car cds

[ab_grp]

Eek, just don't get electrocuted doing that...

M.

Most CD players have a special hole for exactly the paperclip insertion technique.

That's amazing. I had no idea!

I am really surprised about this! I thought this was a common approach, especially with computer drives.  I have a disfigured paper clip on my desk for this purpose.  Sometimes the drive tray won't open or is being stubborn, and popping the paperclip in usually does the trick! Give it a try.

[kaysixteen]

I saw that thing about the emergency eject function hole on one of the internet sites I visited, which also said that this hole often does not look like an eject button.  I am sure my friend at church will find this on my car if it is there (owner's manual makes no mention of it), but I guess I have to say that I am unsurprised my dealer bud did not seem to have any idea of this, nor could not really figure out what to do.   I know him well enough to know his limitations as a mechanic.  Indeed, one of the things I found the day I drove off the lot with the car this spring, was that the driver's side visor was loose, fell right off when I tried to use it (the lefthand side hook is loose, not stuck into the hole).  I tried to have him fix it, but, well, let's just say he was unsuccessful.   I have not yet gotten round to asking someone else to do so.

As to the Teaching Co app, I may well try that out.   But I ain't gonna spend too much on it, not when cds are available for free through ILL.  I will however have to figure out whether my home cd player, which I have not used for years ( I use it only for radio) still works.  Maybe I will splurge on another $25 walmart one if need be.

[nebo113]

I saw that thing about the emergency eject function hole on one of the internet sites I visited, which also said that this hole often does not look like an eject button.  I am sure my friend at church will find this on my car if it is there (owner's manual makes no mention of it), but I guess I have to say that I am unsurprised my dealer bud did not seem to have any idea of this, nor could not really figure out what to do.   I know him well enough to know his limitations as a mechanic.  Indeed, one of the things I found the day I drove off the lot with the car this spring, was that the driver's side visor was loose, fell right off when I tried to use it (the lefthand side hook is loose, not stuck into the hole).  I tried to have him fix it, but, well, let's just say he was unsuccessful.   I have not yet gotten round to asking someone else to do so.

As to the Teaching Co app, I may well try that out.   But I ain't gonna spend too much on it, not when cds are available for free through ILL.  I will however have to figure out whether my home cd player, which I have not used for years ( I use it only for radio) still works.  Maybe I will splurge on another $25 walmart one if need be.

I bought a Walmart cheapie and had to use the paper clip far too often.....until even that wouldn't work.  Might consider a bit higher price.

[polly_mer]

Well?  Did the guy at church fix it?

[hmaria1609]

There does not appear to be any charge for accessing courses you already own through the app (if you bought the digital version).  The courses vary in price, as I'm sure you are aware.  But I also have a bunch that I bought for very little due to the sales they had going on.  A friend recently told me about Great Courses Plus (https://www.thegreatcoursesplus.com/), which is a subscription service for on-demand streaming versus the a la carte purchases made through the main site (which you could then own).  There is a free trial, but I haven't tried that yet.  I am so far behind on other books and courses.

If your local public library system offers Kanopy, you can watch the Great Courses with your library card. There's a "MyWatch List" feature so you can save titles for future viewing.

[kaysixteen]

He deferred that task to another guy he felt better able to handle the task.  This guy tried, knows what to do, but lacked the tool he ended up deciding he''ll need to get it out.  He promises to bring it next Sunday and assures me he can do it, tells me to definitely not spend any money to have the dealer take out the console.  I believe him, esp. since he owes me a favor.  But the CD player itself may end up having been ruined by the flapping library bar code sticker, so we will see whether I will have to have a new one installed at some point anyhow.

[kaysixteen]

So my bud from church did manage to extract the cd from the car yesterday, for which I am quite grateful. esp given how expensive the TC series are.  He explicitly told me he does not know whether the cd player will work-- it  is obviously original to the 13yo car, and it did let that cd stick into it.  It continues to be very hot around here, so I am not going to test out the thing (of course with an old, crappy cd that I actually own myself) for a few days, when it is expected to be cooler.   If it does not work, and/or I cannot extract that cd, I will cry uncle and consider buying a new player (I miss it greatly, since, whether playiing TC series or music ccds, both are very much better than what's available on the radio here, usually-- sadly, much of the music played is, ahem, just not to the taste of the average 52yo fat white dude from New England (indeed, besides the hip hop, various other modern genres, etc., I have also been surprised to hear just how much country is available now, something that used to be almost unheard of for Boston radio)).  So two more  questions 1) do you think I did anything wrong with that cd, which actually does not have any taped barcode on it (beyond perhaps overheating the player after 4-5 hours of solid play on a 90+ degree, high humidity afternoon) and 2) has anyone any suggestions as to how I might avoid this happening again?

[polly_mer]

Thanks for updating us.

The kids would tell you to upgrade to something that will sync with your phone to stream.

[kaysixteen]

I suppose I could do something like that, but it would require me to bring the thing with me in the car (I have a cheapo burner phone to take in car for emergency use), learn how to do the sync thing, and perhaps pay real money for stuff I would want to hear (?).

BTW, the dealer pointed out that several buttons on the rear-view mirror allow me, amongst other things, to get access to satellite radio.   He says they'd charge maybe 25 bucks a month for it.  Is this worth buying?

[nebo113]

I suppose I could do something like that, but it would require me to bring the thing with me in the car (I have a cheapo burner phone to take in car for emergency use), learn how to do the sync thing, and perhaps pay real money for stuff I would want to hear (?).

BTW, the dealer pointed out that several buttons on the rear-view mirror allow me, amongst other things, to get access to satellite radio.   He says they'd charge maybe 25 bucks a month for it.  Is this worth buying?

YES!

[polly_mer]

I suppose I could do something like that, but it would require me to bring the thing with me in the car (I have a cheapo burner phone to take in car for emergency use), learn how to do the sync thing, and perhaps pay real money for stuff I would want to hear (?).

Your cheapo burner phone is unlikely to be able to sync or stream; those are smart phone dealies.

[AvidReader]

A few years ago my spouse and I each bought USB to FM broadcasters for our cars (the old aux type, not the ones with bluetooth). Both of ours were under $20. Essentially it's a small piece of tech that fits into your cigarette lighter (as the name implies) and accepts a USB drive with music or lectures loaded on it (it probably also works with a phone/ipod, but we are not that fancy). You set it to broadcast to a radio station that doesn't have a strong signal in your area, and then it plays the contents of the USB drive through your car speakers. Spouse worked through a series of audiobooks freely downloadable from our public library; I listened to some academic lectures and enjoyed free downloads from classical radio stations. We did find that longer pieces would restart each time we turned the car on, which was not always advantageous, so if an audiobook came in a single two-hour block (for instance), we would use Audacity (free) to break it into 3-4 segments, each a few minutes shorter than our expected commute. We found this much less costly than buying new radios or investing in fancy phones that would stream.

The two we bought are no longer available on Amazon, but I can send you a link to one if you would like to see what they look like.

AR.

[paultuttle]

A few years ago my spouse and I each bought USB to FM broadcasters for our cars (the old aux type, not the ones with bluetooth). Both of ours were under $20. Essentially it's a small piece of tech that fits into your cigarette lighter (as the name implies) and accepts a USB drive with music or lectures loaded on it (it probably also works with a phone/ipod, but we are not that fancy). You set it to broadcast to a radio station that doesn't have a strong signal in your area, and then it plays the contents of the USB drive through your car speakers. Spouse worked through a series of audiobooks freely downloadable from our public library; I listened to some academic lectures and enjoyed free downloads from classical radio stations. We did find that longer pieces would restart each time we turned the car on, which was not always advantageous, so if an audiobook came in a single two-hour block (for instance), we would use Audacity (free) to break it into 3-4 segments, each a few minutes shorter than our expected commute. We found this much less costly than buying new radios or investing in fancy phones that would stream.

The two we bought are no longer available on Amazon, but I can send you a link to one if you would like to see what they look like.

AR.

Could you, please? Many thanks.

(signed, the owner of a 2019 Accord without a CD player--because designers thought it was obsolete technology already)

[ab_grp]

I've also had several plug-in adaptors over the years.  They can really range in quality, and if you can't find or they can't tune into an appropriate void in the station spectrum the sound may not be clear.   But it's a reasonably inexpensive option to try!

As far as satellite radio, when we bought our most recent vehicle about two years ago it came with a 6-month trial.  After that, I got approximately 540 calls per day from the vendor asking me to renew and making me offers.  The calls came from a whole nest of related phone numbers, so I eventually just had to block each one as it came in.  Even more annoying is that although the truck is in both of our names, my husband is the one who drives it and who got to enjoy the satellite radio while I have the very old vehicle and audio system previously described.  Not sure why they decided to harass me to renew.  At least they leave us alone now (or have for a while now, fingers crossed), but beware if you go that route involving a subscription.

[kaysixteen]

There are times when I realize how limited my tech knowledge is, and how old I am getting, and this is one of those times.   Random thoughts and questions include:

1) You bought a 2019 car that contains no cd player?   How many of you have cars that did not come with one, and how normal is it nowadays for cars to omit them?  And if one has no cd player in one's car, can it be added?

2) Remind me what a USB is here, and how this might get me access to stuff?   The only thing that comes to my mind when I hear the acronym 'USB' is the port on the computer that I am putting the flash drive into, or am I in error?

3) I do actually have a smartphone, a very new one (May) which I have essentially never taken out of my apartment.   If I were to take it into the car, what-all could I do with it, in terms of getting music and things like Teaching Co. lectures, to hear in the car?

4) Can a cheap portable cd player be plugged into the cigarette lighter and played in the car?