Who knows where car tech will be in 10 years,there will be probaly be more devices to make the “cloud” more accessible, will be a haze grabbers delight,there will be absolutely nothing secure
My Brother bought a vintage late eighties “sun machine” at an auction yesterday,everythng is there and its in fine operating condition,it looks right at home in His shop beings He works on older Chevys and other makes,He said,He would trade it for something else.
I ran across something that pointed out that all this (8track, cassette, CD, audio books) are all “format changes”.
And yes the “cloud” and “instant” access to “everything” has arrived. And with that comes loss of quality because files are compressed (by leaving out bits of data) so that downloads are faster and use less bandwidth. Doesn’t seem like an advance to me.
music files can be found in many formats. MP3 is heavily compressed. But WAV files are compressed with no loss of data. That is, when uncompressed, the complete waveform/data is present, no loss of quality.
Most any music selection can be found in WAV or some other lossless format such as Apple lossless.
edit: yes, there are degrees of compression with MP3 files.
There are degrees of compression, even for MP3. Low compression versions are close to original in sound, high compression versions aren’t.
Just look at how old the CD format really is- it came out in the early 90s.
When I bought my Cx-7 5 years ago, I bought an ipod to put my music on because I didn’t want to have to mess with CDs anymore. While I do still have a couple CDs in the changer in my car, I rarely listen to them; it’s mostly my ipod that plays my music.
I’ve thought about buying a new ipod, but I have forgotten the name/password I used for itunes back then(I was running windows at the time), and my current(running a macbook pro) name/password aren’t what I used back then. I need to find a way to get the music off my current one before I can buy a new one- some of the music I have on there I doubt I’ll ever find again, even on itunes. My only problem with the new ipods is that they look too much like the iphone
Yep,it was around 1980 when “Phillips” started the CD era,the first ones were really expensive and the burners,forget about it(anybody have one of those things?)
The biggest selling point of profit makers in eliminating the CD is the satellite radio. If you like CD quality music you can’t get it without, but you approach it with new MP3 technology and satellite radio. It’s good enough in most cas which don’t have the environment to reproduce the sound a well prepared home ca. 50% of the sound quality is dependent upon the environment. Cars are not as good as homes…
Also, many new cars are so compatable to brands like Apple, the control systems are better then messing around with CDs. It makes them safer too with these alternatives when messing with music. Voice command works much better with solid state storage then a CD would.
The DVD player on my laptop can burn a DVD or CD.
Really, unless you drive something like a Bentley or a Maybach, the amount of compression in MP3’s is largely immaterial. Cars are such bad listening environments to begin with that you’re not going to notice compression like you will if you have a nice home music setup. The road noise alone will mask it, much less air conditioner noise and especially if you roll down a window or open the sunroof.
I ran across something that pointed out that all this (8track, cassette, CD, audio books) are all "format changes". And yes the "cloud" and "instant" access to "everything" has arrived. And with that comes loss of quality because files are compressed (by leaving out bits of data) so that downloads are faster and use less bandwidth. Doesn't seem like an advance to me.
How quickly we forget…wow and flutter- ever heard of it? Most people probably haven’t because they have never used those old “formats” you’ve held up as superior to the digital formats we have now. Just one example of limitations the older formats had that no one is considering when comparing. I lived through all the format changes and I’ll take what we have now, hands down over any of the prior media.
My wife got nostalgic about an old game console. We found it buried in the basement. After some refurbishment of the board connectors etc, it fired up. She played it for all of 10 minutes and then we threw it in the garbage (err, recycling bin). What a hunk of junk. Was state of the art at the time but times have changed. Goes along with the saying, the older I get, the better I was…
Most people probably haven't because they have never used those old "formats" you've held up as superior to the digital formats we have now. Just one example of limitations the older formats had that no one is considering when comparing. I lived through all the format changes and I'll take what we have now, hands down over any of the prior media.
There’s still a very big audiophile group that firmly believes Vinyl is still superior to any digital format. Not the Panasonic turntables many of us had…but using very high-end turntables by makers like Thorens…with a high-end sound system.
But for the rest of us who’s wife’s would divorce them if we spent that much on audio equipment…CD is GREAT.
Yeah, I’m quite familiar with that arg…discussion. Had a buddy who was adamant about it and unwavering. Made for some lively discussions as we knew how to push the right buttons.
Aside from live, it’s all a compromise 
Never liked vinyl much myself although I still have 500+ LPs in the basement. Too much care required and then an almost religious process to get them ready to play.
Much of the “beauty” of super high end systems is in the ear of the beholder…recent article in WSJ that looked at a ‘super-quality’ audio player, compared it to low-loss digital versions. Result? In a blind survey of several folks, they could hear a difference, but they were completely inconsistent in picking the ‘better’ source. The manufacturer said ‘they need to spend weeks with it to hear the difference’. That’s one of those audio BS warning signs, to me.
One of my Friends(who is a professional photographer)was discussing color temperature with me,He said the Kodak film favored the blue over the Fuji films favoring the green and yellows,when He used both and let the customers pick out which they liked best,they invaribly picked the Fuji film(I guessed right when I figured they would)He even went to Kodak with His concerns and they told Him they wouldnt change.Anyway on the sound quality,some audiophiles swear by Vacuum tubes and vinyl discs(while others swear at them)The last car radio I saw with a vacuum tube setup,was a 49 chevy,had a seperate tuner too,dont know when they switched but a 59 chevy had an excellent solid state radio,so to be honest I like solid state and probaly could tell the difference between run of the mill old tech,vacuum tube and solid state devices(wouldnt you like to have serviced those old room sized vacuum tube computers?)I hear the next big advance in solid state devices,will be the carbon based chip.
While we are on a tech binge right now,will you be subject to arrest if you are riding in a self driving car when the police stop you,if enibriated?
I’m not a big music critic but as far as live, I’ll take the CD. We were at an Elton John concert and the bass was terrible. Maybe it was the seats in nose bleed territory or the speakers but it was like sitting next to one of those rice burners with the bass booming and vibrating. Never had that problem on a CD in a car.
The ONLY good argument (at least for me) for still using vinyl…was there a re some vintage classical recordings by certain orchestra’s from a certain date that many classical listeners consider the BEST there is for that specific piece…Something like Beethoven’s 5th from the 1975 Philadelphia Orchestra. It’ll never get remastered into a digital format because remastering sometimes makes a much worse copy of the original.
Guitar amplification has gone BACK to vacuum tubes for the sound quality they produce. Many new-tech systems are now a hybrid to get the vacuum tube sound out of a mostly solid state amp.