Playing CD's

[O.W.L.]

I have an extensive collection of CD's and CD audio books going to waste.

I've tried playing my own music via my iPhone - waste of time as the sound repro is awful and the volume is way down - too low to listen properly. Besides, it's too time consuming to transfer music to it and the phone's hard drive would soon fill up.

I've tried loading music onto a stick & using the USB port - OK, but track selection is very iffy and it is too time consuming to load hundreds of albums onto sticks. Audio books don't work properly as the car loses track of where in the story you are after turning the ignition off.

I don't want to spend hundreds giving the car to an audio shop to fit something permanent as I rarely keep a car for longer than 3 years.

What I need is a stand alone CD player that I can plug into the USB port and keep in the centre console or glove box.

I've heard that a bluetooth CD player is a possibility, but I'm nervous about it maintaining a connection. 

Has anyone done this? Surely I can't be the only one.

 

[Rhymes with Paris]

 Not tried one as my old car has a built in one.

But a 10 sec search turns up a lehway one on Amazon for around £47 .

Sorry I don't know how to do links on this phone.

[flash22]

only ones that i have first hand experience with is the Connects2 Adv-USBCD for around the £100 mark, these can be found cheaper under other brands

https://connects2.com/Product/ProductItem/ADV-USBCD

[Harters]

Does the C-HR have an aux in? If so you could connect a portable CD player that way. 
 

EDIT: 

looks like it does

Amazon has several for less than £50 which also have bluetooth, so if that didn’t work out you could connect it with an aux lead from the headphone socket to cars the aux in port. 

[O.W.L.]

2 hours ago, Rhymes with Paris said:

 Not tried one as my old car has a built in one.

But a 10 sec search turns up a lehway one on Amazon for around £47 .

Sorry I don't know how to do links on this phone.

I saw the Lehway, but the C-HR is not on their compatibility list.

[O.W.L.]

2 hours ago, flash22 said:

only ones that i have first hand experience with is the Connects2 Adv-USBCD for around the £100 mark, these can be found cheaper under other brands

https://connects2.com/Product/ProductItem/ADV-USBCD

I've just had a look at this one. The blurb states " Compatible with head units running on Android 4.4 or with USB media player that supports .WAV file playback. Will work only with USB with 5V + 1.5A power supply."

I have no idea whether the C-HR qualifies with this stipulation.

[O.W.L.]

2 hours ago, Harters said:

Does the C-HR have an aux in? If so you could connect a portable CD player that way. 
 

EDIT: 

looks like it does

Amazon has several for less than £50 which also have Bluetooth, so if that didn’t work out you could connect it with an aux lead from the headphone socket to cars the aux in port. 

Just checked - no such socket on my model,  unfortunately.

[Cyker]

21 minutes ago, O.W.L. said:

I've just had a look at this one. The blurb states " Compatible with head units running on Android 4.4 or with USB media player that supports .WAV file playback. Will work only with USB with 5V + 1.5A power supply."

I have no idea whether the C-HR qualifies with this stipulation.

I'm 98% sure it does; You can check by sticking some WAV files on the USB stick and seeing if the car will play them (If you don't know how to convert MP3s to WAVs, just copy some of the system sounds off a Windows PC ( C:\Windows\Media ) - It still uses WAV format sound for all the sound effects )

[Rhymes with Paris]

20 minutes ago, O.W.L. said:

I saw the Lehway, but the C-HR is not on their compatibility list.

Oh ,ok well I hope you can find a way.

I too have a load of CDs and DVDs that are now superceded by new tech, but hang on with CD player in car, and DVD player built into old TV.

As is always the case,as soon as new ways of playing recorded stuff are invented, the old ways become obsolete.

Vinyl became cassette, cassette became CD and so on,a cynic might say it's a good way of parting people from their money to buy new tech.

So I am a cynic.

 

[Harters]

22 minutes ago, O.W.L. said:

Just checked - no such socket on my model,  unfortunately.

That’s a shame, they must have removed it on later models. That picture was taken from a 2017 Manual and is the same USB/Aux-in socket as I have in my Prius which is also a 2017 model. 
 

Maybe this could be worth a try for less than £4

Casoter Aux Audio Cable, USB to 3.5mm jack Audio Adapter, USB 2.0 Male Data Sync and Charge Cable, for MP3 MP4 Players Voice Recorder and Speaker https://amzn.eu/d/04WzgIC

[flash22]

The way it works is it takes the CD information and on the fly converts it to MP3 for playback

Rip it down to MP3, with audiobooks split it up into 10-15 min segments

2019 should have the touch2 gen2 like this, Edit. If it's a late 19 it should have the Gen3 with 8 buttons and 2 knobs

you can add an AUX in fairly easily, It may even be wired

 

USB to AUX will not work as the system will not know what driver to use

[O.W.L.]

1 hour ago, Cyker said:

I'm 98% sure it does; You can check by sticking some WAV files on the USB stick and seeing if the car will play them (If you don't know how to convert MP3s to WAVs, just copy some of the system sounds off a Windows PC ( C:\Windows\Media ) - It still uses WAV format sound for all the sound effects )

Thanks for that. I've just loaded some wav file tunes onto a stick, and it plays OK. The Car Audio Centre has the players for £90 and they state that you can try one and if it doesn't work plug & play you can return it for a refund, so I'm going to buy one & will report back.

[O.W.L.]

1 hour ago, Harters said:

That’s a shame, they must have removed it on later models. That picture was taken from a 2017 Manual and is the same USB/Aux-in socket as I have in my Prius which is also a 2017 model. 
 

Maybe this could be worth a try for less than £4

Casoter Aux Audio Cable, USB to 3.5mm Jack Audio Adapter, USB 2.0 Male Data Sync and Charge Cable, for MP3 MP4 Players Voice Recorder and Speaker https://amzn.eu/d/04WzgIC

Thanks for that. I'm going to try the Connects2 ADV-USBCD Plug and Play USB CD Player but if that doesn't work I'll give this a go.

[O.W.L.]

1 hour ago, flash22 said:

The way it works is it takes the CD information and on the fly converts it to MP3 for playback

Rip it down to MP3, with audiobooks split it up into 10-15 min segments

2019 should have the touch2 gen2 like this, Edit. If it's a late 19 it should have the Gen3 with 8 buttons and 2 knobs

you can add an AUX in fairly easily, It may even be wired

 

USB to AUX will not work as the system will not know what driver to use

I'm sure that would be very helpful if only I understood geek 🙂

I've not mastered the mobile phone yet.

[Paris Yaris]

On 9/11/2023 at 8:59 PM, O.W.L. said:

Thanks for that. I've just loaded some wav file tunes onto a stick, and it plays OK. The Car Audio Centre has the players for £90 and they state that you can try one and if it doesn't work plug & play you can return it for a refund, so I'm going to buy one & will report back.

Sadly, the website states that the CD player I think you're referring to (https://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/product_m-connects2-adv-usbcd_p-41420.htm) doesn't work with any Toyota vehicles (among many others listed).

WIth more than 100 CDs in my collection, I don't want to go through the palaver of ripping them all to USB stick when I could simply play them in my car - if only I could find a CD player that works with my Yaris USB port!! It's annoying that the car manufacturers won't let us 'plug and play' our CDs from external sources. Why not? Also, I get irritated when I see patronising posts from some who don't understand why we don't always want to use USB sticks and streaming services.

[Paris Yaris]

On 9/11/2023 at 7:28 PM, Harters said:

That’s a shame, they must have removed it on later models. That picture was taken from a 2017 Manual and is the same USB/Aux-in socket as I have in my Prius which is also a 2017 model. 
 

Maybe this could be worth a try for less than £4

Casoter Aux Audio Cable, USB to 3.5mm Jack Audio Adapter, USB 2.0 Male Data Sync and Charge Cable, for MP3 MP4 Players Voice Recorder and Speaker https://amzn.eu/d/04WzgIC

This might be worth a try if all else fails. Thanks.

[dannyboy413]

I know I am talking about USB sticks, but the Corolla (2022), I had would play MP3 AND MP4 files - the Yaris Cross, (2023), will not play MP4 files. 

[O.W.L.]

51 minutes ago, Paris Yaris said:

Sadly, the website states that the CD player I think you're referring to (https://www.caraudiocentre.co.uk/product_m-connects2-adv-usbcd_p-41420.htm) doesn't work with any Toyota vehicles (among many others listed).

WIth more than 100 CDs in my collection, I don't want to go through the palaver of ripping them all to USB stick when I could simply play them in my car - if only I could find a CD player that works with my Yaris USB port!! It's annoying that the car manufacturers won't let us 'plug and play' our CDs from external sources. Why not? Also, I get irritated when I see patronising posts from some who don't understand why we don't always want to use USB sticks and streaming services.

Damn - I should have read down the page a bit further. Oh well, it's on its way now. I will try it anyway, before no doubt sending it back. I have close to 400 CD's and, like you, cannot afford the time and trouble to rip them all onto another format when I could just play the damn things.

[Paris Yaris]

19 minutes ago, O.W.L. said:

Damn - I should have read down the page a bit further. Oh well, it's on its way now. I will try it anyway, before no doubt sending it back. I have close to 400 CD's and, like you, cannot afford the time and trouble to rip them all onto another format when I could just play the damn things.

Worth a try definitely - especially now you've ordered it. Hopefully, they're wrong and it does work. I'll watch this space!

[Paul john]

31 minutes ago, dannyboy413 said:

I know I am talking about USB sticks, but the Corolla (2022), I had would play MP3 AND MP4 files - the Yaris Cross, (2023), will not play MP4 files. 

Mp4 is a video standard. Toyotas are both fussy about size and format. 
fat32 and exfat no bigger than 64gb are your friend. 

[Cyker]

You could bribe/pay/threaten your  kids/nephews/nieces/grandkids/neighbour kids/random impoverished student to convert your CD collection to MP3s...?   

 

5 minutes ago, Paul john said:

Mp4 is a video standard.

Yes - You could play videos on the original Yaris Mk4 headunit (I tried watching some episodes of Red Dwarf on mine as a test once while waiting for someone  ), but it seems the newer one can't...?

 

[Paul john]

1 hour ago, Cyker said:

You could bribe/pay/threaten your  kids/nephews/nieces/grandkids/neighbour kids/random impoverished student to convert your CD collection to MP3s...?   

 

Yes - You could play videos on the original Yaris Mk4 headunit (I tried watching some episodes of Red Dwarf on mine as a test once while waiting for someone  ), but it seems the newer one can't...?

 

Because its deemed illegal now.

law changed in 1998 coincidentally at the same time red dwarf was canned for the first time. 

rear passengers ok.. but no video in viewing for driver. 

[O.W.L.]

Well, the stand-alone USB CD player didn't work.

Next stop is the USB to Aux cable.

[Paul john]

2 hours ago, O.W.L. said:

Well, the stand-alone USB CD player didn't work.

Next stop is the USB to Aux cable.

Have you tried this unit?
The compatibility list shows a Corolla 2017-2023 that covers the last 4 generations of head unit  ( touch2go , touch2go uplift 2019 , touch2go carplay (2020), touch2go 10”)

if it doesn't work send it back to Amazon, no harm no foul  

https://www.amazon.co.uk/External-Homlab-Portable-Computer-Navigation-Black/dp/B0CC5NKF5R/ref=asc_df_B0CC5NKF5R/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=658845252220&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4836379359854124552&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=1007166&hvtargid=pla-2194344723729&psc=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2fXjhJKogQMVQdHtCh2C7wP0EAQYBCABEgLnrvD_BwE

 

 

[O.W.L.]

That's very interesting.

I get confused with what the head units are called. I have a 2019 Lime Edition C-HR with a premium sound system. Anyone know if that is a touch 2 go?