Playing CDs in a car without a CD player

[mjt]

So my old man has got himself a new car, but it was not possible to spec a CD changer in the glovebox as of 2021 (thanks BMW).

He has a collection of around 1000 CDs which he wants to have in the car. Clearly the most logical solution would be to use Spotify or rip the CDs to a USB stick and shove that in.

Ripping to USB: does CDex still exist? Will it recognise his obscure classical music collection? Honestly I can’t imagine him ripping 1000 CDs to MP3, let alone naming all the tracks one by one!
Spotify is a possibility, but requires data, etc.

He’s found some CD drives you can plug in via USB, and I guess it could be mounted/stored in the centre console. However, these seem to go for £200+, which seems an awful lot for a Discman. Honestly, it’s like going back to 1990 and playing CDs thru the tape deck..

Does anyone have first-hand experience with in-car CD to USB? Why not just buy an external CD drive for £30? Will it skip?

Thanks!

 

[Spleen Sauce]

Did this recently for my dad’s CD collection. I used ‘Exact Audio Copy’. You’ll need to get the LAME dll downloaded too to rip to MP3. It’s got built in CDDB support so found every single CD that my dad had, and he’s got some obscure music tastes!

Basically ripped everything to MP3 (which took an age) and then put it on an exFat formatted USB stick for him.

 

[mjt]

Did this recently for my dad’s CD collection. I used ‘Exact Audio Copy’. You’ll need to get the LAME dll downloaded too to rip to MP3. It’s got built in CDDB support so found every single CD that my dad had, and he’s got some obscure music tastes!

Basically ripped everything to MP3 (which took an age) and then put it on an exFat formatted USB stick for him.

Dude that’s exactly what I used to do 10+ years ago. EAC and CDDB were the acronyms I was looking for
It’ll take a ******* age though

 

[Spleen Sauce]

I know! Felt like going back in time - I had to pick up a cheapo USB DVD drive from the bay so I could rip them.

I will say this though - I ripped a few of his Pink Floyd CDs to lossless FLAC just to try and honestly to my ear it sounds as good, if not better than Apple Music’s lossless format they’ve just released.

Exact Audio Copy is pretty fast considering it handles error correction incredibly well, I just had a lot to get through.

 

[Mr_Sukebe]

Another option is DBpoweramp, which is what I now use.

 

[theone8181]

Is it the first time he's bought a car that's newish? I don't have that many but fortunately we've ripping discs in dribs and drabs over 20 years.

 

[ianh]

Whilst ripping would be best I think we all agree, for the time and cost involved if the car radio has a 3.5mm Aux jack you could just link a Portable Discman (approx £30) to the car radio using that, as a much cheaper/quicker alternative to the USB ones.

Realistically though I'd heavily push your dad into something like Spotify because his issues with CD's are only going to get worse as time goes on.

 

[whitecrook]

What BMW doesnt have a CD player?

 

[Deleted member 66701]

What BMW doesnt have a CD player?

Most new ones. It's not jus BMW, a lot of other new cars also don't have a CD player.

 

[whitecrook]

Most new ones. It's not jus BMW, a lot of other new cars also don't have a CD player.

sure i realise that. Just wondered which bmw it was. My 140i had single
Cd player but i guess thats an old bmw now

 

[rG-tom]

it appears there is a retrofit CD player for the g20/21:

https://www.getbmwparts.com/oem-parts/bmw-retrofit-kit-cd-player-65122451536

 

[jpaul]

um - part of the pleasure on a road trip is to prepare a 6 cartridge for the mood you/passengers are in;
have never really used the HU single slot loaders, ocd fear of dirty/scratched discs.
I find you usually listen to the whole cd too, like playing an lp.

I will say this though - I ripped a few of his Pink Floyd CDs to lossless FLAC just to try and honestly to my ear it sounds as good

yes I'd go flac, difference between that an mp3 is noticeable to me, lesser rips I do make are usually 192AAC, but will need to check what formats bmw recognise on a flash drive;
one flac rip 700MB ? - so a 128GB flash drive should be good for >1000 cd's
G20's seem to unofficially do flac

 

[mjt]

it appears there is a retrofit CD player for the g20/21:

https://www.getbmwparts.com/oem-parts/bmw-retrofit-kit-cd-player-65122451536

Unfortunately this needs the wiring loom from the factory. This was no longer possible. We tried, trust me.

I found it on the BMW Accessories web sites of various European countries, but we were told they just hadn't been updated yet.

What BMW doesnt have a CD player?

Literally all of them now. I think it's mental considering they offered the bloody MiniDisc in the E39!

Whilst ripping would be best I think we all agree, for the time and cost involved if the car radio has a 3.5mm Aux jack you could just link a Portable Discman (approx £30) to the car radio using that, as a much cheaper/quicker alternative to the USB ones.
Realistically though I'd heavily push your dad into something like Spotify because his issues with CD's are only going to get worse as time goes on.

Aye that was my question; what's so special about something like this? https://www.raysmith.co.uk/products/plug-and-play-cd-player-for-vehicles-without-a-cd-deck-adv-usbcd
£100 v a cheapo external drive? Does it have special damping so it doesn't skip?

 

[Spleen Sauce]

G20's seem to unofficially do flac

Yep, work fine on my F40 M135i which has iDrive 7.

 

[alex24]

I used EAC for this previously, it's the best way. Just rip a stack a day for a few weeks and you'll make progress. Maybe ask him to prioritise the most played ones first.

As you'll only want to do this once, I'l advise that you do what I did, and rip each CD to FLAC and 320 MP3. You can automate that with EAC at the end of every rip. Then store in 2 separate folders. This is so that you have a lossless copy for best quality and longevity/archiving but also an MP3 high quality version for compatibility and convenience (file size). Then put the MP3s on a USB drive for the car. I wouldn't put FLAC in the car, there's no way you could hear a difference in reality and if you can it's a placebo effect. On high end audio gear in a quiet, treated, space, perhaps. Not in a moving average car.

 

[Deleted member 66701]

um - part of the pleasure on a road trip is to prepare a 6 cartridge USB stick for the mood you/passengers are in;

 

[TheVoice]

Spotify or a USB stick are the way to go here. Spotify can download albums/playlists so you're not using mobile data.

 

[jellybeard999]

Does he really need all 1000 CDs at once? I can't imagine he carried all those in his car previously? Even in those big CD wallets it would take up loads of space!

Can you not rip his top 20 CDs or something, then add the others gradually?

 

[dlockers]

Does he really need all 1000 CDs at once? I can't imagine he carried all those in his car previously? Even in those big CD wallets it would take up loads of space!

Can you not rip his top 20 CDs or something, then add the others gradually?

lol I was going to say this. My Mum has the same first album she put in her car when we picked it up new about 5 years ago.

 

[ShiWarrior]

i think i just installed the free itunes software on my PC, copied straight to another folder and then just copy and paste to my USB stick

easy to do

rather have it on there, than fiddling with a CD on the move
as it holds more than 1 album