Order guy at my local Ford place said they're doing away with ALL the multi disc changers because of issues with paper labels on homemade discs causing repair issues. I don't know how that thing moves the discs around, but it might make sense.

I have the 6-disc in the '10, and haven't any problems with it, or the ones in the '08 Escape or Fusion. But I don't use discs with paper labels. And frankly, now that I've loaded up a USB stick, I don't think I've used either the CD player OR the Sirius.

 

Can you help an old man out?

I have iTunes on my home computer, so CDs are automatically ripped to it. How do either a) rip CDs to a flash drive or b) load my iTunes library to a flash drive?

And then you simply plug it into the USB port in the car and Sync recognizes it? Gee, technology is great.

 

put you music on a thumb drive.

They are able to keep th cost down by eliminating the 6 disc. the thumb drive can hold many thousands of times more than 6 cd's can (depending on what size FD you buy).

 

Just insert a USB drive into your PC, and then drag and drop your CD's in MP3 format from whatever directory you have them in onto the the USB drive.

 

In your case, the Ipod is the way to go. You can use the usb interface, get an FM transmitter or get a new radio that's ipod friendly.

Once you get used to using the technology, you won't never want a CD player again.

 

I've seen speculation that the HD radio module uses the same space as the changer. Whether this is true is another story.

 

i think you can USB with one of those flash drives as well? you don't really need the 6 disc.

 

I'm with most everyone here really. My '04 Mustang had MP3 playing capability as a free upgrade (I think Ford upgraded the basic audio midyear) and it was fantastic. Why get a 6 CD changer when I can rip six CDs to one disk and leave the originals safely in their crystal cases at home? That's what I asked myself anyway. Today the only original disks that get played in the car are ones that I just got and haven't gotten around to burning yet.

With my 2011, I doubt I'll even burn disks anymore. USB, phone, the 10 GB hard drive... Yeah.

Do the base V6/GT models have the USB though? I don't believe they have SYNC.

 

i don't think so... but you can easily swap in a pioneer navigation unit. especially easy since you don't have to mod the unit for steering wheel controls since the base models don't have said controls on the steering wheel

 

No and no, they don't.

 

I turn up the iPod volume all the way because if I don't it's too quiet when the volume on the head unit is set at a normal level for all other inputs (FM, satellite). It has never distorted on me (and this is through the AUX input).

And I haven't used the 6 CD changer in the car since I've loaded a majority of my CDs on the iPod. Do I still buy CDs? Heck, yeah. CD audio quality is still miles better than any MP3 audio quality, and I have the original as a backup. Plus I like having the album art, liner notes, credits, etc.

 

I did basically the same thing, ripped all my CDs and made MP3 CDs from all of them, putting from 10 to 12 individual CDs on each MP3 CD. You can drive all day and change the CD only once. I always hated the hassle of changing out 6 CDs anyhow.

 

Same as MusicMan. It's rare that I buy music through iTunes. Though iTunes gives you the songs at the highest MP3 quality available (I prefer to VBR my rips to save on disk space), I still prefer to have the lossless, full quality originals somewhere.

 

iTunes store offers audio in the M4A MPEG-4 container and typically encodes music with the AAC codec at either 128- or 256-kbps bitrates. Certainly not the highest quality nor MP3.

Just sayin'.

 

If I'm going to listen to music in my car, especially in a Mustang with a Mach 460 / 1000 or Shaker 500 /1000 system I just don't think I could deal with sound quality below that of the original CD.

Is it possible to have original CD Sound Quality on an I-Pod, MP3, or Thumb Drive ??

If not, I'll be sticking with original CD's or burned copies.

Doug

 

MP3 sound is compressed, so you will never have the high qualities of the original. But in a car with all the other background noise, I don't think you would notice. But listening at home, that's a different story.

 

Nothing like doing research before you go whining on an Internet forum. Oh btw, the Electronics Package only has a single CD player too. Get over it. As has been mentioned get a simple USB drive and load it up. There are program to rip your CDs to your computer in the original format. Google is your friend...

 

Oh and also, Shaker 1000 is CRAP. You could do SO much better with aftermarket equipment for $1200.

 

Devolving actually. MP3's suck. Whole generation of kids who have no clue what audio quality is. Bunch of tone deaf morons with no taste for quality. I'm 34, not 87 so don't go there.

 

Hey hey hey. I use my CDs when I can, and when I go on a longer trip I burn my CDs in the original format, or at least Lossless. Now if we could get the Electronics Package head unit to play DVD-Audio, we'd be in business. But I agree, everyone just wants as much music as possible in their pocket (/in their dash). I don't get it. You can only listen to one CD at a time...