My old car was built in 1991 and had limited multimedia options. An AM/FM radio and a cassette player long disabled by having an old cassette tape stuck in it. Interestingly, for a few dollars I was able to buy an extension to my mp3 player that once plugged into the electric cigarette lighter, would broadcast the output of the mp3 player into the radio. It didn’t work half bad.
My new car has a jack to directly hook up an mp3 player, but you still have to play the mp3 player using its interface – no fun while driving – and also using up the battery on the mp3 player.
While I was looking up how to use the mp3 player in my new car I learned that the modern CD player it came with could play the modern digital and compressed audio formats like mp3 files. Just make a “data cd”. The cool thing I discovered is that these digital audio formats are a lot smaller than traditional CD audio formats. I was able to get a 7 CD audio book copied onto just one CD. I get the convenience of an mp3 player by not having to fumble with multiple CDs while driving and I get the convenience of the CD player interface on the dashboard of my car.
How cool is that? 🙂
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I had a 1988 Mazda 626, that came with AM/FM/Cassette. The cassette never ate a tape. I also had a cassette like thing that let you play anything with an 8th inch jack. When mp3 players came out, i tried it, and had the battery issue you mention. Then i happened to spot an aftermarket stereo for $80 that played CDs, including MP3 CDs, and had an aux jack. I had 2-3 hours of commute daily. I listened to audiobooks. It’s voice, so mp3 compression can be higher. Also, it’s only one voice, so mono, which cuts the file size in half. I got the entire unabridged Lord of the Rings onto a single CD. 78 hours. But i routinely cut 14 hours of classical music on a single CD, so a Detroit to Boston road trip as long and you refuel the car without turning it all the way off. In random play, it played every single track before repeating one. But then i learned about Rockbox. It is open source software to replace the firmware of your mp3, and supports the Sansa Clip that i have (even still). And, unlike the manufacturer’s firmware, it allows you to plug into usb charging while playing tracks. And, unlike the mp3 CD, i can continue listening to whatever it was, where i left off, after getting out of the car, for example, while walking to my desk (often a mile). But of course, now i have a smart phone. I really didn’t want one, but my employer requires it. So all of this is moot. Or is it?