SAD LOVE QUOTES: Ford scraps CD players for digital entertainment

Wednesday, July 27, 2011

Ford scraps CD players for digital entertainment

By Inderdeep Bains

Last updated at 8:54 AM on 27th July 2011

Scrabbling around the car for a new CD to listen to on the road could soon be a thing of the past.

Ford hopes to usher in a digital age for in-car entertainment by binning CD players in its new models.

The company plans to help drivers to access their libraries of digital music via the internet.

Old school: Ford hopes to usher in a digital age for in-car entertainment by binning CD players in its new models

It has become the first mainstream manufacturer to scrap the in-car CD multichanger.

The car maker's latest Focus model will instead include a USB socket allowing digital music players to be plugged in.

The new cars will have the Sync 'infotainment hub' that lets drivers access their music library through the internet by plugging in a device called a dongle, which enables Wi-Fi.

This would facilitate using devices such as iPods, iPhones and other digital music players.

The in-car computer 'hub' can then access digital libraries stored on the internet, be it through Spotifiy or Apple's iCloud.

Ford expects two million Focus cars in Europe to have its Sync system by 2015

Sheryl Connelly, Global Trends and Futuring manager at Ford, said the move was necessary if the company wanted to keep up with the needs of its customers.

'In-car entertainment technology is moving digital more rapidly than almost any other element of the vehicle experience,' she said.

'The in-car CD player - much like pay telephones - is destined to fade away in the face of exciting new technology.'

Ford said sales of in-car CD players were declining rapidly, in line with falling sales of the discs.

In 2010, sales of physical music albums fell 12.4 per cent, while those of digital versions rose by 30.6 per cent in the UK.

Ford expects two million cars in Europe to have its Sync system by 2015.