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I wish that Lexus had not taken out the CD player in MY24, but my annoyance comes from a different angle. It is a tacit mandate from Lexus that people start using streaming services (Spotify and the like) for their music rather than physical media. What most people don't know (and even if they did know, they probably wouldn't care) is that music artists get micropennies on the dollar every time their songs are played via some streaming service. 30 years ago, when people bought CDs (or, going back even farther, tapes or vinyl, which is now in vogue again), the artist would get a large chuck of the sale price of that CD. These days, people either steal music by downloading it from the internet, or they effectively steal it by using streaming services. Either way, the original artists get virtually nothing for their work. Is it anybody's surprise that the music industry keeps releasing trash music in bulk lately? It's because true artists have little incentive to create quality music anymore, because they aren't going to get paid for it.
Back to my original point: by getting rid of the CD player in the LC500, Lexus is basically saying, "Go ahead and steal the music. We don't care about artists getting paid for their efforts."
To be forthright, before and after I got my LC, I ripped my CD collection to USB sticks (as uncompressed files, by the way) and rarely used the actual CD player in whatever car I was driving. My issue with the lack of a CD player is mainly philosophical rather than practical.
I wish that Lexus had not taken out the CD player in MY24, but my annoyance comes from a different angle. It is a tacit mandate from Lexus that people start using streaming services (Spotify and the like) for their music rather than physical media. What most people don't know (and even if they did know, they probably wouldn't care) is that music artists get micropennies on the dollar every time their songs are played via some streaming service. 30 years ago, when people bought CDs (or, going back even farther, tapes or vinyl, which is now in vogue again), the artist would get a large chuck of the sale price of that CD. These days, people either steal music by downloading it from the internet, or they effectively steal it by using streaming services. Either way, the original artists get virtually nothing for their work. Is it anybody's surprise that the music industry keeps releasing trash music in bulk lately? It's because true artists have little incentive to create quality music anymore, because they aren't going to get paid for it.
Back to my original point: by getting rid of the CD player in the LC500, Lexus is basically saying, "Go ahead and steal the music. We don't care about artists getting paid for their efforts."
To be forthright, before and after I got my LC, I ripped my CD collection to USB sticks (as uncompressed files, by the way) and rarely used the actual CD player in whatever car I was driving. My issue with the lack of a CD player is mainly philosophical rather than practical.
Although there is some truth to streaming services being somewhat of a negative to creative artists incentive today, to parlay that into "Lexus not caring if artists get paid" is not logical nor true. It would be like saying YOU/US and Lexus don't care about the destruction of the earth because we all bought, and they built, a big glorious hedonistic fuel sucking V8 instead of putting in the most minimalist engine possible like a two cylinder hybrid. . . Did you buy the V8 rather than the hybrid? If so, you must not care about the earth. . . Also, can't combine two vastly different industries. Lexus is responding to market demand to make their vehicles relevant to what buyers want. Technology evolves and in the music industry, it certainly has. Lexus has nothing to do with that. They finally took out the archaic CD player, just like every other manufacturer on earth has, because almost no one carries around a bunch of CDs any longer. Maybe a decade ago, but the consumers have moved on and driven music consumption to other mediums like streaming and High-Res download. . . It is up to the music industry and consumers consumption to fix the "new'ish" environment of music purchasing and payment.
Although there is some truth to streaming services being somewhat of a negative to creative artists incentive today, to parlay that into "Lexus not caring if artists get paid" is not logical nor true. It would be like saying YOU/US and Lexus don't care about the destruction of the earth because we all bought, and they built, a big glorious hedonistic fuel sucking V8 instead of putting in the most minimalist engine possible like a two cylinder hybrid. . . Did you buy the V8 rather than the hybrid? If so, you must not care about the earth. . . Also, can't combine two vastly different industries. Lexus is responding to market demand to make their vehicles relevant to what buyers want. Technology evolves and in the music industry, it certainly has. Lexus has nothing to do with that. They finally took out the archaic CD player, just like every other manufacturer on earth has, because almost no one carries around a bunch of CDs any longer. Maybe a decade ago, but the consumers have moved on and driven music consumption to other mediums like streaming and High-Res download. . . It is up to the music industry and consumers consumption to fix the "new'ish" environment of music purchasing and payment.
Also removing it coupled with the new headunit/touchscreen allows them to sell the Apple or Amazon Music subscription plus the wi-fi connect subscription directly if you want to use integrated streaming. I'd love to, but am not going to pay $15/mo for it. I'm sure plenty of people would.
Although there is some truth to streaming services being somewhat of a negative to creative artists incentive today, to parlay that into "Lexus not caring if artists get paid" is not logical nor true. It would be like saying YOU/US and Lexus don't care about the destruction of the earth because we all bought, and they built, a big glorious hedonistic fuel sucking V8 instead of putting in the most minimalist engine possible like a two cylinder hybrid. . . Did you buy the V8 rather than the hybrid? If so, you must not care about the earth. . . Also, can't combine two vastly different industries. Lexus is responding to market demand to make their vehicles relevant to what buyers want. Technology evolves and in the music industry, it certainly has. Lexus has nothing to do with that. They finally took out the archaic CD player, just like every other manufacturer on earth has, because almost no one carries around a bunch of CDs any longer. Maybe a decade ago, but the consumers have moved on and driven music consumption to other mediums like streaming and High-Res download. . . It is up to the music industry and consumers consumption to fix the "new'ish" environment of music purchasing and payment.
I will admit to using some hyperbole in my comment! Nevertheless, Lexus - as well as the other manufacturers - are being enablers of this unfortunate system that does not reward artists for their creative efforts. A little push-back from the manufacturers might have some effects in the long run.
When my wife was looking for a new car back in 2019, she passed on the Toyota Avalon and got a Lexus ES for precisely the reason that the Lexus still had a CD player whereas the Toyota did not. Score: Toyota 0, Lexus 1. Getting rid of the CD player cost Toyota a sale. (Yes, I know it's the same overall corporation, but you get the idea.)
What's head scratching to me is that a car that debuted in 2017 would have ever had a "CD Slot"
I love the CD player, use it all the time. I'm a big time audiophile though, so I use every platform of music. Sirius radio and Qobuz from my phone, too. 👍🏾
It's perhaps a lot simpler for me. I just enjoy the attention to detail and action of it all. Removing the CD, inserting it into the CD slot. Much like the ritual of playing LP's.
Removing the vinyl from the sleeve, careful not to touch the grooves. Checking out the artwork/photos included inside the album art. Placing the LP on the platter, (while it's not spinning), cleaning the grooves with a good brush. I enjoy the "setup" and the ritual of it all...
I wish that Lexus had not taken out the CD player in MY24, but my annoyance comes from a different angle. It is a tacit mandate from Lexus that people start using streaming services (Spotify and the like) for their music rather than physical media. What most people don't know (and even if they did know, they probably wouldn't care) is that music artists get micropennies on the dollar every time their songs are played via some streaming service. 30 years ago, when people bought CDs (or, going back even farther, tapes or vinyl, which is now in vogue again), the artist would get a large chuck of the sale price of that CD. These days, people either steal music by downloading it from the internet, or they effectively steal it by using streaming services. Either way, the original artists get virtually nothing for their work. Is it anybody's surprise that the music industry keeps releasing trash music in bulk lately? It's because true artists have little incentive to create quality music anymore, because they aren't going to get paid for it.
Back to my original point: by getting rid of the CD player in the LC500, Lexus is basically saying, "Go ahead and steal the music. We don't care about artists getting paid for their efforts."
To be forthright, before and after I got my LC, I ripped my CD collection to USB sticks (as uncompressed files, by the way) and rarely used the actual CD player in whatever car I was driving. My issue with the lack of a CD player is mainly philosophical rather than practical.
What software did you use to do the ripping? I have a huge CD collection that I need to do that to but I don't want to lose any quality and haven't yet bothered to research the best way to do this.
There's tons of apps out there for this. I started using iTunes a long time ago and never bothered to switch to anything else even though I'm primarily an Android user. The most important thing is to rip to a lossless format like FLAC, m4p, etc. to preserve the highest quality. These apps are all mostly the same with little feature differentiation (iTunes, VLC, etc.).
What software did you use to do the ripping? I have a huge CD collection that I need to do that to but I don't want to lose any quality and haven't yet bothered to research the best way to do this.
I've mainly used the basic Windows Media Player for my ripping purposes. It allows for ripping to multiple formats (for Lexus vehicles, FLAC is my format of choice). Once or twice I've had issues ripping, and I think I used dBpoweramp to get the job done in those cases. I've found Media Player to be fairly easy to use. As The500 mentioned, the most important thing to do is to use a lossless format, but make sure your car will recognize that particular format, as Lexus cars do not recognize all of them. Also, make sure your stick is formatted as FAT32, as Lexus will not necessarily recognize other formats.
Same here. I just use regular WMP(legacy) and rip in Wav. Lossless in highest quality. I've experiment with FLAC and all that stuff but can't hear the difference. I spent a lot of time chasing best of this and best of that but in the end, a lot didn't really make any difference. Even high quality MP3 sounds about the same to be honest.
The problem I have with the Lexus USB is that it can only handle 32GB. Well, I guess I can't really complaint because that is still about 50 CDs.
I'm not sure about that. I'm using a 256GB stick in my '24 LC.
It might see the 256GB but only 32GB is readable. I have a 128GB stick but I’m not sure if all the folders are there.
straight from the manual of my 2024
It might see the 256GB but only 32GB is readable. I have a 128GB stick but I’m not sure if all the folders are there.
straight from the manual of my 2024
Interesting. Mine definitely reads my 256GB stick (it's about half full, about 4000 songs). It's quirky at times, though, such as when I'm scrolling through the albums; if I scroll too fast before it's had time to read the entire stick, it won't scroll properly. Sometimes when I select an album (but before I start to play it), it will display the wrong album cover art; when I start playing the album, though, the correct cover art will display. But I've never had it not find an album on the stick.
Most of the time I am actually playing music off of a different stick (128GB), that has only my favorite songs on it. I just put it on random play and I'm good for many miles!
One thing that's been noted elsewhere is that USB-C drives definitely do not work for playing music. It has to be USB-A.
Nope, I'm on the other side of S.Carolina, in Greenville. It's probably been about 5 years since I've been to the Myrtle Beach area. I love going to Brookgreen Gardens when I'm there. I see you're from NH; I spent some months in Nashua back in the 80s. Good times!
