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Discussion starter · #61 ·
Despite the explanation given to you by an OnStar operator, I believe that OnStar does not use satellite telephony for voice calls. Your experience could be attributed to the following:

http://gm-volt.com/forum/showthread.php?274218-Bolt-EV-OnStar-Service-Emergency-Calls

hellsop post #8:

“Every reference I can find says the OnStar module uses a 3-watt transmitter. Every reference I can find of similar credibility says a handheld cellphone runs at about 0.5 watts. So other things being equal, the OnStar should be able to make towers hear it from twice as far as a typical cell phone. [closer to 2.4 times as far by my calculation – a quibble]

That does presuppose, however, that your barrier is just distance, not (for example) a big honkin' mountain in the way or something.”

…and:

https://www.onstar.com/us/en/services/coveragemaps.html

“As illustrated by this map, OnStar service can’t work unless your car is in a place where we have an agreement with a wireless service provider for service in that area. OnStar service also can’t work unless you’re in a place where the wireless service provider we’ve hired for that area has coverage, network capacity, and reception when the service is needed, and technology that’s compatible with the OnStar service. OnStar service that involves location information about your car cannot work unless GPS satellite signals are unobstructed and available in that place as well.”
Thanks, very interesting. When I made that specific call to the Onstar operator (which was to check on traffic conditions) , I was near the beach on highway 1 at San Gregorio. Cell phone signal is spotty around there but not non-existent. It could be that the higher power transmitter made things work. Same reason our alarm panel at home with cell signal works indoor, but smartphones mostly don't.

The cell phone signal around highway 84 is completely non-existent, for miles around, though. Maybe I will try again there next time.

Unless I’ve missed it, you don’t say how many CDs your husband will take with him to listen to while driving. Would it be sufficient to be able to play only one CD at a time, or is a CD changer more ideal? Judging from what you have written, I would think a single CD player is what is wanted.
He said he listens to a different one every day mostly. I don't think having more than one is critical.
When we are on road trips, we would want to take more than one. As long as we can change the disc while driving, it would be fine.
I know from experience that the mechanisms on car CD changers is much less reliable than single disc CD players.

When I make my cross-country vacation trips in my 2014, I find that the dynamic range of the recorded music in a lot of my classical music CDs requires me to manually adjust the volume to prevent blasting the sound on suddenly loud passages, something that is less than ideal (Mahler quickly comes to mind). Having a subscription to SeriusXM would be an answer to that problem, at least it seemed to be when I was fortunate enough to make a trip during the time that I had a complementary subscription. I’ll not pay their exorbitant fees on general principles, but I do support my local station, WMNR, with an annual donation.
I am paying $5-6/month for SiriusXM in my Volt which I find acceptable. I did $25 for 5 months trial before and recently $30 for 6 months I think plus taxes. I put the subscription on a one-time virtual credit card number generated from Citibank, with a short expiration date. When Sirius tries to auto-renew, it fails. Then I get to call them again to bargain for the right price. I have never even been cut off yet, just get bombarded with emails about impeding disconnection.

Although I plan to keep my 2014 for many more years, one-day I will be faced with your problem. So, I am keenly interested in how you resolve your problem. Good luck!
Thanks, hoping we will find a solution - have not yet.
 
Discussion starter · #62 ·
Thank you ! I went to Crutchfield and checked for car audio options for the 2017 Bolt. They say that they haven't researched this vehicle and are unable to offer any option yet. There is an option to take measurements. I sent Crutchfield an email requesting assistance.

Just for kicks, I tried to select a 2016 Volt (Gen 2) instead which may be similar in terms of audio electronics, but not measurements.
Crutchfield says that none of their Auxiliary input adapters, factory system adapters, dash kits, or wiring harnesses, are compatible with the Gen2 Volt. Not a good sign.
No response to the Crutchfield email. Just gave them a call. Unfortunately, they cannot help as they have not looked at the car yet.

My Chevy salesperson told me that they have taken CD players even as options out of all their new 2018s. SMH.
 
Won't fly with my husband who was a DJ in a past life and listens to a different CD every day.



Read the thread, please. 15,000 CDs don't fit on any microSD that exists today.



We have been looking.



There is an audio jack, but the wiring is not safe, and buttons and portable CD player are too small.
Bluetooth CD player would prevent safe Bluetooth phone operation for phone calls.
Cord is unsafe how? Buttons are too small? This sounds high maintenance :)


I read the thread, you are the micro minority, the options are in the thread, good luck :)


2012 Premium - Red
 
Discussion starter · #64 ·
Cord is unsafe how?
Read again - 3 cords. 1 audio, 1 power, 1 for the battery compartment. I took a picture, but I don't think you deserve one.
It's certainly ghastly especially when there is a passenger in the car.

Buttons are too small? This sounds high maintenance :)
A portable CD player is designed to be as small as possible so it can be carried when you're a passenger in an airplane for example.
When located on the console or on the passenger seat, it's not safe for the driver to operate while driving, unlike a permanently mounted car CD unit, which has fixed position for play/pause/skip track/eject. The buttons on a portable CD player are only a few square mm each vs 5x as large on a typical car unit. Do I really need to explain this ?

I read the thread, you are the micro minority, the options are in the thread, good luck :)
Thanks for being ever so helpful. Wish you had something of value to add.
 
You likely won't find this useful but I use Spotify. Let's you create your own playlists. Not sure how many cuts they have but I believe upwards of 8 million. You can download your songs to your phone so there are no data charges or, if you really wanted to hear something which wasn't on your phone, you can just stream on your wireless connection. You connect into the speaker system through Bluetooth or through a wired connection (I useful on long trips since it keeps the phone charged). No idea how many songs you could download but more than you could take on CDs.

Integrates with your home speakers as well.
 
Discussion starter · #66 ·
You likely won't find this useful but I use Spotify. Let's you create your own playlists. Not sure how many cuts they have but I believe upwards of 8 million. You can download your songs to your phone so there are no data charges or, if you really wanted to hear something which wasn't on your phone, you can just stream on your wireless connection. You connect into the speaker system through Bluetooth or through a wired connection (I useful on long trips since it keeps the phone charged). No idea how many songs you could download but more than you could take on CDs.

Integrates with your home speakers as well.
Yeah, not so useful - most of his collection won't be on Spotify in the first place.

The point is not to take the whole 15,000 CD collection around, it's to just be able to easily listen to any different random disc every day.
 
Yeah, not so useful - most of his collection won't be on Spotify in the first place.

The point is not to take the whole 15,000 CD collection around, it's to just be able to easily listen to any different random disc every day.
...and be able to view the credits listed on the CD jacket.
 
The biggest problem here is there are so many constraints and that's what prevents a good solution. You must remove constraints when ever possible. If constraints cannot be removed then a good solution cannot be obtained. With that, I walk away from problems that are unreasonable.

The best way to get an archaic CD player installed in a car is to get an archaic car.
 
The biggest problem here is there are so many constraints and that's what prevents a good solution. You must remove constraints when ever possible. If constraints cannot be removed then a good solution cannot be obtained. With that, I walk away from problems that are unreasonable.

The best way to get an archaic CD player installed in a car is to get an archaic car.
"Unreasonable" constraints are in the eye of the beholder.
I think I can narrow it down the following way, though . I would list the must-haves as follows :
1) have controls that are safe to operate while driving, including reasonable button size, and ability to eject disc and put another
2) takes power from the car (ie. not a battery operated unit) . This is somewhat implied by 1), since it's not safe to change batteries on a CD player while driving
3) doesn't interfere with Bluetooth phone/GPS operation, ie. you can listen to music and accept an incoming call, or use GPS while listening to music. Again, a safety issue when it comes to taking calls, so somewhat implied by 1) .
4) permanent mount CD player, not something dangling around in the passenger seat or the console

Nice to have would be:
5) have the car automatically pause/resume the CD when taking/ending a call, and not just mute the audio, as happens on all cars that have bluetooth and a built-in CD player
6) have controls that integrate with the built-in infotainment system (ie. play/pause/eject buttons on the touch screen as opposed to physical buttons, or in addition) . probably implies 5) .
7) have no visible wires or very well hidden, ie. still leaves a DC 12V outlet available, no audio cable in the way of the center console. This is probably something that a pro could do and is not really specific to whatever unit would be chosen.

I can probably think of a few more nice features, but I think you get the idea.
All of these needs are met by my 2015 Gen1 Volt, hardly an "archaic car".

I really don't think this is too much to ask, given that so many millions if not billions of audio CDs continue to be sold every year.

A friend of mine attended a Chevy media event yesterday where Bolt engineers were present, and asked about this on my behalf. They were stumped.

Here is what he told me : Chevy and many automakers have partnered with Google and Apple. These companies have a vested interest in selling their downloads and streaming services. And this is partly what's driving the omission of the CD player. I find this completely unacceptable, and I believe it is anti-competitive. The download/streaming services can't in any way replace our CD collection, but even if they could, the services wouldn't be free, and our collection is already paid for. <politics>
 
Chevy and many automakers have partnered with Google and Apple. These companies have a vested interest in selling their downloads and streaming services. And this is partly what's driving the omission of the CD player.
If that were true, they wouldn't provide the capability of playing music from a USB flash drive. The reality is that discs are now passe - the idea that you'd cart several discs out to the car and load them into a changer is seen now by most people as rather silly when you can have your entire music collection on a flash drive that just gets plugged into the car and left there.

CD playing capability is going to atrophy and die just as VCRs have. They're no longer being made, so when an existing player dies it can't be replaced. If your husband doesn't convert his music then he's going to be left behind, and what he's experiencing right now is ample evidence of that. It's not a conspiracy, unless you subscribe to the idea that the relentless advance of technology is some sort of nefarious plot.
 
I've been following this thread and do wish you luck in finding your holy grail, but like many have pointed out it will be difficult. I believe getting the integrated solution will be impossible.

I believe your best bet is to get a cd changer placed under the passenger seat or other hidden location. I used to have one many years ago that had a wired display that showed music on a 2"Ă—4" small display and remote with nice sized buttons. Not sure how readily available these units are but a google search showed several pioneer options on their website but not sure if those models are still available but the links were still active. As mentioned earlier a good stereo shop tech will be able to come up with some good locations. Obviously, this option will be pricey compared to other options already offered.

If your husband only listens to one cd a day, then the cheap way would be to do a portable walkman with a remote control. Buttons on the remote are usually bigger than the ones on the actual unit. As you've already mentioned those units have options for corded power that could be powered through a cigarette lighter and power inverter tucked away. Not ideal but other options will most likely be costly.

Good luck.
 
Here is what he told me : Chevy and many automakers have partnered with Google and Apple. These companies have a vested interest in selling their downloads and streaming services. And this is partly what's driving the omission of the CD player.
Nope. What's driving it is cost and technology obsolescence. I was joking in an earlier post, but you might as well be complaining about lack of cassette and 8 track players in new cars. They were very popular, people had a lot of them (maybe not 15,000), but you won't find a new car that supports them. And CD players were dropped in the Volt with 2013 MY I believe.

The solution is an external player or limit yourself to buying older cars.
 
Read again - 3 cords. 1 audio, 1 power, 1 for the battery compartment. I took a picture, but I don't think you deserve one.
It's certainly ghastly especially when there is a passenger in the car.



A portable CD player is designed to be as small as possible so it can be carried when you're a passenger in an airplane for example.
When located on the console or on the passenger seat, it's not safe for the driver to operate while driving, unlike a permanently mounted car CD unit, which has fixed position for play/pause/skip track/eject. The buttons on a portable CD player are only a few square mm each vs 5x as large on a typical car unit. Do I really need to explain this ?



Thanks for being ever so helpful. Wish you had something of value to add.
Nice trolling. Now if i only had a way to play my sweet 8-track tapes in my Volt...

2012 Premium - Red
 
Discussion starter · #76 ·
CD playing capability is going to atrophy and die just as VCRs have. They're no longer being made, so when an existing player dies it can't be replaced. If your husband doesn't convert his music then he's going to be left behind, and what he's experiencing right now is ample evidence of that. It's not a conspiracy, unless you subscribe to the idea that the relentless advance of technology is some sort of nefarious plot.
CDs certainly continue to be manufactured. There is no shortage of drives/players that can play those discs on computers and home audio systems, and continue to be manufactured, also, including nearly all DVD drives and Blu-ray drives.

I'm all for advance of technology - I'm a software engineer, and I work in tech. But the new technology has to be superior to the old one.

What's being shoved as replacement in vehicles suffers has major shortcomings

Some of my gripes about streaming/downloads :
1) in general, lossily compressed music is a regression compared to CDs . Not much of an issue in cars, but an issue in homes for those who care about audio quality, of which I am.
2) a lot of music is simply not available in streaming/download format at all
3) proprietary player technology is tied to the music vendor - ie. iTunes with iTunes store, google with Google play, etc. CD and other technology before them were not
4) price is higher for downloads than for physical CDs, in my experience, for my choices of music, and we're talking about inferior quality (see #1) .
5) inconvenience in terms of storage limits to store one's collection (see the $2671 price of 1 TB flash drive I listed )
6) software limitations with large collections, cars certainly can't handle it. A decent PC can (I use Jriver on my PC)
7) incompatibilities between various systems, one car/smartphone will play X digital format.
8) need for a network connection which is not always available 100% of the time, and not free (there are data caps on mobile broadband and even home cable)

These are just off the top of my head.

What we have here is not "advance" of technology in the eyes of some, but for others like us, they are major regressions.
 
Discussion starter · #77 ·
Nope. What's driving it is cost and technology obsolescence.
Well, let's just say that I dislike the dogfood that's being forced-fed. I'm certainly not technology adverse - I work in tech, but I like to go for clearly superior technology when I go for something new, for example going from an ICE to a PHEV or long-range EV.

Not all music is available on streaming or music download services.
Embedded audio systems in cars can't handle very large collections.
Large portable digital storage is still prohibitively expensive.
And that's to say nothing of the labor cost of converting a large collection.
Many manufacturers have kept an option to have a CD player - the 2017 Prius has one, for example.
Even if it's not a factory option, retaining some kind of auxiliary control interface, that was previously developed for other cars, including the Gen1 Volt, shouldn't add so much cost to the car.

I was joking in an earlier post, but you might as well be complaining about lack of cassette and 8 track players in new cars. They were very popular, people had a lot of them (maybe not 15,000), but you won't find a new car that supports them.
You might have a point if 8 tracks players and tapes were even still being made - they are not. CDs and CD players certainly still are, in significant quantities, even though they are off their peaks.

And there are still plenty of new cars that support CDs. The decision by GM to remove it in the 2017 took us entirely by surprise. I started this thread after we took delivery of the car.

And CD players were dropped in the Volt with 2013 MY I believe.
You're wrong. My 2015 MY Volt, which I bought only 18 months ago, has a built-in CD player that integrates very nicely.
 
Physical media is on the way out. This includes CD, DVD and Blu-ray. As mentioned, the best solution is to rip the discs. It could be done as they are selected to be played.

I agree that CD and even vinyl will exist in obscurity, but they exist as outliers in the distribution of storage methods. The inability to accept change is something that everyone must confront on occasion.
 
For what it is worth madbrain, I completely understand your frustration. The quality of the recording on CDs vs. downloads is not comparable, but unfortunately most people don't seem to care. Also, heaven forbid if your musical tastes are more eclectic. Would a CD changer with RF transmission work. I had one of these installed in the 90's. Audio quality was ok (not as good as a native system) but it did come with a remote that had big buttons and had a rudimentary display. Best of luck.
 
CDs certainly continue to be manufactured. There is no shortage of drives/players that can play those discs on computers and home audio systems, and continue to be manufactured, also, including nearly all DVD drives and Blu-ray drives.

I'm all for advance of technology - I'm a software engineer, and I work in tech. But the new technology has to be superior to the old one.

What's being shoved as replacement in vehicles suffers has major shortcomings
There's really no use crying about it.

Just as CD album sales have been declining steadily for years, CD players are being phased out of most ALL new cars and trucks in favor of USB and more popular streaming formats, however inconvenient, lossy, or costly.

Beating your chest on here isn't going to accomplish much
Try the RIAA or write your Congressman!
;)
WOT

 

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