Car CD Players: The Real Reason Man Invented the Automobile

A hundred years ago a man had a dream. That dream was to have the ability to deafen himself and drive his neighbours crazy without ever leaving the comforts of his own jalopy.

Now, thankfully, that dream has been fully realized, as man had finally found the real reason that the automobile was invented: the car CD player.
Those of you unfamiliar with the word of car CD players, may find this article as a great way to get started. For those of you who have already been drawn into the dark world of subs, OHMS, and resistors, think of this as a review.

Car CD Player Basics:  If you think of your car stereo as a complete life form separate from your car (and what car audio enthusiast worth his salt wouldn’t?) then the headset would be the brains of the operation. The headset is that cool thing in your dashboard with all the lights and buttons. This headset usually runs into an amplifier and then on to the speakers. Sometimes it simply runs from the headset to the speakers without an amp, but that is really dependant upon your personal choice.  Whatever the case, all of the main things you can do on your stereo can only be done from the headset.

In today’s world, car CD player headsets come in about a million different styles and power levels. Some have cool flip-up displays, and some fold away into a little armoured box when you aren’t using it. Others have the ability to play movies, record graphics, or even use a digital map to show you where you’re going from a GPS satellite miles above you!

The Business of Car CD Players: There are probably a couple hundred car audio companies in the entire world. Aside from the industry leading manufacturers, there are smaller companies eager to compete for hard-won car CD player dollars.

On top of that, car manufacturers have also realized that car audio quality can play a huge part in how favourably a person looks upon a car model. These days, car companies like Mercedes, BMW, VW, and less glamorous brands such as GMC and Honda are all busy working on ways to improve their factory-installed CD players for the car.

Add to that the companies such as Alpine, Pioneer, Memphis, and Kenwood who specialize in strictly home and car audio. Many have decided that it’s time to specialize, so they have focused on specific areas of car CD player audio. Alpine, for example, is busy working on multi platform stereo systems that will run your phone, a digital display map and GPS system, and other goodies that can be bundled into your car system.

There are literally millions of car audio enthusiasts around the world, and that fact results in billions of dollars spent on car audio equipment every year. Look at the numbers, and it’s easy to see why so many different companies play the car audio and car CD player game.

A Word on Car CD Player Changers:  Car CD Player Changers, or multi-disk CD players as they are sometimes known, are a great way to store and carry many CDs inside your CD player in your car. You can simply plug in the CD’s you want to hear and forget about them for a while. Most of these systems come with random play options or custom song lists so you can easily make your own mixes.

Car CD changers can hold anywhere from two or three to ten and as many as twenty CDs at a time. This makes them too bulky to usually be installed into the dashboard. As a result, most changers are designed to be put in another part of the car with face units or headsets placed in the dash.

Hopefully, the tips present in this article are enough to get you going on your own CD player ideas in your car. Car audio is probably one of the biggest hobbies for car owners going, and it makes sense. After all, how else are you going to destroy your eardrums and madden your neighbours without ever leaving your jalopy?