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A CD player that works via USB - finally!!!

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I listen to audio books that I get for free from the library, so a CD player is something I'll miss [1], especially as I'll only listen to something one time



[1] if I ever actually take delivery 🤬
Finally there's someone on this site that recognizes the value of checking out audio book cd's from the library to play while you're driving. Not everyone is looking for a sound studio in their car!
 
After many years of searching with no luck I happened upon a CD player that actually works in my Model S via USB! It's Automotive Integrated Electronics UBSCDPLAY1 and it's available on Amazon for around $200. Just plug it in and insert a CD--it's that simple. The car recognizes all the tracks as WAV files via USB. You use the touchscreen to select tracks since the player is no frills and only has 1 button--eject. Until this point, I had tried numerous players, portable read/writers, etc and nothing worked. Before you ask...YES I know you can just burn CDs to an external drive and the car will recognize the files. However, I have around 15,000 flac files on a 1TB external drive that takes the car like 10+ minutes or more to index. Now I can just pop a CD in the player without waiting. The interface isn't 100% perfect at times. Every once in a while the CD has to be inserted again or reinserted but this is really a function of Tesla's crappy software interface rather than the player. Also, it does choke sometimes if you decide to skip to another song while in the middle of another. It works best when you just insert a disc and let it play. The link to the player is here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DHXY5X3?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2_dt_b_product_details

AIE also makes another version (USBCDPLAY2) which the car will not recognize so don't bother trying that one.

I hope this helps others since it's been a ridiculously long time finding a solution to this nagging problem.
Might that also work with M3 (09/21)? Any help appreciated!
 
Best music format. Streaming/MP3 doesn’t have the sound quality.
Streaming and MP3 are two different things. You can do a 320 rip or a FLAC file format on a USB drive and achieve the same quality. As a nightclub DJ for more than 20 years, I have worked with many different formats and I can say that most people would not be able to tell the difference between a 320 rip and a CD version. That is, a 320 rip from a WAV file, because a 320 rip from a 160 file is still a 160 file.
Streaming is not an option for anyone with a discerning ear, as the bitrate is really low.
USB will always give you the best sound quality, depending on the quality of your files. Bluetooth from your phone and playing from a streaming service like Spotify will be inferior, because the USB device is actually plugged in to the car.
 
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Well, I enjoy vinyl records at home but I don’t wish to enjoy it in the car 😂😉
CD continues to be a preferred medium for classical music for many people in 2021. After all CD - and digital audio per se was originally designed for classical music. (60 + mins of continuous music on a single disc, dynamic range etc etc) And Spotify’s classical selections are fairly random
 
Ordered a "new open box" unit from Ebay, just tried it out in my 2020 Model Y and it works great!! Glad I don't need to spend hours putting everything on a memory stick.
Instead you’ll spend more time every time you go digging for a CD while driving. Also CD’s tend to get beaten up in the car. And take up a lot space quickly.

I have 10,000+ songs, I think ~800 CD’s on a nice USB drive tucked in the cubby on my X. It does index now and then, but not to bad.

I love hitting Random play sometimes on the whole thing. Then I discover old albums or artists I fall in love with again.

Do you still have Netflix deliver DVD’s too?

I bet the drives that work are just ripping it and presenting the CD as files to fake it out. Since the car only recognizes a file system.
 
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I listen to audio books that I get for free from the library, so a CD player is something I'll miss [1], especially as I'll only listen to something one time



[1] if I ever actually take delivery 🤬
This is the best answer for the original posters effort. Yes, one could easily (illegally) rip the libraries CD's to MP3/FLAC and put them on a USB drive, but it's a LOT easier (and legal) to just pop them in, enjoy and return when done.

Yeah, not sure why there's so many rude, hateful, comments. The guy had a problem and shared a solution. That's exactly what forums should be about... helping other people. We've all learned from his efforts. We don't need to make the same mistakes he did to overcome this challenge.

Thanks for sharing johnyoung1234!
 
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Do you still have Netflix deliver DVD’s too?
Actually, I do. I live in a rural area of the Parish that doesn't have dense housing. The common carriers (AT&T, Cox, etc.) won't serve us as they can't get the subscriber density they want. As such, I have two options: satellite and nothing. My neighbor tried satellite and he said it sucked from the inception.

I'm patiently waiting for Starlink. I've had my deposit in since the first day they opened the ability to make a deposit.
 
My old car had a Pioneer MP3 CD player. It had PHYSICAL BUTTONS. I could do things that I can't do in the Tesla (without crashing).
- Skip folder UP/DOWN with ONE button! - you can't do that without about 4 clicks on the touch screen.
- << and >> through tracks with DEDICATEDbuttons! - listening to a 1hour podcast / audiobook file, want to rewind a bit you missed. Easy. Try and do that on - a touchscreen where 5mm represents 1minute of audio - if you can even press the scroll line.
- display track remaining - now gone from V11.
 
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Aldi have some good deals at the moment, will this work? :)

It’s USB
 

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After many years of searching with no luck I happened upon a CD player that actually works in my Model S via USB! I Amazon.com
[/QUOTE]
I just took delivery on a new Tesla model Y. I had high hopes that the USBCDPLAY1 mentioned here would allow me to play standard commercial audio CDs in it. However, I have only been able to play music files burned to a CD-R in data CD format. That is useless to me, as anything I have in file form I can more easily just store on a USB flash drive, which also can be played in my Tesla.

I wonder if I am missing some trick, or I misunderstood others who posted success here and on the Amazon comments, or possibly Tesla changed something in the car that makes this no longer work on my model.
 
fter many years of searching with no luck I happened upon a CD player that actually works in my Model S via USB! It's Automotive Integrated Electronics UBSCDPLAY1 and it's available on Amazon for around $200. Just plug it in and insert a CD--it's that simple. The car recognizes all the tracks as WAV files via USB. You use the touchscreen to select tracks since the player is no frills and only has 1 button--eject.
I bought one of these, properly connected it to the USB port in the center console fo my 2021 M3, and it happily swallows and spits out commercial CDs, but I don't hear anything: What menu of the screen do I have to be in to activate this CD player?
 
I bought a portable CD player to use in the car. I have 3,000 CDs and aint gonna spend tons of time ripping them. My problem is that I bought it before we had the Tesla. It connects via a 3.5 mm jack that our 2017 Bolt has. I thought for sure the Tesla would have a 3.5 jack but it only has USB. Now I need a cord that will transfer audio through the 3.5 jack to the Tesla USB input and so far, the only ones I've seen on Amazon say "not for USB car audio"
 
I bought a portable CD player to use in the car. I have 3,000 CDs and aint gonna spend tons of time ripping them. My problem is that I bought it before we had the Tesla. It connects via a 3.5 mm jack that our 2017 Bolt has. I thought for sure the Tesla would have a 3.5 jack but it only has USB. Now I need a cord that will transfer audio through the 3.5 jack to the Tesla USB input and so far, the only ones I've seen on Amazon say "not for USB car audio"
Does it require batteries too?