2011 Hyundai Equus: CD Players

I agree with you Donna, I havn't used my cdplayer for nearly 8 years now. just AUX or iPod.

I still listen to a lot of CD's because it sounds noticeably better than any other source.

Sat radio coming in second, then USB, then Aux.

I also like to buy a CD every once in a while, I'm not sure why. Sometimes it seems more hassle free to me.

As long as I can keep making and playing MP3 CD's I will use it

What's an iPod? ;)

It's like a walkman I think

Vinyl,reel-to-reel,8 track, cassettes, CD's, MP3's, i-this,i-that..............they make 'em until everyone has 'em.

There is something about a CD....just like when you bought a record album on vinyl. You get to hold it in your hand and look at the album art and liner notes. That is something you just dont get from a thumb drive. Pure digital is cold.....in sound and in feel.

My last aftermarket Pioneer that I had loaded into my old 2006 Lancer SE had no CD slot. At the time I didn't miss it with all the aforementioned goodies (Satellite, ipod interface, SD card slot, radio etc.). It would also play videos from the ipod (when parked of course). But, since having a CD player again in the new (1 month old) Mazda 2 and using CD's from the library again "just because", I forgot what my ears were missing. This was an extra long post to say, "I hope not anytime soon!"

6-8 more years. Look at the newest cars released for 2011 and 2012...it's still there. Heck, standard hard disk drives still aren't around in most car. Until HDDs are standard in more cars, CD players will by default show up.

Um... and DVD is not going anywhere. Latest sales figures show blu ray player sales are decent but still only 26 million Americans bought a blu ray movie in the last year. Hell, we have a blu ray player but have never once watched a blu ray movie using it. No interest. We got it for wireless netflix, hulu, and server streaming (with dvd playability in a pinch - though 10 months in that hasn't been used). I'm sure it will play a blu ray movie...I just don't give a damn about video quality and I won't give netflix an extra $1 a month for blu ray versions of movies.

I talked to a product planner at a major Japanese car company and he said plans were already underway. It'll allow them to have a little more freedom as far as interior design is concerned as it will save them a lot of space (depth) in the deck.

The next generation of vehicles will start the no standard cd player, you have to get it as an option, just like the tape deck was phased out. I'm sure you will be able to get one for the next 5-10 years though.

Physical media in its entirety is on its way out. Its fragile, expensive, and bulky. Its all going to be digital as soon as the movie and music industry decide to play game instead of holding on to old ideas. (and suing single mothers thousands of dollars for downloading 10 songs)

My '98 Civic EX didn't have a CD player or cassette when I bought it brand new...what was that about!? The dealer installed accessory CD player was behind the cupholder that had a cover that opened in front of the CD slot when in use. Worst. Design. Ever.

I mainly use my cell phone, with a 16GB card I don't need an iPod, but have 6 CD's loaded almost all the time. I go through XM radio more often than I do through CD or phone and phone more often than CD. Only thing that I don't like is I have a general aux port for audio and don't have control over the phone itself so I have to do that manually.

As long as compressed music sounds like crap...that's how long I hope they continue to offer CD players in cars.

Ipod, Usb, and aux have nothing on a CD. The assumption here is because more and more people use Ipods, that its a superior format. The fact is that it isn't.

So till they come up with a format that sounds better than the compact disc I say keep it. HDD is an ideal direction, but they need to find a way to make it sound better

Donna, just realized, I like your taste in music.

does that mean you listen to foo fighters also?

It depends on the company. BMW, for example, had cassette players as standard equipment until just a few years ago (2005?) - almost 20 years after the CD player debuted. I suspect they'll cling to the CD player until 2020.

I see a few comments about the crappy sound quality of an MP3 compared to a CD; its not like there some rule that says you have to compress all your music and carry your entire music library around with you at all times. I do have an MP3 player that I store all my music on in a compressed format, and I use that when I’m listening through a pair of headphones while doing yard work and stuff.

But I don’t want to listen to some compressed MP3 file on my sweet car stereo or my stereo at home, so for those situations I just throw a few albums as uncompressed wave files on a 4 gig thumb drive and rock out with awesome sound quality!

I actually buy all my music on CD’s, but I rip it all into wave files on a portable hard drive for my home stereo and compress them on my computer for syncing with a portable music player. The actual CD just gets filed away as a backup.

Another of the Edmunds staff asked this question a couple months back. I think CD players will continue to be offered for at least another decade, as the highest-quality audio playback format widely available in the automotive world.

Still buy CDs when I want the whole album. I have seen way too many error messages over the years when buying a new iPod, a new laptop, whatever. When iTunes gives me error message that I can't listento the song that I already paid for due to a technical glitch, that's when I feel realt good about buying CDs. I put it on my computer and always have it as a backup.

@brian - buy the CD on sale, rip it to wav and then sell it as used. Net cost for the album: $5-6. :)