Practically Classics Forum

As My mothers new Daily Driver doesn't have a work stereo,
I started looking on the usual cheap search place Ebay.

You know how the cheap stuff from the orient, be it tv's is
usually ahead of what we get over here be it tv's, phones or
other media stuff!

As laptops dropped the cd rom drive and renamed them net
books. And the new TV mam bought has a usb outlet on the
side for recording programs.

So is it just me or are the car stereos following suit?

I found that the new cheap car stereos don't have the cd
option and only usb with memory card.

Example



from
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/180865282443? ... 1436.l2649

As a result of no cd or tape there is very little depth.
So it's about the same size as somo of those radios
you used to get back in the 70's and 80's as factory
fitted.

It's got an auxiliary input. I think most people now find it easier to plug an MP3 player into that than fiddle about with CDs. Why carry a load of CDs, which are tempting to thieves, when you can have hundreds of tracks on a small box that you can slip into your pocket when you leave the car. And as for those huge complicated CD changers...

/\/\/\ What he said.

The factory fit Siemens-built wireless in the Smart has a USB in the glove hole, no CD option unless you choose the version that has a (French-speaking only) Satnav, DVD screen and no better sound since both use the exact same A/F chip.

I have a 32Gb dongle in there which currently carries some 4,282 pieces of music at 320K on average, so pretty much indistinguishable from WMA (lossless), especially in a car. Imagine trying to fit that much material on CDs into any car, even a big one......

The added bonus of not needing to fit a transport mechanism into the box means that a car wireless itself can be virtually no larger than its display projector and can be totally devoid of discrete components, chips with everything these days.

Something like that is tempting to replace the cassette player in the 110, you don't know how they look at night do you? I'm after something subtle and understated, where as most cheep radios look a bit like the blackpool illuminations...

How long to DAB MP3 being the norm though?

Oh no dose this mean I cant get me a new 8 track any more?

I do like the look of that! I notice that with new stereos they all have the channel memory stored so that if you wire them up the "old" way where when you turn off the ignition they get no power they lose all the presets... Does anyone know of a simple to follow wiring diagram which explains how to wire up a new stereo in an old car which prevents me losing the presets?!

BTW M, what price do they tend to go for?

Answered my own Q re price... £19!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/CAR-STEREO-MP ... 2030wt_952

do they pick up radio 4 longwave?