car cds

[polly_mer]

1) CD players are no longer standard in new cars period.  I am refraining from trading in the second 2004 car in part because it still runs and the modern 'amenities' annoy me in the new car we got last year.

2) The USB is the flash drive for a computer.  You can put podcasts, audio books, and music on it to be played through the car's audio system that is now a computer.

3) Your smart phone is a computer with apps and storage.  Most entertainment things you can do on your computer or put on a USB can be done with your phone.  New cars let you send audio output from your phone through the better car audio system.

4) Your internet works as well as mine on this one.  I haven't seen it done and I suspect it would need to be a specialized player with extra stabilizers to prevent the physical jostling from the road. Discussions where I've been assert going to satellite radio or just turning up the volume for a podcast/audiobook played on the smart phone is better.

[AvidReader]

Paul, I think I DM'ed you, but it shows no record of the message in my box! If you didn't get it, will you let me know?

Kay, as Polly said, we download music and books to our USB (flash) drives and can play them through the car. (Some newer cars, in lieu of a CD player, have USB drives). The USB-to-radio converter (which I struggled to find now; ours are 5 years old) also has a bluetooth-to-radio equivalent (much easier to find on, say, Amazon, and still well under $20). As ab_grp notes, they do vary in quality, and it might be harder to find a quiet station if you are in a major metropolitan area. But they are much, much cheaper than a new car radio.

I think I saw on another thread that you have a computer now? If it has a CD drive, you could probably plug in/connect your phone and insert the CD and copy the sound files to your phone, then play them in your car. (I have not tried this). Alternately, if you can download the files directly to your phone (my library has an app for this) you could use a bluetooth adapter to play them on your commute.

AR.

[ab_grp]

I think it depends what kinds of connections you have in your car.  I used to have a portable CD player that I used when I had a car (long ago) that did not have one installed.  They still seem to be available on Amazon (e.g., http://www.amazon.com/Portable-Rechargeable-Gueray-Personal-Headphones/dp/B07MV8Q3N7#ace-2342880709).  This one seems to be USB-chargeable, so I guess you could charge it in your home and then use it on the road (plug in via aux cord that comes with it) if you don't have a USB port in your car.  I don't have one in my 2005 vehicle.  Our 2018 truck did not come with a CD player but has several USB ports.  In the truck, we can either use bluetooth with our phones/iPod type devices or plug them in directly via the aux cable.  This is the bluetooth adaptor I have for my car: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B076CG3MSR.  Because I rarely have to drive anymore, I haven't gotten it synced up yet, but I think this is the type of device being mentioned in the thread that would allow you to use your smartphone/bluetooth in the car.  There are probably several other options with adaptors that would allow you to connect various devices in various ways.  And if you would prefer not to bring your smartphone with you, maybe you could look into an inexpensive MP3 player that you could put your media on to take with you? Just another option to think about.

[polly_mer]

Paul, I think I DM'ed you, but it shows no record of the message in my box! If you didn't get it, will you let me know?

By default, DMs you send aren't saved in your profile.  You have to edit your profile message preferences to autosave the DMs you send.

[hmaria1609]

My 2015 Subaru Impreza has a CD player and I've enjoyed many a tune with it! (Yes, I still like to buy CDs) The sound system isn't the greatest so I can't hear low notes well.

There's a USB port and an AUX port in the center armrest.  My iPhone is paired with the car but I don't use STARLINK.

[kaysixteen]

Thanks all for answering.

I know that there is no USB port in my 2007 Malibu.  This car does have much more tech stuff in it, than my previous car ('04 Hyundai) did.  It really is remarkable how many more visible gizmos/ options there are in this one, but, no, no USB port.  Given this, exactly what would I need to do to play music or lectures, etc., downloaded elsewhere, in this car?   I get that people below have been talking about this issue, but my tech  ignorance seems to be necessitating asking for a quick, telescoped answer-- take the Gueray thing hmaria linked to below, for instance: 1) the AUX cable she refers to, does one/ can one, plug this into the cig lighter (the ad on amazon said you can bring it somewhere and get 4 hours of play time, battery free, on a single charge, but will it play continually via the cig lighter) and 2) the ad explicitly said that one needs to check ahead of time the cd's format, saying that those cds that do not rotate will not work with this player, so how does one tell whether any given cd you  have is a rotating one or not?  Also, my home computer is a laptop thing with no cd drive.  I do have, as said, a smartphone.   So how may I, if possible, download cds here and then play them in the car, and is this going to be possible since I do not have that USB port in the car?

[ab_grp]

Kay, maybe it was my Amazon link you were referring to.  That device has a rechargeable battery, so if you have a USB port on your computer (probable) you could charge it there and take the CD player with you.  Older models like the one I had did have things you plugged into your lighter, and there may still be some that do that.  I did see that the one I linked may not play all CDs, but it was just one of several different options available, and I didn't look through them all.  Maybe it's like DVDs... some players don't play them all, and it depends on the regional format.  But it was just an example for you of a portable player.  If you would like more help sorting through which might work for you, I would be happy to try to help.  As for the aux cable, it goes into a little hole in your dashboard.  You likely have one, though I can look up your car specs later (maybe tomorrow).  It isn't as tiny as the hole you would put a paperclip in to try to oust the CD, but look for something like that, like you would plug a headphone jack into.  As far as your home computer, you can get a CD/DVD drive relatively cheaply that will plug in via USB to your computer, so you could use that to download media off the CD and put it on something amenable for your car (smartphone or other bluetooth or similar) if you don't want to use the portable CD player.  Again, I'd be happy to help you with that, and I'm sure others would, too.  You may need to provide some more details, and we can help you figure out the path forward that will be easiest and play what you want to play.  I am not super technically inclined but have had to deal with a lot of what you are facing given our cars' similar ages. 

[kaysixteen]

Thanks.   Just a few more follow-up thoughts while I digest this and any additional comments anyone else might care to offer tonight: 

1) I actually do not know, exactly, that there is no USB port in the car, nor the sort of aux cable hole you mention.   I know that there is nothing like this staring me in the face anywhere, and I have not checked the owner's manual, but I see I am now in possession of a good reason to check both what I can see in and around the cd player/ radio, and read the owner's manual.  Having a day off tomorrow, I am going to do exactly this.

2) Is there any way to check any given CD to see what sort it is?  I would say that all my cds are US-made/ sold, but that would be a lie.  I have imported many cheap cds from the UK and Germany in recent years.   They all have played in all my car cd players over the years without any problems.   I will also spend some time on amazon myself asap, seeking various other options I might consider buying.

3) Say I buy a CD drive to use with my laptop, and download stuff onto (presumably blank CDs bought at say Walmart)  OR onto some sort of flashdrive?   If the latter, then how would I plug such a flashdrive into my smartphone?  Is there a USB port capable of doing this on it-- that actually would be something I certainly could look at myself, though also I had never thought to do this, as well...?

[polly_mer]

I'm pretty sure it's USB or smart phone and then the one device connects into something else like the car audio statement.  Micro-USBs exist that might connect into the phone, but that's probably not the best way to transfer information between a computer and your phone.

More useful would be a cloud service with syncing between devices that each have the relevant app.

[AvidReader]

I wasn't sure if we were allowed to insert links, hence my relative vagueness above. But this is an example of what spouse and I use:
https://www.amazon.com/iKross-Black-3-5mm-Radio-Transmitter/dp/B00HMDB2VE/

As noted above, we download lectures and audiobooks from the internet (our library has many available for free), stick the files on a USB (flash) drive and plug the drive into the USB slot, whereupon the device broadcasts to our car radios.

HOWEVER, if we had smart phones, I would probably get something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/VicTsing-Bluetooth-Transmitter-Hands-Free-Assistant/dp/B07SK8YK8L/
(I have no attachment to this particular one--Amazon recommended it when I clicked on our old one).

I suspect that you could plug in your phone to charge it while broadcasting an audio file to the transmitter via bluetooth, and it *looks* as if the transmitter would then do what my old one does and broadcast to your car radio.

In this scenario, I think that you could just download materials from your library directly onto your phone and play from there, or you could, as ab_grp suggests, download media off existing CDs and put it on either a smartphone or a flash (USB) drive.

Hope this is helpful.

AR.

[hmaria1609]

I use Apple's USB Super Drive to play CDs and DVDs on my Mac Book. It's worked fine for me.

I forgot to mention I have a USB adapter/charger to plug into my AUX port in my car. It's a light pearl pink color with dual USB ports that light up in blue when in use. I have a 6 ft long charging cord with a solid plastic coating. (I've seen charging cords 8-10 ft long in gas stations) With my commute, I can charge my iPhone on the way home.

[kaysixteen]

Awright, although I was not actually motivated to pull out the owner's manual, I did make several observations today, when driving (and this is even more important since I did find out that the car cd player is now  indeed kaput).   There does not appear to be anything resembling a USB port, or any sort of hole that might reasonably have anything inserted in it, anywhere on the dash.   I just spent about a half hour surfing amazon under the search terms 'car cd player portable', and got a variety of options.  Some are clearly cheaper models that require you to use batteries while on the go, so obviously I will pay more to avoid this.   Random questions from my search include:

1) what is an aux port, requiring an aux cable?   Is this the same as a USB port?
2) what is a TF card?
3) There was for sale a car cigarette lighter adapter, but the one I saw said it was for a specific model of Memorex player?   would this mean it would not work a/or be safe to work, with any other player?
4) some of the models say that they do not have internal speakers and thus must be used either with headphones/ earbuds, or with a direct linked connection to the car's internal speakers.  I assume I would need to have a USB port to do the latter?  Thus, if I bought one of these models, would it actually be safe to use it while driving, wearing headphones or earbuds?
5) Some of these models are also available for less money from 3d party used vendors.   I buy almost all my books used  from such 3d party vendors via- amazon, but books are different animals.  Would anyone care to offer an opinion as to whether it is worth it to save a few bucks by buying consumer electronics used here?

[AvidReader]

I'll try.
1) Aux port can be several things, but in this context is probably just the little round hole into which you would plug headphones or speakers. You might need to know the size (3.5mm is most common, but there's also a 1/4" one).
2) Google says a TF card is the same as a MicroSD card, so basically a very tiny storage unit that inserts into a larger device to store lots of information. It will be around the size of your thumbnail, if not smaller. they often live in digital cameras or phones, but can also be purchased separately. Note that there are lots of sizes of SD card in general and that they are not always transferable between devices.
3) Cigarette lighter to USB adapters are really inexpensive now. I have gotten them at Big Lots and also at Dollar Tree, if you have either of those where you are. We have a number of the cheap ones, and have not had any trouble with them.
4) Yes, I think you would need a USB or aux port to get sound to your speakers from drives that require a linked connection. I do not think that putting a USB adapter into your cigarette lighter would fix this, as there is probably no speaker connection to/from the cigarette lighter.
4b) Some states prohibit using headphones or earbuds while driving. As an alternative, I imagine you could find a battery-powered speaker (with an aux or usb cable) and plug that in.
5) In my experience, the one real advantage of buying new if the prices are comparable is that Amazon (& their affiliates) has (have) been really quick to replace broken electronics. I also usually price check on ebay, though.

AR.

[ab_grp]

I might need more coffee, but I haven't seen mention of an aux port for a 2007 Malibu in the user manual or other guides (aside from part of a rear entertainment system), and others have posted on car forums saying there sometimes isn't one in Malibus around that time.  It may depend on which stereo system you have installed.  If that's the case, probably a combination of one of the bluetooth FM tuners (the device you plug into your lighter) and an inexpensive bluetooth MP3 player might be your best bet.  And I think you said you would need an external CD/DVD player/reader to plug into your computer to transfer media to the MP3 player? I took a quick look on Amazon, and I think you could probably do all of that at most $80 (likely less), but I will take a closer look in a bit.

As a side note, it is a huge pain to look through the hard copy of a car user manual at times, so you may want to check out the PDF to have it for easier searching in general: https://my.chevrolet.com/content/dam/gmownercenter/gmna/dynamic/manuals/2007/chevrolet/malibu/2007_chevrolet_malibu_owners.pdf

Here's a get to know your 2007 Malibu that I also took a look at: https://my.chevrolet.com/content/dam/gmownercenter/gmna/dynamic/manuals/2007/chevrolet/malibu/2007_chevrolet_malibu_getknow.pdf

Maybe you can clarify which stereo option you have and how well the details of the audio in these manuals matches up to your system? If you do have a rear entertainment system, maybe you could use the aux port for that? It says that can transmit through the car stereo speakers.  With a reasonable cord length, you should be able to use your player with it up front.

Also, I am just trying to help here, but I might be wrong! This is just what I dug up this morning.

[kaysixteen]

Thanks for these links.  I am going to try to ascertain exactly what I have and how cheaply I can get something, because, well, I do not want to spend much, and I would much prefer to be able to multitask by taking the portable CD player from car to apt and back again, rather than buying one for each.  Sound quality is of very limited consequence to me.  I am certainly not going to wear earpieces of any kind driving, whether or not it would be legal here.  Sounds dumb and dangerous. 

It might could be that I will investigate the ability to download audio, whether music or lectures, to a USB drive, and then import this into the car, but I am not at all sure that, given my very very limited budget, that I am all that motivated to do so.  What I am motivated to get is basic cd access in the car that would not require batteries there, as though this were 1994.