I recently got a 2017 Model S, and I need a portable CD player that will play through the car sound system. There are some things on CD, like work materials and library books, that I can't buy, download or burn to my computer. I have seen portable Bluetooth CD players, but reviews for at least one of them said that it would play through a phone or tablet, but not through car audio. I'm willing to get something that would plug into a USB or other outlet—it doesn't have to be Bluetooth enabled. Any suggestions?
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nico180
creating simple things - is true talent
a regular CD audio player is not capable of being plugging into USB
I would convert any CD to a digital format, put that digital on USB
or bring a Discman (oh man, that's old)
I would convert any CD to a digital format, put that digital on USB
or bring a Discman (oh man, that's old)
nico180: Thanks, but, as I said, these are CDs I can't convert because I don't own them. Our library systems have many digital audiobooks, but most material is still on CDs.
It's useful to know that I won't be able to find a CD player with a USB connector. I still hope that I can find a Bluetooth-enabled one that will play through the car's audio system.
If not, then yes, I'll be stuck with getting a portable CD boombox. (I had a Discman—no speakers, had to use headphones, so no good for driving.)
It's useful to know that I won't be able to find a CD player with a USB connector. I still hope that I can find a Bluetooth-enabled one that will play through the car's audio system.
If not, then yes, I'll be stuck with getting a portable CD boombox. (I had a Discman—no speakers, had to use headphones, so no good for driving.)
Takumi:
It might. Thanks, I'll check it out.
It might. Thanks, I'll check it out.
snort
Member
Copyright law allows you to make copies of CDs and other media that are in your possession, for personal use. You need to delete the copies when you give the disc back to the library.
--Snortybartfast
NewHi-
Try this: If you have a laptop that plays CD's, connect laptop to Tesla via Bluetooth and listen that way.
My audiophile friend Bill came up with this:
A recurring theme in this Tesla forum is the lack of both a CD player and an auxiliary-in (3.5mm) jack in the sound system.
This makes playing one’s CDs problematic. Younger drivers are less fazed by this oversight than older ones, since the former tend to have their music collections stored on digital devices that will play via USB or Bluetooth. I am in the latter cohort, and I have no intention of “ripping” my 1,000+ CD collection onto a digital storage device in FLAC or MP3, or any other format, whether lossy or lossless.
Ultimate sound quality is not the issue with me, but rather the time, know-how and equipment needed to do such a massive conversion just to play my favorite tunes in my Model S.
I have a workaround, and it will only cost you $60 and a few minutes time:
Go to Best Buy and purchase their Insignia® brand portable CD player. Be sure you select the model with the “line-out” jack and not just the headphone jack, for around $25. Also purchase the Aluratek Bluetooth Universal Audio TRANSMITTER module for $29. This device is 50% the size of a Zippo® lighter. It plugs into the line-out jack of the player with a short cable. I had no trouble pairing the sound system in both of my Model S vehicles to the Bluetooth transmitter, so your system should be compatible with this same setup. The transmitter has a built-in rechargeable battery and comes with a USB cable for charging. You need not have that USB cable plugged in during normal operation.
Battery life between charges is rated at about 50 hours. The CD player has a 60 second or so buffer, so with the smooth ride of the car you should not experience skips unless you are broadsided by a Mack truck, or have grandchildren in the car using the player as a football.
Some caveats: The player I purchased takes two AA batteries and there is NO “cigarette socket” or other adapter for providing current from the vehicle. Buy a large pack of AA alkalines from Best Buy when you are there (if you can find a portable CD player that has a 12v power cable, just be sure it also has the “line-out” jack as well).
Some players do not have the “resume” feature which if present would allow the disc to resume playing where it left off when the power is off. I am not aware of any way to have the player “connected” via Bluetooth to the car and have my cell phone connected by Bluetooth (that could be a good thing: would you rather listen to Haydn’s Sun Concerto Number 20, or someone trying to talk you into donating funds to the “Save the African Tsetse Fly” campaign?) Perhaps there is a way to pair two BT devices simultaneously, but I am not aware of how to do that.
With Bluetooth there is some loss of fidelity as compared to a direct CD player connection, but it still sounds good, and maybe even the same, as the common lossy MP3 files on storage devices most others use.
A recurring theme in this Tesla forum is the lack of both a CD player and an auxiliary-in (3.5mm) jack in the sound system.
This makes playing one’s CDs problematic. Younger drivers are less fazed by this oversight than older ones, since the former tend to have their music collections stored on digital devices that will play via USB or Bluetooth. I am in the latter cohort, and I have no intention of “ripping” my 1,000+ CD collection onto a digital storage device in FLAC or MP3, or any other format, whether lossy or lossless.
Ultimate sound quality is not the issue with me, but rather the time, know-how and equipment needed to do such a massive conversion just to play my favorite tunes in my Model S.
I have a workaround, and it will only cost you $60 and a few minutes time:
Go to Best Buy and purchase their Insignia® brand portable CD player. Be sure you select the model with the “line-out” jack and not just the headphone jack, for around $25. Also purchase the Aluratek Bluetooth Universal Audio TRANSMITTER module for $29. This device is 50% the size of a Zippo® lighter. It plugs into the line-out jack of the player with a short cable. I had no trouble pairing the sound system in both of my Model S vehicles to the Bluetooth transmitter, so your system should be compatible with this same setup. The transmitter has a built-in rechargeable battery and comes with a USB cable for charging. You need not have that USB cable plugged in during normal operation.
Battery life between charges is rated at about 50 hours. The CD player has a 60 second or so buffer, so with the smooth ride of the car you should not experience skips unless you are broadsided by a Mack truck, or have grandchildren in the car using the player as a football.
Some caveats: The player I purchased takes two AA batteries and there is NO “cigarette socket” or other adapter for providing current from the vehicle. Buy a large pack of AA alkalines from Best Buy when you are there (if you can find a portable CD player that has a 12v power cable, just be sure it also has the “line-out” jack as well).
Some players do not have the “resume” feature which if present would allow the disc to resume playing where it left off when the power is off. I am not aware of any way to have the player “connected” via Bluetooth to the car and have my cell phone connected by Bluetooth (that could be a good thing: would you rather listen to Haydn’s Sun Concerto Number 20, or someone trying to talk you into donating funds to the “Save the African Tsetse Fly” campaign?) Perhaps there is a way to pair two BT devices simultaneously, but I am not aware of how to do that.
With Bluetooth there is some loss of fidelity as compared to a direct CD player connection, but it still sounds good, and maybe even the same, as the common lossy MP3 files on storage devices most others use.
BluestarE3
Active Member
Not to mention CDs skipping whenever the car hits a bump on the road. I'm in my mid-60s and I've been ripping/encoding my CDs for two decades. It got to the point where whenever I bought a new CD, I'd rip/encode it first before even listening to it.
Graffi
Member
But how can I play my 8-Tracs? Talk about loosing sound quality!!!
CD player with USB out isn't the solution - the USB in the car only reads files, not streaming output. There are CD 'transports' out there that hook to a separate DAC for audiophile reasons.
Ripping favorites to a USB is the semi-technical way of doing it. Heck, iTunes does this really easily. But if that's not an option then CD to Bluetooth as described above is a way to go.
Prolly sound quality degraded on both the CD and Bluetooth, but the stock Tesla system is barely good enough to show the differences.
My sound adviser Bill commented:
Well, lots of good comments there. My solution is I think the best outside of ripping CDs to other drives that output to a USB port.
Beware of the FM transmitter option. I had two back in the day. One I just plain threw away because it did not work—at all.
The other worked to send signals from a 12-disc CD changer mounted in the trunk of one of my ’95 Cadillac (it did have a single disk player direct in the radio, but for some reason had this other option too. Not only was inserting 12 CDs into this magazine in the trunk unit clumsily (and then doing it over again when I got tired of shuffling through those same 12), but the FM transmitter that plugged into the unit produced noticeably inferior sound quality compared to a direct CD player.
It sounded worst than today’s Bluetooth option. You are better off with the Bluetooth adapter. Should you decide to “rip” your CDs later, I guess I can show you how and set you up with the proper software. In your “not the high end” Tesla radio, ripped music would probably sound as good as the Bluetooth signal route anyway.
Well, lots of good comments there. My solution is I think the best outside of ripping CDs to other drives that output to a USB port.
Beware of the FM transmitter option. I had two back in the day. One I just plain threw away because it did not work—at all.
The other worked to send signals from a 12-disc CD changer mounted in the trunk of one of my ’95 Cadillac (it did have a single disk player direct in the radio, but for some reason had this other option too. Not only was inserting 12 CDs into this magazine in the trunk unit clumsily (and then doing it over again when I got tired of shuffling through those same 12), but the FM transmitter that plugged into the unit produced noticeably inferior sound quality compared to a direct CD player.
It sounded worst than today’s Bluetooth option. You are better off with the Bluetooth adapter. Should you decide to “rip” your CDs later, I guess I can show you how and set you up with the proper software. In your “not the high end” Tesla radio, ripped music would probably sound as good as the Bluetooth signal route anyway.
ocstig
EV Modifier
The interface for the USB ports will only recognize a mass storage device, like flash drive/hard drive. CD-ROM drives don't present themselves in the same manner.
I don't think there are controls anyway even if it did. Tesla would need to code that.
So, yea. I'm going to say getting external USB CD-ROM's to work as CD players using the USB ports in the car with on screen controls (And Gracenote support over the internet) should be a top priority for the engineering team.
