Automakers shedding CD players

Scott Olson / Getty Images

The 2013 Sonic on display at the Detroit auto show.

By msnbc.com news services

CD players in cars look set to go the same way as the dodo bird, according to a report in industry trade publication Automotive News.

With content and computing power migrating to smartphones, which can now channel music, navigation and other applications to relatively simple and low-cost onboard infotainment systems, CD players are becoming increasingly irrelevant in cars, the report says.

Automakers also want to get rid of optical drives -- that is, CD or DVD players -- because they are expensive and appeal mainly to older motorists, according to the report.

Indeed, the 2013 Chevrolet Sonic RS, which debuted this week at the Detroit auto show and will go on sale in the United States this summer features an optional MyLink infotainment system that lets motorists make hands-free phone calls, listen to MP3 music and get route guidance by linking their smartphones to the vehicle's infotainment system. But no CD player, Automotive News said.

?We asked potential Sonic and Spark customers what they were looking for in infotainment,? Sara LeBlanc, MyLink's global infotainment program manager, told Automotive News. ?They were very worried about cost. They said to us: ?Get rid of the CD player. We don?t use it.??

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/10/10096404-automakers-shedding-cd-players

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