# New car without CD player



## Belfrybat

I just purchased a 2016 car. My first brand new car in 38 years. After I got it home I realized it doesn't have a CD player. Stupid me, with the "upgraded sound package" I assumed it would have a CD. Called the salesperson and he told me that not having CDs is now standard and I could use Bluetooth and a playlist. Okeeeeeeeeeeeey .....

So, how do I use Bluetooth to play CDs on a car that doesn't have a player? 
Or is there some sort of doohickey that will play CDs on a car or convert CDs to Bluetooth?
And what the heck is Bluetooth anyhow? And while we are educating this non techy person, what's a playlist? All I have is a drawer of over 70 CDs. 

Gee, and I thought not having the cassette player was going to be difficult.

Oh, and the reason I started the thread here is because there's not a section titled "CDless cars".


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## arabian knight

You have to have a CD player that has Built In Bluetooth capability. Like this.

http://www.target.com/p/jensen-portable-bluetooth-music-system-with-cd-player-silver-cd-555a/-/A-16185590


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## cfuhrer

They are assuming you either have an MP3 player (ie: ipod) or a fancy enough phone that has a similar function.

The "playlist" is just songs you have selected to play - we would call that a mix tape.

The way to get songs from the CD's to the player or phone is via a computer ---BUT--- computers with CD slots are also going the way of the dodo.

I might look at having an aftermarket deck with a cd slot installed.


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## arabian knight

Also iPhone has built in Bluetooth so does the iPad so I would assume most tablets etc. So you can listen to music recorded on them to your Bluetooth radios receivers that are bluetooth ready. Car stereo etc.
Cell phones are also Bluetooth capable so you can "listen' to them also through the car speakers etc. I know that is what my brother does when he is on the road. The cell phone rings and he can answer and hear it through his car speakers through the radio via his cellphone. All Handsfree which is getting more and more against the law to be talking on a Handheld Cellphone these days. LOL
Note: Wi is one of these states that are trying to get a law passed that talking on handheld devices are against the law while driving. So more and more cars etc. have the ability to be wireless through the use of Bluetooth technology.
I use a headset with my cell phone while driving so I am still handsfree on the cell phone LOL


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## dademoss

I am not really surprised, CD players are going the way of the dodo bird.

It would help to identify options if we knew what make/model/trim level of car you acquired.

Get out the car manual, and see if you have an "usb" port for playing music from a flash drive, or an "audio input" port to play music from and Ipod/Iphone/"smartphone" device.

If you already have a smartphone/bluetooth enabled MP3 player, load your music onto it and play it over the available bluetooth.

If you have NONE of those, then you will have to get a portable CD player and an FM modulator to play the music over your radio.

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/insigni...coal/8222915.p?id=1166840028182&skuId=8222915

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/griffin...lver/1078674.p?id=1218217783833&skuId=1078674

And even those are going obsolete. I would be really surprised not to find either an audio input or USB input for sound/mp3s
.


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## Nevada

Belfrybat said:


> And what the heck is Bluetooth anyhow?


Bluetooth is a wireless communication protocol that transfers data using radios that are built-in to devices. Bluetooth was popularized with cell phones to operate wireless headsets (you know, those little earpieces you see people around town with). Bluetooth can also be used for a smart phone to synchronize messages & email with a PC or tablet. External Bluetooth devices like keyboards & speakers are available for tablets.

Actually, my laptop is Bluetooth capable but I have no idea what I might use it for. Maybe that's just because I'm old...

Here are some popular Bluetooth devices.

Headset http://www.ebay.com/itm/301862956627
Keyboard http://www.ebay.com/itm/301486166016
Speakers http://www.ebay.com/itm/311450639106

You can even get keyboard/folio sets that basically turn a tablet into a miniature laptop.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/131639553180

But then you have to wonder why someone would do that. Why not just buy a laptop? LOL


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## Belfrybat

Thank you all for your responses. I purchased a 2016 Kia Soul that has the upgraded "convenience package" -- basically automatic with cruise control, back-up camera and Sirius radio with "tower" speakers. Sirius I can do without and won't pay for a subscription once the free one is over. It does have two "cigarette lighter" connections, a USB and AUX port. 

I'm going to buy a USB thumb drive today and see if I can move the music from my CDs onto it. I've downloaded music from Amazon and burned it to a CD, so hopefully doing the reverse won't tax me too much. 

I know it's probably silly, but I really don't want to mess with the Bluetooth thing right now. Maybe later after I'm more comfortable with the car. From looking at the CD player Dademoss posted, I don't think it would play through the Bluetooth anyway. Plus it would eat batteries like crazy -- I've had one of those kind of portable players in the past. 

I do have a smart phone - a Galaxy 3 mini - but I have no idea how to put music on it, plus the battery runs down very fast. So, at this point I'm going to try the USB. If that doesn't work I'm sure I'll be back on here asking more dumb questions.


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## Darren

This all beyond me. I have notooth.


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## Belfrybat

Darren said:


> This all beyond me. I have notooth.


LOL! Thanks for the laugh.


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## MoonRiver

Belfrybat said:


> Thank you all for your responses. I purchased a 2016 Kia Soul that has the upgraded "convenience package" -- basically automatic with cruise control, back-up camera and Sirius radio with "tower" speakers. Sirius I can do without and won't pay for a subscription once the free one is over. It does have two "cigarette lighter" connections, a USB and AUX port.
> 
> I'm going to buy a USB thumb drive today and see if I can move the music from my CDs onto it. I've downloaded music from Amazon and burned it to a CD, so hopefully doing the reverse won't tax me too much.
> 
> I know it's probably silly, but I really don't want to mess with the Bluetooth thing right now. Maybe later after I'm more comfortable with the car. From looking at the CD player Dademoss posted, I don't think it would play through the Bluetooth anyway. Plus it would eat batteries like crazy -- I've had one of those kind of portable players in the past.
> 
> I do have a smart phone - a Galaxy 3 mini - but I have no idea how to put music on it, plus the battery runs down very fast. So, at this point I'm going to try the USB. If that doesn't work I'm sure I'll be back on here asking more dumb questions.


You should be able to plug any device you use into the cigarette lighter to keep it charged.


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## rzrubek

Use Windows media player to rip or copy your CD's to mp3s and then copy them onto your new thumb drive. Get at least 16 gb more if you can. Its not hard to do and is really convenient once done. You could put all 70 CD's on your thumb drive.


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## Nevada

I've found CD audio to be a good format, particularly for cars. Of course records could never have been used in cars. Tapes would break and snarl. While CD audio discs can scratch, they're pretty sturdy and can withstand a lot of heat.

As for length, CD audio doesn't use compression so 700MB discs only hold just over an hour of music (80 minutes). That allowed CDs to hold an entire record album. That was satisfactory, since after listening to an entire album by one artist the listener was usually ready to hear something else anyway.

Length isn't that big of an issue to me because I have CD changer with a 6 disc cassette in my car, which holds more than 7 hours of music. But there are things that could have been done to extend play time. There are MP3 disc players that allow a CD to hold 12 to 14 hours of music, and making MP3 DVDs would extend play time even more.

But I suppose we'll all have to get used to managing MP3 files for our cars. I've been making music CDs from MP3 files for a long time now so it won't be all that different for me.


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## arabian knight

Nevada said:


> Of course records could never have been used in cars.


 Oh ya, RCA made one. And even Elvis had one of these in one os his cars. LOL


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## Nevada

arabian knight said:


> Oh ya, RCA made one. And even Elvis had one of these in one os his cars. LOL


A totally unsatisfactory solution.


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## Belfrybat

I transferred 10 CDs to one 8 GB USB thumb drive and used less than half the space. It works fine except it is hard to change from one "CD" to another while driving. It might be the kind of system I have, but I have to hit "list" then scroll down to the one I want. Not a good thing to do at 75 MPH! Popping in a CD was much easier and safer.
But at least I don't have to purchase a mp3 player or learn Bluetooth. 
Somewhere I have a bunch of 1 GB thumb drives and when I find them will copy 4 or 5 CDs to each so I can have the categories arranged better and can do less scrolling to find what I want. But at least this is working.


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## JoeBuffaloWing

Nevada said:


> I've found CD audio to be a good format, particularly for cars. Of course records could never have been used in cars. Tapes would break and snarl. While CD audio discs can scratch, they're pretty sturdy and can withstand a lot of heat.
> 
> As for length, CD audio doesn't use compression so 700MB discs only hold just over an hour of music (80 minutes). That allowed CDs to hold an entire record album. That was satisfactory, since after listening to an entire album by one artist the listener was usually ready to hear something else anyway.
> 
> Length isn't that big of an issue to me because I have CD changer with a 6 disc cassette in my car, which holds more than 7 hours of music. But there are things that could have been done to extend play time. There are MP3 disc players that allow a CD to hold 12 to 14 hours of music, and making MP3 DVDs would extend play time even more.
> 
> But I suppose we'll all have to get used to managing MP3 files for our cars. I've been making music CDs from MP3 files for a long time now so it won't be all that different for me.


From what I can see turntables are starting to make a comeback. I've been seeing turntables that can plug into a computer's USB port to play back records through your computer. Still not a very portable thing though. Even if it could work in the USB port on a car it's too big and bulky. Anyhow another solution is that they make Bluetooth transmitter adapters that can plug into the headphone jack on things like a portable CD player, essentially turning the player into a Bluetooth device that could then be paired with the car's audio system using the car manufacturer's Bluetooth device pairing instructions. For power the transmitter has a USB charging port so you can power it by plugging in a USB charging cable into the charging port on the transmitter and the other end into the car's USB. For powering the portable CD player most of them usually can plug into the cigarette lighter or a house's wall outlet and/or batteries.

The one drawback to using a portable CD player in a car, either via the AUX input jack or via the aforementioned Bluetooth transmitter adapter, is the fact that portable CD players generally only play one CD at a time. On long road trips having to pull over once every hour to swap discs can get rather annoying. Unless you have one of those boomboxes that had something like a 5-disc changer but lugging around a boombox on a road trip can get cumbersome. However, you could use one of those Bluetooth adapters in the boombox's headphone jack at home and pair it with your SmartHome's audio controls, provided your home is SmartHome equipped (SmartHome being a way to centrally control things like lighting, security systems, etc. that can all be paired via Bluetooth to the central controller). This 37-year-old Luddite will probably NEVER get a SmartHome though. I don't trust them. Blame me having watched too many "AI's take over the world" kinda movies if you want. 

Anyhow here's the link to the Bluetooth transmitter I was talking about:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B...VETNE&linkId=6ab27ea38fde12fcb8a649b65ccc14b6

As you can see it has a cord containing a male audio connector to plug into a headphone jack. Somewhere on the device is also a USB charging port for keeping it powered


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