The Long Goodbye to CD Players in Cars Begins
The last time anyone could buy a new car with a factory cassette deck in the dash was with the 2010 Lexus SC 430. I’m surprised the technology last that long.
When the story broke, people immediately began to speculate how long it would be before the CD player followed the cassette deck and the 8-track players to the grave. The answer is now starting to become clear.
Chevrolet might be the first company to kill the CD player. According to a report in AutoNews, the 2013 Chevy Sonic RS and the 2013 Chevy Spark will feature an infotainment system called MyLink which comes with a nifty LG-supplied 7-inch display.
But you can look as hard as you want and you won’t find any CD player.
Demographics are driving the change. Sara LeBlanc, the global infotainment program manager for MyLink says
We asked potential Sonic and Spark customers [i.e. kids from the Internet Generation] what they were looking for in infotainment. They were very worried about cost. They said to us: “Get rid of the CD player. We don’t use it.”
GM isn’t the only company that wants to get rid of CD players because they’re more expensive to manufacturer than all-in-one electronic head units. And as more people demand tight integration between their smart phones and their cars–and as demand for using apps like Pandora, Spotify and, yes, Facebook on the road increase–the CD player will become superfluous, a vestigal organ like an appendix.
I have a CD player in my car, of course. In the year that I’ve owned it, I think I’ve used it twice. I don’t burn compilation CDs anymore because I just plug in my iPhone. If my car’s CD player were to stop working tomorrow, I wouldn’t even bother to have it fixed.
Buh-bye, in-dash CD player.
Fantastic. Facebook in the car, what better way to keep drivers' eyes on the road than to integrate the colossal waste of time/distraction/procrastination of Facebook (and yes, I'm guilty of all 3 of those) into the dashboard of the car.
I'm ok with plugging my MP3 player into the stereo, but given that Apple corners most markets that have anything to do with portable music, any intergration will likely be with the iPhone, iPod, etc. Leaving the non-Apple users fumbling with the controls on their MP3 player – which is classified the same as using a hand held cell phone while driving in some provinces (along with reading a book while driving.. yup) and ticketable..
I still use the CD player because I still buy physical media, it's tangible. But then again, at 31, I'm not the target market for the Chev Aveo.. sorry, Sonic/Spark/whatever you want to call it..