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A FM radio can run on 1 AA battery for days while a smartphone cannot play streaming music for a whole day on a 2000maH battery which is over 8xAA batteries.
My smartphone streamed music for the entire 8 hour trip to upstate NY. I wouldn't want to drive much longer than 8 hours, so it seems like it'd be fine for driving use.
Some of us have full time jobs and families, plus other interests that don't involve computers. Taking a CD out of the case and shoving it into the slot is near zero time investment.
Frankly, I consider every second fiddling with a computer (as opposed to using it as a tool) a second lost from my life.
A second you could have used to lay in front of the TV watching your favorite mind numbing program, right?
I have a life and occasionally I rip a few CDs to my iTunes library. To the point that I now have a few weeks worth of music in there, and over a week straight of music on my iPhone that I can now stream over BT to my car stereo. Each CD took about a minute to rip, so I've spent a few hours spread over the last two years doing it. Not a lot of time out of my life, actually, and now I have both the originals, and a large set of playlists to listen to in the car, at home, wherever I want.
I've even hooked up a record player to my computer and recorded LPs to digital so I don't loose them to time, either. And I can archive the LPs and CDs in boxes (that take up way too much space, but that's another story... In digital format, they don't take up any space at all).
It's so much easier to carry the cell phone and play off of there instead of rummaging around in the CD collection (assuming you have the CD you're looking for) and then putting it in the player. THink of what it's like to carry a hundred CDs in the car just to have the song you want. BTDT. It's so much easier to just say "Siri, play ____" and have it start playing.
No TV, so I am not substituting TV watching time for computer fiddling time.
No "smart" phone, not interested in spending the time to set it up to communicate with everything from my car radio to my underpants. Not interested in replacing my ~$50/yr prepaid cell phone with large "communications" payments in perpetuity.
If I am on a long drive, I take 5 or 8 CDs and listen to them repeatedly. I will pick out something where repeated listening actually yields something (box set Beethoven symphonies; Carter Family box set, Kind of Blue, Electric Ladyland; and so on, not the latest corpo-pop excretion of today's-flavor starlet).
Wow, I guess I'm really getting crusty. And get off my damn lawn, too.
It's so much easier to carry the cell phone and play off of there instead of rummaging around in the CD collection (assuming you have the CD you're looking for) and then putting it in the player. THink of what it's like to carry a hundred CDs in the car just to have the song you want. BTDT. It's so much easier to just say "Siri, play ____" and have it start playing.
This, although in my case it's "Google play xxxxx". I used to have the big CD book in my old Jeep. Screw that noise. I can run all my music off my phone or the USB stick plugged into the car. Phone will go for as long as the car will since I'll just plug it into a charger if I'm streaming from it. Otherwise, I'll use XM, my USB stick or open Pandora on the stereo. The only time I switch to FM is to catch the traffic report on our local news station.
This is the day and age where people have gotten so in tune with listening to digital audio that they've forgotten what high fidelity really sounds like.
I've listened to my iPOD and music on USB stick in my car. I only encode at the highest quality as possible, yet music from either source still doesn't sound as good in my Accord as what music from CD sounds like. I compared the commercial album on CD the other day to what I had ripped to iTunes at the highest quality. While it sounds great on the computer, in my car, there's a big difference between iPOD and CD. The CD just blows it away.
Now some will say, encode with FLAC. Well, my car doesn't read FLAC. It reads Apple's standard format or MP3. It won't even read WAV loaded on USB.
So, I'll still gladly keep collecting CDs and buying them used. For the cost of unlimited data and streaming service subscriptions, I can buy A LOT of music on CD.
if you think that the typical car listening environment is conducive to audiophile quality, you're deluding yourself. I haven't "forgotten" what audiophile sound quality is like, I don't need it and can't use it in my car going down the road (with road, wind, and engine noise going on all at the same time). What I CAN use is a huge library of music at my fingertips (turf3, you carry 8 cds with you? I carry a couple HUNDRED at my fingertips and can drive for a week and never hear the same song twice unless I absolutely want to).
But I hear the wailings of another cheapskate that thinks making himself a luddite makes him superior to the rest of us because he won't use the latest tech.
Oh, and I'm going to be using unlimited data anyhow, so adding the music capability is nothing, same with the free streaming from Pandora and iHeart Radio, and of course the Google Maps and Waze for nav use, and the mobile banking, and a hundred other business related things I do on a regular (except, ironically, text.). It's also a mobile hotspot for running the work computer when at the campground or hotel, or for doing web development from remote locations.
No TV, so I am not substituting TV watching time for computer fiddling time.
No "smart" phone, not interested in spending the time to set it up to communicate with everything from my car radio to my underpants. Not interested in replacing my ~$50/yr prepaid cell phone with large "communications" payments in perpetuity.
If I am on a long drive, I take 5 or 8 CDs and listen to them repeatedly. I will pick out something where repeated listening actually yields something (box set Beethoven symphonies; Carter Family box set, Kind of Blue, Electric Ladyland; and so on, not the latest corpo-pop excretion of today's-flavor starlet).
Wow, I guess I'm really getting crusty. And get off my damn lawn, too.
Then why are you in a modern car? Go get a Crown Vic and be happy. It might even play your 8-tracks.
BTW, one of the reasons CD players are on their way out is because switching them while driving is a distraction.
if you think that the typical car listening environment is conducive to audiophile quality, you're deluding yourself. I haven't "forgotten" what audiophile sound quality is like, I don't need it and can't use it in my car going down the road (with road, wind, and engine noise going on all at the same time). What I CAN use is a huge library of music at my fingertips (turf3, you carry 8 cds with you? I carry a couple HUNDRED at my fingertips and can drive for a week and never hear the same song twice unless I absolutely want to).
But I hear the wailings of another cheapskate that thinks making himself a luddite makes him superior to the rest of us because he won't use the latest tech.
Oh, and I'm going to be using unlimited data anyhow, so adding the music capability is nothing, same with the free streaming from Pandora and iHeart Radio, and of course the Google Maps and Waze for nav use, and the mobile banking, and a hundred other business related things I do on a regular (except, ironically, text.). It's also a mobile hotspot for running the work computer when at the campground or hotel, or for doing web development from remote locations.
Are you done being pretentious?
Yes, I happen to think an enclosed environment that has reduced cabin noise and a premium sound system installed is pretty conducive to high quality music. Why? I dunno. I guess because it's an enclosed environment where speakers can be placed all around the cabin area, sub-woofer in the trunk for deep bass, etc. And for all the noise that one can potentially hear out on the road, I happen to think my car does a pretty good job of making the cabin as sound proof as possible. Hence, a pretty conducive and inviting environment for high quality music. Obviously, there's a market for such and has been for years.
Secondly, I never said I only listen to CDs in the car. I said CDs sound better in my car than what I have on iPOD or a USB stick. I've compared the same album played through my system on CD, iPOD, and USB stick - all encoded at the highest level - and the CD sounded the best. It's generally logical to want to listen to a better quality version of a song/album than not. If that wasn't the case, everybody would still be listening to AM radio. Maybe it's a weakness in my car's system with the USB input, but I know what I've heard and no what I prefer.
Thirdly, the premium system in my 2011 Honda Accord is not Android friendly. Outside of bluetooth calling, if I wish to listen to music through an Android device, I have to do so via AUX input. Which means, all controls have to be controlled on the phone, not through the sound system. That's rather inconvenient to just listen to music, when I could potential have more than enough music on CD, iPOD, and USB stick to appease me - I don't need to listen through a streaming service that eats up my data plan on my cell phone. And **** you for calling me cheapskate for not having unlimited data. I don't feel the need to add another $45 to my cellphone bill just so I can listen to the same exact music I already own on CD or iTunes. If I'm on an 8 hour trip, I'll gladly use my iPOD, but given the fact that on average, I don't even drive an hour per day is really useless to hook up my phone each and every time to listen to a ****ty streaming version on the music I already own in great quality.
Then why are you in a modern car? Go get a Crown Vic and be happy. It might even play your 8-tracks.
BTW, one of the reasons CD players are on their way out is because switching them while driving is a distraction.
Now get off my damn lawn.
Crown Vic? Lousy gas mileage, pain to park, terrible handling, and seats that give you lower back pain in an hour.
8 tracks? Lousy sound quality and wear out in a few playings.
CDs? Great sound quality, better than you can possibly make use of in a moving car. Non-volatile. Will not be erased if you drop your doohickey in some water.
Distraction? Are you trying to tell me that scrolling through a menu either on the touchscreen on your car or the screen of your "smart" phone or equivalent, is less of a distraction than pulling a CD out of the slot and pushing the next one in? I don't buy it.
Crown Vic? Lousy gas mileage, pain to park, terrible handling, and seats that give you lower back pain in an hour.
8 tracks? Lousy sound quality and wear out in a few playings.
CDs? Great sound quality, better than you can possibly make use of in a moving car. Non-volatile. Will not be erased if you drop your doohickey in some water.
Distraction? Are you trying to tell me that scrolling through a menu either on the touchscreen on your car or the screen of your "smart" phone or equivalent, is less of a distraction than pulling a CD out of the slot and pushing the next one in? I don't buy it.
Given that both my head unit and my smartphone are voice-controlled, I'd suggest you start buying it.
By the way, cars sitting in the sun will heat up enough to deform CDs. They're just plastic. They melt. And it doesn't take much deformation to screw up a CD. And a deformed CD will pretty much take out your head unit.
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