It’s a phase

Longtime readers of this space might realize that I’m a diehard aficionado of physical media. I’ve already done a couple of columns on the collectivity of it (Still crazy after all these years…), and even the importance of it, in the age of streaming (My ongoing reasons for owning physical media). One of the nasty side-effects of being an aging Gen Xer that no one tells you about is that you live to see beloved innovations/technologies recede in popularity, or get phased out entirely. Well, to quote Captain Kirk in Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, “We haven’t run out of history quite yet…”

Back in that long ago year of 2001, I bought a then-brand new Honda Accord. Traded in a dying Toyota for it, and it was the first brand-new car (not motorcycle) I’d ever owned. Drove it right off the lot. For the past 25 years, that car was like a second skin. I could feel when something wasn’t quite right with it. Given its antiquated tech, the extras were fairly modest, and that was fine. In fact, it still had roll-up windows–not the motorized push button kind that were already standardized, even back then. One of its best bonus features was an AM/FM stereo with a built-in cassette deck, and my favorite bonus feature; a compact disc player.

Back in 2001, compact discs (CDs) were still very popular. Their video cousins, DVDs, were only four years old at that point. I still remember the birth of the CD format back in the early 1980s (I was a junior in high school at the time), though I didn’t fully embrace it until the mid-1990s, because at the time, I was an LP and audiocassette geek (loved making mix-tapes on my dual cassette deck boombox). Since buying my first few CDs in the mid-1990s, my collection has now swelled into the hundreds. While I don’t buy CDs as often these days, I’ll occasionally find a rare gem somewhere that I must have. While my DVD and Blu-Ray collection greatly outnumbers it, I still have around 300 or so CDs, which I tote around in alphabetically arranged, zip-up CD albums.

For decades, I would pop in a CD during drives; using that aging technology I took for granted. My collection is all over the place, too. Lots of classic rock–from Britain to the bayou (John Lennon, Rolling Stones, Credence Clearwater Revival, Jimi Hendrix, etc), some 1980s/1990s favorites (Tears for Fears, Breathe, SEAL, Enya) as well as a few newer discs (“Hamilton”). Also have lots of classical movie soundtracks (John Williams, Jerry Goldsmith, Hans Zimmer), ballads (Judy Collins, Roberta Flack) some jazz, blues (Louis Armstrong, Miles Davis), and one or two country albums (Johnny Cash, John Denver). My taste is all over the map. And while driving in my old Accord, I’d keep my big, 250-CD album on the seat next to me within easy reach. As my mood changed, I’d pop in a new disc. And when I’d give my wife or another passenger a ride, I’d toss the bulky album into the backseat. Easy peasy.

This past January, that comfy status quo changed. As an oldster, I’m not a huge fan of change, but I’m also old enough to recognize that it’s as inevitable as the setting sun. Fighting it only makes it hurt worse. Anyway, my wife is a few years from retirement, and she really had her heart set on a new Honda Civic Hybrid. That meant my 2001 Accord was on the chopping block. The logic was unassailable, however painful. My Accord was getting older, and increasingly difficult to find new parts for when serviced. It reached a point where my dealership sometimes had to find used/rebuilt parts for it in salvage yards. This meant I’d trade in my old Accord and take my wife’s 2018 Honda Civic as a hand-me-down car, so that she could get her new Civic hybrid. This made sense, since I work from home, and generally drive far less than she does, so I really don’t need (or want) a new car.

To be clear, the 2018 Civic is a perfectly fine vehicle. Strong brakes, cozy cockpit, lots of electronic doodads (power windows–finally), and a dashboard screen with USB hookups for my iPhone’s CarPlay app, which provides full hands-free phone use when plugged in, as well as seamless onscreen navigation. It’s a solid machine. For music, it has a radio, and hooks up to Apple Music and Amazon Music apps; neither of which I’m subscribed to, sadly. It was also one of the first generation of Hondas made in the 2010s that no longer came with a standard CD player. I knew well before we made the transfer of ownership that this might be an issue for me, though it wasn’t necessarily a dealbreaker.

After talking to my wife, a longtime friend of mine and her sweet 14-year old son actually bought me a portable CD player for my birthday last year in anticipation of this transfer, which happened in January. The portable CD player was a Megatek, with a small but effective pair of built-in speakers, that fit comfortably in my dashboard compartment. It seemed my problem was more or less solved. Even better, the Megatek could be plugged into the Civic’s secondary USB port, which was used only for recharging. Since the Megatek had its own small speakers, it wouldn’t interfere with hands-free phone use, satellite navigation, etc. However, the Megatek wasn’t really built for bumpy car rides, and it began to skip frequently. Furthermore, it also wasn’t happy being cooped up in my car on hot days, either, which also adversely affected its performance. On the upside, the Megatek came with a terrific pair of wired earbuds, which I wear nearly every day on my 3-mile morning walks, and which comfortably plug into my iPhone with an adapter. They replaced my sketchy Bluetooth earbuds, which frequently cut out whenever I walked near a strong wi-fi signal. One seemingly faulty solution inadvertently solved another.

Next, I began to do a lot of obsessive online research, trying to find that unicorn device which would allow me to play CDs in my car the way I had been doing for a quarter of a century until this past January. I eventually came across a highly-rated, dedicated car CD player from another unknown brand called MONODEAL (all caps; that’s the brand). I ordered it from Amazon ($80 or so), and it came the following weekend. After reading the instructions, I hooked it up to the main USB port to my car, and… nothing happened. I activated the device’s Bluetooth switch, as well as the Bluetooth finder in my car, and my car repeatedly failed to ‘discover’ the device. Crap. I hooked the player up to my computer, just to make sure it was working, and it was.

The problem had to be with my car’s Bluetooth. In frustration, I stopped by a local car stereo shop (my city is littered with them) and the place looked deserted, save for a lone man packing and stacking boxes. Turns out the shop had relocated, and he was apparently finishing up. Nevertheless, the gentleman showed a keen interest in my issue, and told me to turn off the player’s Bluetooth and run it straight into the USB port; synching it up with the USB icon in the car’s “Audio” setup menu. You got all that? Yeah, it was difficult for me, too. Nevertheless, I profusely thanked the man (who no longer worked there), and gave it a try. It worked. The first random CD I picked to play was of the Swedish 1970s pop sensation ABBA (don’t judge), and 1970s disco pumped through all of my car’s speakers! It was beautiful. “Dancing Queen” never sounded so good to me. And to think that a kindly, anonymous stranger in an abandoned car stereo shop solved an issue I’d been grappling with for six months.

Yes, there is a tradeoff. If I want to play my CDs, I have to forsake my car’s hands-free iPhone use and my CarPlay onscreen navigation. However, in my old Accord, I used to have my iPhone’s Maps app read the directions aloud when I had to find a location. So, I’ll just do that again. It’s hardly an adaptation for me, let alone a dealbreaker. And if I truly needed my hands-free phone and onscreen navigation during a trip, I can simply disconnect the CD player and plug my iPhone back into the main USB port for CarPlay. To stave off boredom, I can play the standard AM/FM radio instead. Not ideal, but good enough. Since I no longer drive long commutes (post-retirement), I’d rather play my own CDs over small or moderate drives rather than use my iPhone anyway. If someone really needs to reach me? They can wait until I’m stopped. Like I did for roughly half of my existence before smartphones became standard issue life gear.

For aging Gen Xers like myself, it feels as if the market is desperately trying to phase out the concept of music/movie ownership in favor of digital purchases/rentals from temporary licensees, or using online-only playlists, etc. In short, they don’t want us to own our own music or movies anymore. Personally, I’ll resist that notion so long as there are solutions, like external CD players, or whatever else is needed. Keep your music. It’s important.