BDL's Retirement Experience, an ongoing thread (trouble, smart, travel, commercial)
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Got my retirement car yesterday, a 2018 Subaru Crosstrek. So strange to drive a car where everything works and I needed a whole orientation to how it works! My third new car since 1992 and so many whiz-bangs in it as standard. So it took me a while to notice that there is no way to play CDs, there is no CD slot on the radio console. I will want CDs when driving the 2200 miles to Colorado alone or mostly alone.
I posted the question to a music group and it would appear that Subaru very recently stopped having the CD slot (unlike some 76 percent of new cars) and one must use one's smart phone with Bluetooth etc.etc. and pay for streaming or else convert your CDs to another digital format etc.etc.
I am furious. I am furious that I don't have an option of opting out of the smartphone biz, as is happening in so many areas.
So I asked around again and bought a $32 portable CD player and will have to see what kind of cable I need to play it through the car speakers. It should be simple and cheap. The player I bought comes with headphones, but that's not a good idea for driving.
I am not tech-phobic. I have always learned what I needed to make a living, and now that I'm retired, I plan to learn what I need for what I want. And I do not need or want a smartphone/computer in my pocket. I also sincerely dislike cell phones (and my flip cell) for real conversation, with the delay in hearing it's not a conversation, it's more like burping words over each other. I wasn't going to get a landline in my new home in CO, but now I tell myself that I will want to have real conversations on the phone with at least my elderly aunt, who of course has a landline, so at very least, I'll need a landline for her.
I know there have been discussions of technology but I haven't paid much attention to them because, again, I only adopt a technology when I see a need for it. It burns me that systems might be set up so one cannot opt out. I consider myself a neb-luddite- only learn what I want to or need, not just because something can be done should it be done.
Why can't you still opt out of having a smartphone, if you wish to?
You have your portable CD player for the car, and even if you don't run it thru the car speakers, you can still listen to CD's in your car. You could have a CD player that runs by batteries (probably, if that is not already how you're doing it)
And you'll have a landline in your new house in Colorado.
No smartphone needed. I imagine you mean that you do not like how Subaru removed the CD player and wants people to instead use a smartphone with blue tooth and stream.
Best Buy announced last week that they will no longer be selling music in CD format. No more CD's for sale at Best Buy, as an example of the change to streaming.
Last edited by matisse12; 02-11-2018 at 03:21 PM..
[quote=matisse12;50994369]Why can't you still opt out of having a smartphone?
I have seen a number of things online that require a downloaded mobile app. Not to the exclusion of other systems yet but getting there.
Most likely, Subaru will reinstate the CD slot in next year's model and I'll be left out in the cold. I just think that, although I got a good price and am fortunate to be in a position to complain about this little problem, there should be a CD slot. I believe the target consumer for the Crosstrek is supposed to be younger people who need space for all their equipment for that wild off-road life.
When I bought my Toyota Matrix 15 years ago, the target buyer was the same young person, presumably running around with surfboards and attractive friends and all. Turned out that that major buyer was... middle-aged women.
Hey, my money's green. Maybe someone should target me to buy something, although I admit I'm a tough sell. Especially for surfboards and such.
BDL: I have to admit I was pretty surprised to hear your new car came without CD player.
I'm sure you have already done this but is there any way you can go back to the dealer and ask them what they can do for you? It seems there must be a way to install one or maybe even swap cars with one that has it already installed.
I'm not very car savvy and probably have no idea what I am talking about. But thought I'd just run it by you.
I posted the question to a music group and it would appear that Subaru very recently stopped having the CD slot (unlike some 76 percent of new cars) and one must use one's smart phone with Bluetooth etc.etc. and pay for streaming or else convert your CDs to another digital format etc.etc.
I am furious. I am furious that I don't have an option of opting out of the smartphone biz, as is happening in so many areas.
.
Just curious why you don't want a smartphone. If I got poor it would be one of the last things I'd give up. I love the camera and having a pocket computer. In my 2012 Forester I stream Pandora as I drive. We have two lines for $85 including a data plan. Google maps get us where we need to be in a strange area (something you will need in your new town).
Quote:
Originally Posted by matisse12
I put my apps on my Apple Mac laptop computer. No smartphone needed.
BDL: I have to admit I was pretty surprised to hear your new car came without CD player.
I'm sure you have already done this but is there any way you can go back to the dealer and ask them what they can do for you? It seems there must be a way to install one or maybe even swap cars with one that has it already installed.
I'm not very car savvy and probably have no idea what I am talking about. But thought I'd just run it by you.
Not so simple and it would be rather expensive. But an idea.
BDL - consider downloading music onto a USB drive and playing your music from the USB port in the car. No smartphone or streaming needed. Other option - many new cars come with a free trial period of satellite radio - not sure if the free trial period extends through your planned drive period.
After much discussion with tech friend and other people, I have bought a $32 portable CD player that will hook into my new car's speaker and play CDs, which I wanted for a couple of long drives. I don't have that desire to have music all the time everywhere I go, just long drives. I prefer local NPR and radio for around-town times.
I don't have an iPod, do not like the reviews of the Apple drive thing to attach an iPod and the Apple drive to my laptop. I am OK with using my laptop for most things that people use smartphones for, and leaving it behind when driving. I write down directions from map quest if going somewhere unknown.
I consider myself a neo-luddite. I use technology but I don't like it unless it serves a purpose for me with less aggravation than *not* having it.
Cannot get a 2018 Crosstrek with a CD slot, anyway, the car I got was a special price and favor from a friend of my mechanic, and my only requirements were that it have a stick shift and not be red. So I got a 2018 6-speed white car which I'm very happy with its driving, safety features and basically dealer price. (I didn't need the heated seats, but they were there already). Apparently it isn't very doable to remove the existing console and put in another one with a slot, as the existing console is specific to the car and the whole thing. Or something.
A musician friend of mine (who had a tech husband) had thousands of CDs and very happily transferred everything to iPod. I guess I'm not enough of a collector or music fan to concern myself with collecting everything onto digital form. She assures me that digitizing is the last format change (after vinyl to cassette to CD to digital) since it's all digital now. While it might ruin the music business and make lots of space available in people's houses, I'm suspicious, that yet another change will come that will require more doodads and gerryrigging of this thing to that thing to use another thing.
Thanks to all for your suggestions. And if you buy a car, ask about the "entertainment system!"
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