song he plays in his car.....

That's assuming kids can be bothered pay their phone bills at all. My adult nephew ran up a couple of thousand on his. The carrier and/or collection agency called my parents, trying to track my nephew down for the money. My folks replied they had no idea where he was either.

[Facelift]

This is what several people have told me they do. Without much loss of quality how much music can you fit on a thumb drive? Is it easy to access what you want to hear also. My one big problem is that I mostly pick out what I’m in the mood to hear in the morning before leaving for work and that could be anything within my thousands of cds.

As I said I know that I’m out dated when it comes to technology and I’m not going to deny it.


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So get a streaming service and then you get to choose between millions of CDs. Sounds like a pretty good way forward to me. And, no, the selection is not suddenly going to disappear as some people have spent the last few years predicting/hoping-for.

[Dan Roth]

For what its worth, in November I finally traded in my 15-yr-old Nissan Sentra and purchased a 2023 Subaru Impreza that has a CD player as part of it's package. It has lots of other bells and whistles as well (like Apple Play and such), but was very happy to have a CD player right there below the entertainment screen. Turns out that, after a bit of research on buying a new car, all Subaru car models come with a CD player as long as it's not the "base level" model. Each model of their cars has a "Base", "Premium", "Limited" and "Sport" level with each one having a few extra bells and whistles. I got the "Premium" level. I totally understand that CDs have fallen out of favor, and I do understand the convenience of the streaming apps. I just have so many CDs and I enjoy pulling one out and throwing it in the player. Happy that Subaru is still putting them in.

[ronmac]

I use the CD player on my 2017 Acura all the time. It even has a hard drive to store music, but I never use it.

[Shadow]

Two of my vehicles only have cassette players.

[rapidfirerob]

Apple CarPlay has taken over audio in my car at this point. Between Spotify and free form radio apps (college and others), it’s all I need. Lately, I can only get Siri to play albums in my library sometimes. Everyone’s a critic!


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[rcarlberg]

For what its worth, in November I finally traded in my 15-yr-old Nissan Sentra and purchased a 2023 Subaru Impreza that has a CD player as part of it's package. It has lots of other bells and whistles as well (like Apple Play and such), but was very happy to have a CD player right there below the entertainment screen. Turns out that, after a bit of research on buying a new car, all Subaru car models come with a CD player as long as it's not the "base level" model. Each model of their cars has a "Base", "Premium", "Limited" and "Sport" level with each one having a few extra bells and whistles. I got the "Premium" level. I totally understand that CDs have fallen out of favor, and I do understand the convenience of the streaming apps. I just have so many CDs and I enjoy pulling one out and throwing it in the player. Happy that Subaru is still putting them in.

My 2020 Forester was chosen about 67½% because of its CD player. I upgraded to the Harman Kardon sound system.