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Disappointed in the media situation so far (No CD player in Model S)
- Thread starter Cashoverass
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- Model S User Interface
The poster said most technologically advanced in a thread discussing in cabin tech features. You can't exactly then change the playing field.
I agree btw. The model S is cool but in cabin tech is definitely hurting in some areas. If I had to compare it to our A6, the S wins on remote app and touch screen (which makes entering destinations easier, but the S still has an inferior navigation system), and that's about it.
AustinPowers
Total Smeghead
Actually I don't think so. See below as to why.
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That's the direction my comments were aiming at.
Sure, the Model S as a BEV is the greatest thing currently rolling around on this planet. But even though I haven't had my test-drive yet (which I am sure will blow me away as far as the BEV tech and driving is concerned), but I at least have sat in one by now. And, great performance and battery range aside, the car for my taste leaves a lot more to be desired than what I had hoped for all these years I kept drooling about one day getting a Model S.
None of the things I miss would on themselves lead to me not buying the car. But combined, and with the fact that the car with the configuration I would choose comes in at almost 100K Euro, they simply could outweigh the great ride/performance (which isn't the main point of a BEV anyway) for a lot of customers like myself over here. Perhaps in the end it comes down to a different mentality when it comes to cars. Quite a few of the comments by the American majority here on the forum make me shake my head in astonishment, and I am sure many of you think the same about my comments that to many Model S fans/drivers/believers might seem like heresy or at least nosy, coming from some petty German who moans because such a great car comes without a CD player and the like.
But it's not just me. I know I tend to use generalizations quite often (then again many people do), but I really do know a thing or two about the German mentality, especially when it comes to cars, and what people here like or dislike, do or don't. It really is quite different to what Tesla might have expected this market to be. Even the store personnel have admitted they are unsure about some of Tesla's decisions concerning the Model S feature list! Then again, seeing that the Euro Model S can be had with an optional parking sensor package and some other (so far) Euro-only options shows at least some hope that Tesla is beginning to understand that sticking to their standard car package/business model (which seems to be working great in the US) won't work in other important markets. Exactly like the German manufacturers have adapted their business models, and their cars, quite a bit for other markets like Asia, North- and South-America etc. Just take the VW Passat as one perfect example. The US version is a completely different model (inside, outside, feature-wise, price) to the one you can get in Europe, and for good reasons.
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AustinPowers: I think you may be right and it's something Tesla seems to want to address. They likely couldn't launch the car with everything they wanted to right away but will add features over the years. People will have to jump in when the car + features included is greater than what is missing.
This car's drivetrain is groundbreaking. It's never been attempted before on this scale, and the EV's appeal has never been stronger. This car is a revolution.
Perhaps the question shouldn't be whether the car is everything that you dreamed, but whether it's close enough. You can't satisfy everyone, and there will always be something that's missing, another this or that to add, and can't forget those "me too" features that the media will judge you on... it never ends. Look at the overall package and remind yourself that this damn thing is electric! 100% electric, can fuel itself in your own garage, and it kicks the butt of every other car on the road. Yes, it could use nicer cup holders... but come on, what's not to love about this car?
Perhaps the question shouldn't be whether the car is everything that you dreamed, but whether it's close enough. You can't satisfy everyone, and there will always be something that's missing, another this or that to add, and can't forget those "me too" features that the media will judge you on... it never ends. Look at the overall package and remind yourself that this damn thing is electric! 100% electric, can fuel itself in your own garage, and it kicks the butt of every other car on the road. Yes, it could use nicer cup holders... but come on, what's not to love about this car?
SwedishAdvocate
Active Member
Perhaps one could look at it this way (IMHO that is):
In one hand you have the factory mounted CD-player/changer and the other stuff that one currently can’t equip the Model S with.
In the other hand you have the sea level rising through your fingers* (metaphorically speaking, of course).
As of today, the reality may be, that being part of accelerating the move to what hopefully can be sustainable personal transportation comes with having to be able to accept driving a car without a factory mounted CD-player (and what not).
Everyone who has the means to make such a choice will simply have to decide whatever they value the most – CD-player (+…) or sea-level...
In the meantime – as I understand it – you could always e-mail any suggestion that you have to ownership[at]teslamotors.com. If enough people lobby for a CD-player, perhaps they’ll decide to accommodate your suggestions.
In one hand you have the factory mounted CD-player/changer and the other stuff that one currently can’t equip the Model S with.
In the other hand you have the sea level rising through your fingers* (metaphorically speaking, of course).
As of today, the reality may be, that being part of accelerating the move to what hopefully can be sustainable personal transportation comes with having to be able to accept driving a car without a factory mounted CD-player (and what not).
Everyone who has the means to make such a choice will simply have to decide whatever they value the most – CD-player (+…) or sea-level...
In the meantime – as I understand it – you could always e-mail any suggestion that you have to ownership[at]teslamotors.com. If enough people lobby for a CD-player, perhaps they’ll decide to accommodate your suggestions.
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stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
Maybe they can take from the parts bin, but I doubt they can buy via negotiation powers.
But see my latter comment about why it may not be viable for Tesla to just take a parts bin CD player. For one they never had a standard head unit slot in the design (from the very early prototype stage). Next is that a standard parts bin CD player will have lots of dedicated buttons which is completely against the core design of the Model S. And the integration costs probably is what Tesla would most like to avoid. Not having a CD player is just means one less thing Tesla has to worry about when they have plenty of others.
AustinPowers
Total Smeghead
This car's drivetrain is groundbreaking. It's never been attempted before on this scale, and the EV's appeal has never been stronger. This car is a revolution.
... but come on, what's not to love about this car?
I won't go into all the things that are missing imho, as I have already done so quite often in many other threads, and I don't want to get on people's nerves by endlessly complaining about the same things. Suffice it to say, at the moment there are quite a few items about the Model S that really annoy me.
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The problem is, as long as the major part of electricity is produced by coal/oil/gas/nuclear power stations (and it will be decades before the sustainable energy power stations will have a share in power generation that is greater than that of the fossile/nuclear ones - at least in most countries) even a Model S is not really sustainable transportation, as the CO2/nuclear waste is just produced elsewhere, not in your garage.
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True, and that is one point in my equation. As the Model S is far more expensive here, it has to face quite a different set of opponents. Plus there is almost no incentive for buying an EV here either. So for the money I would have to pay, just the electric drivetrain is not really able to justify spending almost 100K Euro - at the moment. For 100K Euro (which is far more than what I would spend on any car anyway) I would get almost fully loaded high end Audis/Mercs/BMWs (some even with very convincing hybrid tech) that would shame a Model S in every respect apart from the EV drivetrain.
That is one reason why I am hoping that possibly the Gen III will finally be the car I am looking for: great Tesla tech at better value for money and perhaps with some of the features that I consider "missing" in the Model S - even though I am sure that a CD player won't be to be found in Gen III either. On the other hand perhaps until 2017 I will have found the time (and ambition) to rip all of my CDs ;-)
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As mentioned before, there are services to convert your CDs to mp3, FLAC...etc so if you have a few hundred CDs and don't feel like doing it can take advantage of that. I went through all of my CDs in a day. You don't need to stand there and watch it convert the CDs so really just popping a CD in, walking away, and taking it out then putting next one in. At some point I imagine almost no cars will have built in CD players so you'll have to do this anyway.
dang. Stopcrazypp, you're making me feel old!! I know I'm not the youngest Model S owner here but at 29 years old, I didn't realize I was part of the "old people" group.
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Hi guys! I'm glad to see people discussing this. Debating like adults. After I originally made this post, one of the mods added the part in the title about the cd player missing... I didn't do that. I think a lot of people are missing the point.
It's not that there is no cd player... it's that the media options are totally lacking. No Cd player, no dvds, no SACDs, no dvd audio, no ipod integration, no aux 3.5mm jack, no XM or Sirrius (does anyone even still use this?? ), no google play, no amazon music subscription sync. there are tons of media options, and a lot are missing here. For the first time ever I used FM radio and while HD was cool (i've never had a car with HD radio) it cuts in and out a lot and when it's cutting out, the regular signal realllly sucked! maybe that's just my location here.
A lot of people are complaining about the odds of the cd player breaking.... Did you guys get the Model S option to remove the electronic door handles that pop out?? I didn't realize Tesla let you opt for the old school mechanical handles. to me, these electronic ones are awesome and, even though they might break, I'll take my chances because I like them so much.
The media options are far ahead of any car I've ever owned before. The fact I can for a few thousand songs onto a USB drive and then sort through it on a 17" screen is amazing. There is no doubt the feature set is still limited but SACD never really caught on and neither did DVD audio. Tesla has decided to not allow video at this point. iPod integration may come in a future update.
My terminology:The real distinction now is not between analog and digital but between mechanical and "solid state" players. CD is still a mechanical device that rattles and wears out. Flash drives only wear out
Do we know if a HDD is in Model S?
"HDD" = "hard disk drive", i.e. a storage medium with a mechanical spinning drive
"SSD" = "solid state drive", i.e. a storage medium with (almost?) no moving parts
"Flash" = microSD card, etc.
My recollection is that various flavors of the language on the specs page that used to refer to 500 songs and such used terms like flash or solid-state. I think the former, but I'm not 100% sure.
Also, to my recollection there is no evidence on TMC that there is a HDD anywhere in the car.
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A few thoughts on why they excluded CD player in the first place:
- maintenance overhead from wear and tear of this additional mechanical device
- reliability issues and/or user experience problems with such a device
- "old tech" vibe to it (a cd player makes it an "old person's" car)
- interior design aesthetics: another slit and gadgetry in the dash goes against the principles that led to the "opportunity void"
- sustainability: including a cd player implies supporting a technology that uses disposable discs that in aggregate are a non-trivial pollution
- lack of critical need: alternate sources available, and ripping-to-usb alternative
- if you include a CD player, people would want a DVD player (more space and video options) and they don't want to tickle the "video" dragon any more than they already have
I agree with this. I've never before had a car that allowed me to freely pick any of my music collection by artist name on a large screen. I can't imagine why anybody would prefer to be limited to whatever CDs they happened to load into the changer, as well as the fact that I've hated the interface to every cd changer I've ever used, which is why for the last 10+ years I've selected my music on a tiny iPod screen connected to the car stereo by whatever means were available.
mnx
2018 M3P
I think it's hilarious that anyone would complain that a CD player is missing... What is this 1999????? I guess I started using mp3's before they were popular. In fact I used to record mp3's to casette so I could listen to them in the car. Why would you want to be limited to 6 different albums when you can have you entire music catalog at your finger tips? If you've never ripped CD's before it's pretty painless. Insert disc into drive, click button, done.
I guess that is what happens when early adopter meets early majority.
I guess that is what happens when early adopter meets early majority.
Merrill
Merrill
Yes, me too. I will relate my thoughts about not having a CD player. I should preface this by saying that I fall into to that + category related to age, so do not know very much about the latest technology. When first researching the Model S and found out it had no CD player I was amazed, thinking that it was like the spare tire. Once I did the research and realized that a CD player is old technology and then having my music on a flashdrive and not just 6 CDs that you have to rotate but as many albums as you want, I got it. Having the album art on the 17 inch screen with the description of the song and name of the album is so much better than punching in cd 1, or cd 2 etc. the options you have to select your music is in it self a big step forward. After using the system for 2 months I cannot imagine going back to a CD player, which by the way always break at some point.
The important thing is how you interface with the music, not what kind of media it is on. With most CD changers you can have a most 10 discs I believe and only select 'disc 1,2,3.....etc' and have to remember what song you like on that disc. No playlists, album art, sing names or favorites. Tesla nailed the interface now they need to work on adding features which is a matter of time and programming. You couldn't provide what Tesla does with a CD changer and six physical buttons and a small monochrome LCD screen.
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