The End of the In-Dash CD Player?

The 2013 Chevy Sonic will not have an in-dash CD player. This is an inevitable bummer — and it has meaning for music lovers, record labels, radio stations, and the car companies themselves…

The dashboard of the 2013 Chevrolet Sonic, sans CD player.

News out of the Consumer Electronics Show has GM announcing that the 2013 Chevy Sonic RS will not have an in-dash CD player. And the reason is not because the Sonic is a stripped down cheapo.

It’s inevitable that CD players will disappear, but it comes as a bit of a shock — and has implications for music lovers, record labels, radio stations, and the car companies.

For music lovers, it’s a miserable development.

We have two cars in our household, and both have in-dash CD players. However, only one has an auxiliary input for my iPhone. Guess which car I prefer.

But a dashboard without the CD player will suck for one simple reason – most MP3s, satellite, and all streaming music sounds like ass. If you’re serious about rocking out in your car, it has to be on CD.

For labels, the message is clear: physical goods are one step closer to being manufactured for superfans only. Everyone else will tolerate lower grade digital copies.

For radio stations, the auto industry’s hyper-focus on high tech entertainment systems is only bad news — particularly if that radio station has reduced itself to a nationally distributed jukebox. Music-stations-as-commodities are dead men walking.

And speaking of commoditization, that’s the exact reason why the auto industry is so hot for connected dashboards that can provide Pandora and so much more. In short, so many cars are so well made by so many companies, they’re desperate for product differentiation. They’ll innovate to make the product more desirable wherever they can.

Radio stations would do well to follow their lead.