Disappointed in the media situation so far (No CD player in Model S)

[jkirkebo]

With a Model S, it sounds like you are limited to switching out the thumb drive. Okay, given it's an early adopter car that still has some limits, but nonetheless, a cheap Ford with Sync has a better system. Personally, given how much Tesla has done with the Model S and how great a car it is, I can accept that as a minor limitation, but I wouldn't defend it; not if they don't at least have an aux in port.

I don't see the point in using a thumb drive either. In the Leaf, all I ever do is stream Spotify from my cell phone to the car over Bluetooth. I only connect the USB cable if I need to charge the phone. Also the phone holds my entire music collection nicely but that gets little use after Spotify came into existence.

 

[twinklejet]

I think we should just nudge Tesla for a full-fledged built-in blu-ray player option instead complete with 2 screens (one on each headrest facing the 2nd row) and automatic surround sound decoding into the various speakers. They can call it the passenger entertainment package or something and yes, it will probably play CDs and DVDs and VCDs.

 

[dmunjal]

I think we should just nudge Tesla for a full-fledged built-in blu-ray player option instead complete with 2 screens (one on each headrest facing the 2nd row) and automatic surround sound decoding into the various speakers. They can call it the passenger entertainment package or something and yes, it will probably play CDs and DVDs and VCDs.

Even blu-ray is obsolete. How about an HDMI input or even Airplay streaming support?

 

[gregincal]

I've never seen a car with a sound system that didn't have a physical media player (be it tape, CD, DVD, 8-track, whatever). For years now, most aftermarket radios and most factory ones as well have had aux audio in ports, which essentially gives you universal support for pretty much anything that didn't come with your car. It sounds like the Model S doesn't have that either? I really think that if they are going to leave out the CD/DVD player, they should at least have an aux audio in port.

An example of why a simple USB port is possibly not quite good enough would be Ford cars with the Sync system. When you put a thumb drive in, it spends quite some time indexing all the music, which is great once it's in place. But sometimes you want to just take a few new songs or some other temporary audio thing out to the car for a day. You don't really want to switch out the thumb drive as then it will have to re-index everything again, plus you can't easily switch back to your main music collection easily. Better just to throw your temporary audio stuff on a CD and use the CD player for it. If you finish listening to it before your trip is over, you just switch inputs back to your main music on the thumb drive. Easy and effective. (note that a manufacturer could also provide multiple USB slots for multiple drives as another advanced option, though I have never seen that offered to date).

With a Model S, it sounds like you are limited to switching out the thumb drive. Okay, given it's an early adopter car that still has some limits, but nonetheless, a cheap Ford with Sync has a better system. Personally, given how much Tesla has done with the Model S and how great a car it is, I can accept that as a minor limitation, but I wouldn't defend it; not if they don't at least have an aux in port.

It doesn't sound like the Ford has a better system if it spends quite some time indexing the music. The Model S indexes all 5000 of my songs in probably about 20 seconds. If I want to play some new music that I haven't yet got on the thumb drive I just stream it from my phone. The hassle of burning a CD sounds like a really poor alternative. Also, the Model S does have 2 USB slots.

 

[brianman]

I think we should just nudge Tesla for a full-fledged built-in blu-ray player option

Called it.

- 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

 

[HHHH]

I don't always listen to music, but when I do I prefer Spotify. Stay listening my friends.

 

[twinklejet]

Called it.

Yep I read that but i elaborated on it cos u seem to be referring to video on the center screen

 

[Andyw2100]

No CD option (for books on tape from library) even with "premium" audio package?

I just discovered that apparently the Tesla does not include a CD player. I have searched some old threads, but can't seem to find any information that contradicts this. Is it really true that there is no CD player (or even auxiliiary input option if I wanted to use a portable CD player) so that my wife can listen to books on tape that she borrows from the library? She has a one hour drive each way most days, and that (the two-hour daily commute) is one of the main reasons we decided to spring for the Tesla, sight unseen. It never dawned on me that the car, with the $4500 upgrade to the stereo system, couldn't play a CD! I realize that the technology is old, but there are still uses for it, and I can't imagine it would have added much to the cost of the system.

Assuming there is no way to play a CD in the car, has anyone come up with a good solution via bluetooth and a portable CD player of some sort? Again, I am not interested in anything that requires transferring of files, as I'm talking about borrowing books on tape from a library, listening to them once, and returning them.

If a solution using bluetooth exists, I'm hoping it will play through the car's audio system in such a way that when incoming calls are received, etc., playback is paused, but I fear that's probably not going to happen if the device isn't also under the car's control.

So now this is also a safety issue, as when a call comes in the device playing the CD will have to be paused manually.

The more I think about this, the more upset I am getting.

Thanks.

 

[smsprague]

What's a CD

 

[Andyw2100]

What's a CD 

That's really helpful. Thanks.

- - - Updated - - -

I've realized that perhaps I should be looking at options for borrowing e-books in formats the car can play instead of trying to figure out a way to get the car to play CDs. I'm going to start doing that too.

 

[smsprague]

No CD option (for books on tape from library) even with "premium" audio package?

Come on just a light joke - the Kindle app can play books on tape - you can check them out digitaly for free from your local library - then stream it using Bluetooth

 

[smsprague]

I will try it

 

[Andyw2100]

Come on just a light joke - the Kindle app can play books on tape - you can check them out digitaly for free from your local library - then stream it using Bluetooth

Sorry if I didn't see it as all that funny. It's just that in the last few minutes before posting I had discovered that this car that I have fallen in love with, but never seen, that I have spent a huge sum of money on, might not be able to allow my wife to do the main thing she does while driving--listen to books on tape.

I have since discovered that her library does have some titles available for download, which gives me hope that others do as well, so I am now less concerned. I expect there also may be pay-services that for some annual fee may give her access to a large number of books, so I am definitely feeling better about things.

But for a while there I was thinking that my wife was going to be stuck unable to listen to her books on tape in the Tesla, which was very upsetting. I apologize if I over-reacted to your joke.

 

[wycolo]

> I am not interested in anything that requires transferring of files, as I'm talking about borrowing books on tape from a library, listening to them once, and returning them. [AndyW2100]

Books 'on tape' means what exactly? A device like a Kindle (or its competitors) can natively play eBook etc files which are proprietary. On the other hand a generic boom box can play an audio CD without issue. Are the CDs you have with 'spoken books' playable on a generic boom box? Or are they playing thru some proprietary program?

I would like to play spoken books in the Tesla but don't know the best or easiest way to do this.
--

 

[Majerus]

Sorry if I didn't see it as all that funny. It's just that in the last few minutes before posting I had discovered that this car that I have fallen in love with, but never seen, that I have spent a huge sum of money on, might not be able to allow my wife to do the main thing she does while driving--listen to books on tape.

I have since discovered that her library does have some titles available for download, which gives me hope that others do as well, so I am now less concerned. I expect there also may be pay-services that for some annual fee may give her access to a large number of books, so I am definitely feeling better about things.

But for a while there I was thinking that my wife was going to be stuck unable to listen to her books on tape in the Tesla, which was very upsetting. I apologize if I over-reacted to your joke.

I would suggest signing up for a trial of audible and see if that is a solution for you.

 

[JakeP]

A couple options:

1) Rip them to MP3 yourself, put them on a USB stick, play from My Devices/USB.
2) Borrow them in digital format, as you have noted.
3) Use Audiobooks or similar playback app from your iPhone, bluetooth connection to the car. This often requires you to purchase the Audiobook, rather than borrow from library (grrrr!).
4) Listen to Podcasts on TuneIn Radio instead of audiobooks...though if TuneIn connectivity drops, it loses your place in the podcast, and you cannot skip to a position within a podcast. This forces you to find the podcast on your phone, find where you were you, and then play via bluetooth from your phone.

The interface is decidedly lacking for listen to audio and maintaining placeholders, but hopefully that will be improved in the future.

 

[golfski]

You could always convert the CD audio to MP3 format and play them from a USB stick as well. There are lots of free programs for Mac/Windows that can do this.

 

[swaltner]

If the Kindle app doesn't work to your liking, Overdrive has similar library checkouts of media content (eBooks, audiobooks, video) from your local library.

OverDrive – Library eBooks and Audiobooks on the App Store on iTunes is where to download it for iOS devices. Assuming it's also available for other portable devices...

 

[smsprague]

My fault also, I wanted to try it first before my second post - just used ibooks to stream an audio book and it works

 

[jerry33]

Using a thumb drive is far better than a CD player--at least the ones I've had always break and jam. I've lost a couple of CDs that I can't get anymore because of this.