Model S Specs and Standard Features

[onlinespending]

Of course, my point is that in general, people are running around with 8-16GB of music storage on their devices, so it's not unreasonable to see Tesla offer similar. Does anyone have a list of what other manufacturers offer? When I had my GLI I upgraded to the touchscreen headunit (yes, they existed before Tesla) that had 10GB, 3 for maps and then like 6GB for music. I never filled it.

And people are also running around with 3.5" screens on their phones. Why not just keep the the touchscreen in the Model S at 3.5"? If it's important for you to have a bigger screen size, you can just dock your iPad, sort of like plugging in a USB drive for music. I'm glad you only have 6GB of music, but most people have much larger music libraries and to limit it at 16GB when a 64GB flash memory would cost no more than $50 just blows my mind. Instead of defending this shortcoming, why not call it for what it is in the hopes that Tesla stops being cheap about this and does the right thing. If enough indifferent people with just 6GB of music come out and defend this, they may get the mistaken impression that 16GB is acceptable.

 

[AnOutsider]

And people are also running around with 3.5" screens on their phones. Why not just keep the the touchscreen in the Model S at 3.5"? If it's important for you to have a bigger screen size, you can just dock your iPad, sort of like plugging in a USB drive for music. I'm glad you only have 6GB of music, but most people have much larger music libraries and to limit it at 16GB when a 64GB flash memory would cost no more than $50 just blows my mind. Instead of defending this shortcoming, why not call it for what it is in the hopes that Tesla stops being cheap about this and does the right thing. If enough indifferent people with just 6GB of music come out and defend this, they may get the mistaken impression that 16GB is acceptable.

Wait, so your argument is that since the Model S has a larger screen it needs more storage? I'm not defending anything, I'm simply stating it's not as absurd as you're making it out to be. I did ask if anyone could point out cars providing larger storage space? I also offered a workaround: you have 2 USB ports (4 if you go with the tech package), you can easily plug in your iPod or iPhone or whatever device with your preferred capacity to stream your whole collection. I think that's likely more convenient anyway (take it with you, easily sync with your PC etc).

I'm sure Tesla will offer more storage down the line, but I think the matter is being overblown here. I did some quick Googling to see what others are offering:

Chrysler's new Town & Country minivan, for example, comes with an optional 20-gigabyte hard drive, a $675 feature. You can plug in your iPod and download songs to your car, or you can use a USB port on the dashboard.

Built-in Hard Drives for Car Infotainment - Technoride v25n15 | PCMag.com

Since early this year, Mercedes-Benz has been shipping the $85,000 S-Class with a 20GB hard drive for navigation. And Chrysler and Infiniti have recently detailed plans to ship cars that will have hard drives for both navigation and music storage.

VW's latest iteration: RNS 510 radio navigation system Volkswagen International Homepage

The integrated 30 GB hard disk offers space for your music collection – and, of course, for the navigation data. And the SD memory card system ensures a convenient exchange of data whenever you need it.

Looks like BMW has an 80GB in some of their cars, but makes 12GB available: Hard Drive Storage Capacity Please? - BMW M3 Forum (E90 E92)

Ford Sync: http://answers.edmunds.com/question-Ford-Flex-with-SYNC-and-Sirius-hard-drive-capacity-in-gigabytes-89062.aspx

"it has a 10GB hard drive so you can store approximately 2,400 songs."

so again, Tesla isn't too far from the current trends. Could they go higher? Yes, but let's not act like they're so far behind the times. Certainly nothing I've found indicated ANY car manufacturers are catering to the small subset of people who need 64GB+ of storage space -- so let's not berate Tesla for it.

 

[ElSupreme]

Capacity problem solved!

1TB SSD Crammed Into Swiss Army Knife, Costs $3000

 

[onlinespending]

Wait, so your argument is that since the Model S has a larger screen it needs more storage? I'm not defending anything, I'm simply stating it's not as absurd as you're making it out to be. I did ask if anyone could point out cars providing larger storage space? I also offered a workaround: you have 2 USB ports (4 if you go with the tech package), you can easily plug in your iPod or iPhone or whatever device with your preferred capacity to stream your whole collection. I think that's likely more convenient anyway (take it with you, easily sync with your PC etc).

I'm sure Tesla will offer more storage down the line, but I think the matter is being overblown here.

No that's not my argument. First I brought up how inexpensive it would be to offer a higher storage capacity for music, and you agreed with me when you said "of course". But then your argument was that 16GB is more than enough because people are used to running around with 16GB on their iPhones. By that same argument people are also running around with 3.5" screens, so should they expect the same sized screen when they step into their cars? Of course not. Tesla should not be content on simply providing the ordinary (especially when it's soooo inexpensive to provide more storage) and clearly they're not...otherwise they would not be offering a 17" touchscreen or the countless other features that they are.

And who cares what other cars are offering in the way of music storage? It's also true that no car offers a 17" touchscreen, and the cost of that flat panel far exceeds the cost of solid state memory. A large reason that not many cars offer much on-board music storage is that it was largely not thought to be the role of the car. But if Tesla is offering 16GB of music storage, there's little reason to stop there considering just how inexpensive it'd be to go to 64GB. Hell, I'd gladly pay an extra $100 for the increase and they'd still be making some fat profits on that.

Is this a deal breaker for me? No. As long as Tesla provides a way to expand this embedded storage (without necessarily plugging in a USB thumb drive or iPod out in the open), I'd be relatively happy. But most people have more than 16GB of music on their computers. Supporting Tesla's decision of 16GB for music storage when you only have 6GB of music is like a deaf person claiming he'd be OK with just 1GB of storage for his music needs

 

[jkirkebo]

And people are also running around with 3.5" screens on their phones. Why not just keep the the touchscreen in the Model S at 3.5"? If it's important for you to have a bigger screen size, you can just dock your iPad, sort of like plugging in a USB drive for music. I'm glad you only have 6GB of music, but most people have much larger music libraries and to limit it at 16GB when a 64GB flash memory would cost no more than $50 just blows my mind.

I agree. I have 40 odd GBs of music. My iPhone 3GS only holds 32GB and I have to choose what to not put on it. A larger flash capacity is what could entice me to upgrade the phone. Since the 4S still only supports 32Gb I'm waiting for the next generation.

My iPad holds 64GB but is too big to keep in the pocket

 

[efusco]

I think the point is not that it's absurd, but that it's chincy. They go over the top with a touch screen display then refuse to put more than 16GB inwhen 32 or 64 would be practically pennies more and would improve buyer satisfaction immensely.

 

[onlinespending]

I think the point is not that it's absurd, but that it's chincy. They go over the top with a touch screen display then refuse to put more than 16GB inwhen 32 or 64 would be practically pennies more and would improve buyer satisfaction immensely.

succinctly put! and far more to the point than what I was struggling with

 

[onlinespending]

I agree. I have 40 odd GBs of music. My iPhone 3GS only holds 32GB and I have to choose what to not put on it. A larger flash capacity is what could entice me to upgrade the phone. Since the 4S still only supports 32Gb I'm waiting for the next generation.

My iPad holds 64GB but is too big to keep in the pocket

You can get a 64GB iPhone 4S. Which means there are actually people running around with 64GB iPhones currently. Imagine the horror they'll have when they step into their Premium Audio upgraded Model S only to find 16GB! haha

 

[ElSupreme]

I think the point is not that it's absurd, but that it's chincy. They go over the top with a touch screen display then refuse to put more than 16GB inwhen 32 or 64 would be practically pennies more and would improve buyer satisfaction immensely.

My bet is they are putting in 32GB (max SDHC size) and giving you your ~16GB (or whatever 3000 songs equals), and keeping 16GB for the Navigation, OS, and everything else.

I don't know all the difficulties/costs going with SDXC, but based on card prices and products that can use them I think it is still high.

EDIT: I in general think they should offer more storage standard, I don't know how hard/expensive that actually is. I would like a hidden SDHC (or SDXC) slot, or at least a hidden USB slot. I think we have a good chance at this anyway.

 

[onlinespending]

My bet is they are putting in 32GB (max SDHC size) and giving you your ~16GB (or whatever 3000 songs equals), and keeping 16GB for the Navigation, OS, and everything else.

I don't know all the difficulties/costs going with SDXC, but based on card prices and products that can use them I think it is still high.

EDIT: I in general think they should offer more storage standard, I don't know how hard/expensive that actually is. I would like a hidden SDHC (or SDXC) slot, or at least a hidden USB slot. I think we have a good chance at this anyway.

I would highly doubt they are using an SD card for their storage. I'd imagine they'd be using embedded flash chips. Though, as you suggested, I would love if they have a hidden SD card slot for expansion.

 

[strider]

You can get a 64GB iPhone 4S. Which means there are actually people running around with 64GB iPhones currently. Imagine the horror they'll have when they step into their Premium Audio upgraded Model S only to find 16GB! haha

Except they can just dock their 64GB iPhone and play their music directly from there. I've never had a vehicle w/ local storage so maybe I don't know what I'm missing but I have a hard enough time keeping my music synced between my laptop, phone, and home media server. The last thing I need is yet another place to store music. I'm perfectly happy to dock my phone in my Roadster - phone charges and I listen to music.

 

[T@oo]

Except they can just dock their 64GB iPhone and play their music directly from there. I've never had a vehicle w/ local storage so maybe I don't know what I'm missing but I have a hard enough time keeping my music synced between my laptop, phone, and home media server. The last thing I need is yet another place to store music. I'm perfectly happy to dock my phone in my Roadster - phone charges and I listen to music.

+1

I couldn't care less about the car storage. I'll pair my iphone and i'm done. Why the hell would I want my music on the car too? My wife? Has her own music on her own Iphone. And her own car too.

 

[AustinPowers]

Except they can just dock their 64GB iPhone and play their music directly from there. I've never had a vehicle w/ local storage so maybe I don't know what I'm missing but I have a hard enough time keeping my music synced between my laptop, phone, and home media server. The last thing I need is yet another place to store music. I'm perfectly happy to dock my phone in my Roadster - phone charges and I listen to music.

Amen to that.
By the way, I sure feel the Model S in its first iteration has some shortcomings, but at least when it comes to music storage capacity I see no problem. Our VW Touran has an SD card slot, so my whole music collection (less than 10 GB mind you) can come with me when I drive in that vehicle and when I'm back home, the card can go back into my PC or notebook. As the Model S at least offers USB slots (SD as well?), plugging in a cardreader is a minor inconvenience. (Even though it again makes me wonder how they intend to justify their "incredible comes as standard").

 

[PattyChuck]

But most people have more than 16GB of music on their computers.

Care to back this up with supporting documentation? You'll also need to quantify how many is "most people".

Perhaps Tesla is using a different data set than you, and their data says that "most people" only have 12GB of music, so a 16GB chip would suit "most people" just fine.

 

[AustinPowers]

Care to back this up with supporting documentation? You'll also need to quantify how many is "most people".

Perhaps Tesla is using a different data set than you, and their data says that "most people" only have 12GB of music, so a 16GB chip would suit "most people" just fine.

Just what I thought. I know a lot of music crazy people but I know of very few who have more than 16 GB of music. "Most people" is a very bold assumption.

 

[EVNow]

Just what I thought. I know a lot of music crazy people but I know of very few who have more than 16 GB of music. "Most people" is a very bold assumption.

I've a fairly large HDD full of music. I'm yet to rip all my music, though.

I keep cycling chunks of music into my 60GB iPod (used essentially as a USB drive in my Leaf) and my 16GB WP7 for daily use.

 

[AnOutsider]

Perhaps Tesla is using a different data set than you, and their data says that "most people" only have 12GB of music, so a 16GB chip would suit "most people" just fine.

Other automakers too

Really though, it's going to be more convenient to plug in, or bluetooth stream your content methinks.

 

[PattyChuck]

Just curious, but do we know yet how Tesla intends for us to get music in the on-board storage? Copy from USB? Transfer from iPod? Wirelessly from your desktop?

I am in the camp of plugging in my iPhone when I get in the car. I listen to podcasts while at work, while at the gym, and while driving. It's nice to get in the car, pull my headphones out, plug in the iPhone, and pick up right where I left off. I'm hoping their Bluetooth integrating is nicer than my vehicle, which is touch-and-go, otherwise, I'd use that instead.

 

[onlinespending]

Care to back this up with supporting documentation? You'll also need to quantify how many is "most people".

Perhaps Tesla is using a different data set than you, and their data says that "most people" only have 12GB of music, so a 16GB chip would suit "most people" just fine.

Most people I know. How's that? The point is, they need only look at the sizes offered with the iPod/iPhone. 16GB is the lowest capacity you can get with those devices. And although people store more than music on them, people clearly see the need to have more than just 16GB of storage since they are offered in sizes up to 64GB (and that's just with the flash based models. The iPod Classic has far larger capacity). And again, this is somewhat besides the point. Given how inexpensive it would have been to use 64GB, they should have offered that capacity with the nearly $1000 Premium Audio package upgrade and made the standard equipment 16GB.

And it's also worth mentioning that not everyone of us has an iPhone. It'd be nice to simply have most music stored directly on the car's storage.

 

[onlinespending]

Other automakers too

Really though, it's going to be more convenient to plug in, or bluetooth stream your content methinks.

The problem with Bluetooth A2DP is that you likely won't be able to use the Model S's beautiful touchscreen and interface to browse and play your music. You'd have to cumbersomely do so on your cell phone.

So that means I could dock my iPhone instead. Oops, don't have one of those!

As long as they provide expansion of the memory available, I'm cool with it. Though it still cheap on their part not to offer more than 16GB.