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

[GSP]

Older thread on this topic:

Disappointed in the media situation so far (No CD player in Model S) [Archive] - Tesla Motors Club - Enthusiasts & Owners Forum

There might (or might not) be some other good ideas there.

GSP

 

[EdA]

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...

I have used the OverDrive app extensively for listening to audio books checked out from my library and downloaded to my iPhone and streamed over Bluetooth..

 

[Firewired]

I second the Audible.com as an option. I am a longtime user, though the titles are not free, the subscription plan where you pre-purchase credits is pretty good deal as well as is the easy of use.

 

[robatbeach]

Once I got a smartphone and discovered overdrive for audio books and stitcher for podcasts, the CD player on my last car grew cobwebs. Not fumbling with changing CDs even with a multi disc player is helpful. Don't miss CD on Tesla.

 

[wycolo]

Talking Books large customer base is among visually impaired yet OverDrive's web pages are clogged with 'tasteful' pastel text that is severely difficult to read. [bitch mode OFF]
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[dsm363]

I don't miss a CD player at all. I understand it is a transition but just one of those things. Really nothing to get upset about. The percentage of people still using CDs in car is likely so small the added cost isn't worth it for Tesla. Plus it represents an outdated technology and provides no benefit over digital files on a thumb drive. You can buy a 128Gb drive now that can hold a few thousand mp3s so I'd argue that is a safety improvement. No need to fumble around and change a CD while driving.

Depending on how many CDs you have, converting them can be done in a day at most. Sure not a great way to spend a day but you can do other things like read or watch TV while ripping the files. There are even services you can ship your CDs and pay to have this done.

You'll love this car. I wouldn't let something like this sour the experience. I think you'll find a decreasing number of new cars are putting CD players in them too.

 

[donv]

No, Tesla doesn't offer a CD player. Nor do they offer a cassette player, or an 8 track, or even an LP record player. Going forward, I think fewer and fewer cars will offer CD players...

I would also suggest Audible. Or possibly Kindle. We listen to audio books all the time. Podcasts would also be worth looking into-- and (with some issues) TuneIn, which is built into the car, can do that.

 

[wycolo]

My local library has 1700+ 'audio' CDs and the State-wide system has bazillions, so I reserved JD Salinger's Catcher In The Rye (which is 6 CDs). Read the book in high school so time to have it spoon fed to me, unfortunately NOT by JD himself in this case. Then I'll rip to mp3 and load onto a usb flash stick for playing in the ModelS. I hope the MS interface will play and pause this easily whilst driving down the road. Dealing with physcal CDs will make this simple. You could also rip movie sound only which would be fine for 'talky' movies like My Dinner With Andre (1981) etc. I use the freeware Audacity program which is available for Mac, Windoz, Linux desktops to do the ripping.
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[mspohr]

The CD player in by older car died a few years ago. Replaced it with a plug for my smartphone. Never looked back. Between streaming music/audio and my mp3 library, I haven't used a CD in a car in years. (Another car has a functional CD player but I never use it.)

 

[Andyw2100]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I expect we will be able to come up with something that will work, though probably nothing that will pause playback automatically if an incoming call is received. I think I'm leaning towards e-books from the library systems and Overdrive for now, as that is most similar what my wife has been doing, and doesn't add any expense or a lot of preparation time. I briefly looked at Audible, and it appears to cost $15 per month, and include just one book per month. The cost, though not trivial would not necessarily be a deal-breaker, but the one book per month would be. If there is a similar service out there with an annual fee and a significantly higher book limit, that might be an option. We'll need to do some research. Again, it was only earlier today that we discovered this was going to be an issue, so we haven't done a lot of looking around yet.

I assume when the car's sound system is playing music from flash drives and a call is received, the music is paused, right? So if that is true, if we came up with a way to play audio books from a flash drive (instead of from a phone, with Overdrive) then presumably the audio books would also be paused during an incoming (or outgoing) call, right? If this is possible, this would offer the best solution.

 

[jerry33]

I assume when the car's sound system is playing music from flash drives and a call is received, the music is paused, right?

That is correct. It pauses when there is a phone call or you mute the volume. Music also pauses when playing from your iPhone over Bluetooth (or at least it used to--I haven't played that way since the car was new and I hadn't transferred music to the thumb drive).

 

[Andyw2100]

That is correct. It pauses when there is a phone call or you mute the volume. Music also pauses when playing from your iPhone over Bluetooth (or at least it used to--I haven't played that way since the car was new and I hadn't transferred music to the thumb drive).

Thanks! The part about the iPhone surprises me, but also bodes well for my plans if I do go with the Overdrive from the iPhone. I assumed that solution would not allow for paused playback, but is actually sounds like it will.

Thanks!

 

[MitchMitch]

I was tickled to see this old thread was revived. I had visions of everything from a Sony Diskman plugged into a Bluetooth transmitter to these fun possibilities run through my over-egg-nogged-head.

 

[PlanB]

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.

Here's a start!
Amazon.com: USB DIGITAL LIBRARY - INCLUDES 3000 CLASSIC BOOKS!: Computers Accessories

 

[Andyw2100]

Here's a start!
Amazon.com: USB DIGITAL LIBRARY - INCLUDES 3000 CLASSIC BOOKS!: Computers Accessories

Thanks, but these aren't recordings, but rather just the text of the books. My wife listens to the recordings of books, which used to be known as "books on tape." That may not be the correct term for it any more, but the concept has not changed: it is a recording of someone reading the book.

 

[PlanB]

Thanks, but these aren't recordings, but rather just the text of the books. My wife listens to the recordings of books, which used to be known as "books on tape." That may not be the correct term for it any more, but the concept has not changed: it is a recording of someone reading the book.

Yeah my bad, wrong link.
Amazon.com: Audible Audiobooks: Books

 

[MartinAustin]

Let me add myself to the group who wants to be able to play a CD in the car.

I have a 256GB flash drive with 17,000 FLACs on it. I don't want to take that functionality away... I want additional functionality - to be able to play a CD now and again. Like if I am handed a CD from someone who has it in their collection. (I can't play it until I take it home and go through the whole ripping & transfer process, how elegant is that? It's not... it's ****)

I dearly hope they some day find the resources to support standard USB CDROM drives that can play audio CDs, or even, introduce a badge-engineered, low-sales-volume Tesla accessory player of their own that can plug in to the USB socket. I would seriously pay $100 for that.

Putting an unbalanced stereo "AUX IN" into every car during manufacture seems like the wrong way to go, but it wouldn't hurt... I would settle for that even if it'd have a sound quality hit, but the USB audio approach would be best as there is no degradation of sound quality.

Please don't criticise me or anyone else on this awesome thread for wanting to play optical CDs AS WELL AS the other audio sources that the Model S can handle. We want more. It's cruel that every other BEV on the market has a way to play optical CDs, but the king-of-kings Tesla Model S does not.

2015 Chevy Spark EV has no CD player built into the dash, but it has AUX IN.
2015 Kia Soul EV has no CD player built into the dash, but it has AUX IN.
2015 Mercedes B-Class EV has no CD player built into the dash, but it has AUX IN.
2015 Chevy Volt has a CD player built right into the dash.
2015 Mitsubishi m-iEV has a CD player built right into the dash.
Tesla Model S... no CD player and no AUX IN.

 

[David_Cary]

Add Leaf 2011-2015 - CD player in dash, Aux in, USB

 

[arg]

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 none of the digital options works for you, an old-school CD player plus one of these would probably do the job:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Bluetooth-Transmitter-Adapter-version/dp/B00778FMQ0/ref=pd_sim_sbs_ce_8

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 CD audio would be automatically muted, but obviously not paused using an adaptor like this.

 

[Andyw2100]

If none of the digital options works for you, an old-school CD player plus one of these would probably do the job:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wireless-Bl...ter-version/dp/B00778FMQ0/ref=pd_sim_sbs_ce_8

Thanks.

Someone else had suggested the same sort of thing via PM. The suggestions are appreciated, as I knew those things existed (at some point) but hadn't thought of them.

In fact, even if we wind up with one of the digital solutions, we're still going to need a solution that uses the FM radio transmission technology for when I have the Tesla and my wife takes her current car to work, which may happen about 1/4 to 1/3 of the time. If she's in the middle of a book, she's not going to want to just listen to a different on on actual CD and be constantly switching back and forth. As it turns out, even though her current car has a built in bluetooth system, we have opted for a Motorola Roadster 2 to use in that car, as the sound quality for phone calls is actually better. And though we haven't used the Roadster 2 this way, I checked the manual (online) to make sure, and it can stream music to the car's FM radio. So I think that will be the solution for how she'll listen to the books on tape in digital format when she's in the car that can't accept them in digital format.

We're going to have to jump through a lot of hoops because our $130,000+ car doesn't come with a $50 CD player, but if this turns out to be my worst complaint about the car, I'll be exceedingly happy! I know in the long-run this is a minor inconvenience.