This is correct. The default radio in the Stingray has AM/FM/XM-Sirius/HD Radio along with USB connectivity, SD Media, Auxiliary in (3.5 mm jack) Bluetooth audio as well as the ability to stream Pandora using the connection on your phone.

 

That is very cool then..

 

I am in that category. The problem with ripping them into MP3 format is you lose a lot of the sound quality with the lossy compression used to get an MP3 file. Most people don't care about that but I do and even though I have had some significant high frequency hearing loss over the last few years I can still tell the difference. There is a sacrifice required to put 15K songs on a small memory stick and I don't do it. Services like XM and Pandora although not providing top notch fidelity at least provide variety without making me search a library. When the first MP3 players came on the market I didn't go for them, I didn't get sucked into the IPOD crapola and I don't play MP3s on my phone.

I won't refuse to buy a C7 because of this. I will buy the music service for the summer months and suspend it over the winter months. When it is suspended I will listen to local radio.

Bill

 

I think GM dropped the ball on this. The new Porsche 911 comes with a 6 disk changer as standard equipment. I think GM should have found a way to integrate the old changer in the back storage areas as before and at least offered this as an option for those that have extensive CD libraries.

 

I absolutely hear the difference and rip music in the Apple Lossless format just for that reason. FLAC works for the non-Apple group. Yes, it takes up more room but storage is relatively cheap these days. Sat radio sounds like crap IMHO so I refuse to waste money on it generally. HD radio a much better option for me 90% of the time.

 

There are other formats and bit-rates you can use than standard MP3 stuff. You can even rip music to WMA or Loss-less AAC formats. I prefer to rip music at no less than 348Kbps. But some people rip their music way higher than that. Standard audio CDs are NOT analog. They're still digital which means they have a bit rate; and that rate is just over 1400Kbps. However, a 3rd of that can be compressed without noticing it. You can rip music to 960Kbps and you won't know the difference.

Wait... You're telling me GM dropped the ball because they decided not to include old technology? Why not ask them to put in an 8-track?

Hardly anyone uses CDs anymore. That's the truth. Sure there's still some people out there, but WHY? A multi disc changer is heavy and requires a lot of space. Exactly the opposite of what GM was trying to achieve in the C7.

Porsche includes an old technology and suddenly the progressive car company dropped the ball. LOL That's rich.

Seriously, I have maybe 2 CDs... They are probably covered in dust somewhere in a box in my closet. I have a CD player in my car that was used ONCE. LOL I've been streaming music through my car audio system since the moment it was possible and haven't looked back.

This is the way to do it.

 

EXTRA, EXTRA READ ALL ABOUT IT:
Cds are headed to the technology grave to be with VHS, 8-track, DVD and floppy disc. But wait there is more---MP3 PLAYERS ARE HEADED THERE TOO!!!

This is a new day and it all about cloud services and streaming. GM know this and will be ahead of the auto industry in this regard. This year they cut the CD, next year they are bring internet into their cars. The main reason for this is to allow access to cloud services and streaming.

Pandora, Slacker, and others are nice but whenever I have internet I also have access to all 30GB of my music that is on my home computer thanks to cloud storage and streaming. This why CD and MP3 player are becoming a thing of the past.

Personally I love buying CDs. I like opening the package and reading all about the arstist and CD, you can call me old fashion. I still go to Best Buy on tuesdays to see what new has been released. However I find my shopping more and more on itunes because the CD section in brick and mortar stores are getting significantly smaller and sometimes I have trouble finding even new releases let alone an old CD.

We just have to accept this and you expect to see more car companies cut CD players from there cars over the next few year. This will be the final blow to CDs as we know it.

 

Cant help but laugh at the "I can tell the difference between mp3 & CD quality audio.. which is why I only buy CDs" but the same ones who complain about the "Bose car audio system in my current Corvette sucks". Do I need remind you guys we are talking about a $52k Corvette. In case noone has told you guys.. neither Corvettes.. nor Bose have a great reputation for incredible audio reproduction. And since the C7 is using the same combination.. only so much audio "quality" should be expected.

So lets be real here. If you are buying a Corvette. Or if there is a Bose audio system in your car. Then MP3's are good enough.

If not. All you self-professed audiophiles can install that reference quality SA-CD player you desire.. as you completely change out the entire Bose audio system.. to something that will meet your stringent audio needs in your new 500hp sports car. You know. The same one that already has a big honking V8.. and you paid another $1000 for the louder exhaust system upgrade.

 

Have an 8GB MP3 player, size of a matchbox, holds 52 CDs worth.
Used w/ noise cancelling headphonesit's perfect while on my tractor mowing our parcel.

Now if only Chevrolet had been "cutting edge' enough to have included a lousy jack I could've used it in my '08 Z06. Chevrolet makes a habit of being a step behind while imports seem to get it right.

 

lol I'm an old man and I love MP3s. A couple of angles here and you whipper snappers should just skip this post...

I had a home theater and listening room capable of playing accurately at reference from below 20hz to over 20k hz and having heard this I do know what at least in theory accurate music is supposed to sound like. There is no getting around the noise those wide tires make, the sound of the engine, etc. Even should the C7 prove significantly more quiet than C6 I'm not sure that anyone here is going to be able to actually tell the difference in sound quality between lossless and higher bit rate compressed audio that will allow greater storage. Myself I ripped music at different bit rates and placed these on a memory stick and then had my wife change the music while I tried to figure out what sounded better to define what bit rate I would need to use ripping my music so as not to hear any perceptible loss in quality. I was shocked to find out it wasn't until 128 that I noticed a difference consistently. For this reason I ripped the car music at 320 which means I'm sure to have music that is as high a quality as I can discern in my car. I know many of you will think I have tin ears and you might be right but I would submit that in blind testing in an automotive listening environment very few people can pick out with any accuracy recordings made with higher bit rates or lossless. Just something to think about.

At any rate my fellow old farts once you do get to deciding how you want to rip your music take the time to do it correctly and make sure its in MP3 format (unless you have a specific reason not to like deciding to go lossless) because now that you're going to the hassle of making your music portable you want to make it compatible with the largest number of devices capable of playing compressed music formats and this means MP3s. Mostly this matters for those of you who have music in itunes which may be aac or MP4 which will often not work with many players. Do not convert such music over because you will then have compressed already compressed music and this is not good for quality. You need to rip it again. Sorry, it sucks, but it needs to happen. Make sure as you rip your music it is fully and properly tagged with album art embedded and that the tracks listed are correct. This will save you a ton of work in the future because incorrectly tagged or music that isn't tagged isn't search-able and you want your music search-able. Several in car audio systems are already capable of indexing your collection and then allowing you to voice search to specific music. I'm not sure if the Corvettes system allows this functionality but once you have your music ripped it will move forward with you as is unless you rip it again and this technology will eventually become ubiquitous.

If you are a smart phone user and you have expandable storage having made this effort you can now move your music onto your phone and this will give you the ability to play this music via bluetooth in most later model year cars which can be handy when riding with someone else on a long road trip. Also in a four seater you can hand your phone to the back seaters and allow them to pick something which can be popular. And yeah I know we're talking Corvettes here but I suspect most of you have other cars so remember that the music can now go anywhere.

Also don't forget other goodies on your phone. While the in car players abilities will be finite your phone is almost unlimited and things like Pandora, TuneIn Radio etc can be really nice additions to your music playing options.

Yes thats going to take a long time but its worth it in the end. Probably best bet for old farts starting out is going to be ripping the music you listen to most to begin with and then adding in the fringe stuff afterwords. Starting out once you have ripped enough you can look at the amount of space what you have ripped is taking, look at how much remains and get a good idea of how much storage you're going to need to hold it. Get extra. In other words if you figure 14 gigs don't get a 16 gig memory stick get a 32 gig. Then you're future proof and if like me you sometimes listen to audio books while on longer trips this gives you spare space to store them.

 

I've owned my 2015 Stingray for a little over a month now and certainly love it. But missed playing my CD's during drive time. So I loaded my favorites on a flash drive and can now listen to them. But here is my question........is it possible to listen to these songs randomly rather than in the order that they were loaded onto the flash drive? Please advise if this is possible. Thanks.

 

I wish they would of made the CD player optional. I love my C7 but I miss the CD player. I have hundreds of CDs which I'm not using in my car.

 

depends on capacity and bit rate.

I have an ipod classic w/ 120gb drive.
I import CDs in AIFF/full quality.
For AIFF, iTunes has a variable bit rate, which usually falls in the ~900-1100 range

I have > 8000 tracks on it, w/ about 15gb free

 

Then get a kid to transfer them for 20 bucks to a sd card. The CD is dead. No excuse for not doing this.

 

What I do is play and download my cd's on my computer and then load the files on a USB stick !!! Or if I'm in a hurry to listen to a cd I can plug my portable cd player and connect the output of the earphone jack with a cord to the round jack ( mm's ??? ) and listen to songs !!! My daily driver has a remote 12 cd player !!! Who needs Siriusxm I don't !!! Wayne

 

Wow, a 20 month old thread! Looks like the no-CD controversy will never end!

 

No kidding...

Everyone better get used to it, I bet cd players will be gone from all cars by 2016.

Jimmy

 

They are not already? My kids don't even know what a CD looks like.

 

there was no reason why there couldn't have been a cd player and usb so a c7 owner could enjoy both.

 

I ripped over 65 CD's onto one SD Card. Very compact and convenient.