The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / The Evolution Of Car Audio Includes An In-Dash Record Player

**Posted by RadioActive** **Online!** Today 7:29 am

Imagine trying to play a record while you’re tooling down the highway, stuck in Toronto congestion or worst of all, dodging potholes. It was once a reality, even though it thankfully never caught on.

From the beginning of AM receivers to a dashboard that now looks like a computer monitor, this article traces the history of listening to audio in the privacy of your car – and the amazing advances that have taken place since radios first appeared in them

Pretty amazing evolution.

OEM Car Infotainment Systems Evolution: From the Humble AM Radio to 5G Internet Access

**Posted by mace** Today 9:11 am

I am quite content with my 6 AM and 12 FM presets in my boring beige 2006 Toyota Camry. It is still in excellent condition, gets me from point A to point B and probably isn't on any list of highly sought after stolen vehicles.

**Posted by Shorty Wave** Today 9:15 am

Elvis had one in his custom Cadillac. Thank God cassettes came along!

**Posted by RadioActive** **Online!** Today 9:55 am

mace wrote:
I am quite content with my 6 AM and 12 FM presets in my boring beige 2006 Toyota Camry. It is still in excellent condition, gets me from point A to point B and probably isn't on any list of highly sought after stolen vehicles.

I actually envy you. I absolutely hate, hate, hate the radio in my new car. It's horrendously difficult to use, forces you to take your eyes off the road to tune in anything and is nowhere near as easy as the old push button format the older cars had.

Speaking of which, this article just happened to pop up at the same time as this thread. Glad to see I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Why your car’s touch screen might kill you

**Posted by mace** Today 10:47 am

RadioActive wrote:
mace wrote:
I am quite content with my 6 AM and 12 FM presets in my boring beige 2006 Toyota Camry. It is still in excellent condition, gets me from point A to point B and probably isn't on any list of highly sought after stolen vehicles.
I actually envy you. I absolutely hate, hate, hate the radio in my new car. It's horrendously difficult to use, forces you to take your eyes off the road to tune in anything and is nowhere near as easy as the old push button format the older cars had.

Speaking of which, this article just happened to pop up at the same time as this thread. Glad to see I'm not the only one who feels this way.

Why your car’s touch screen might kill you

After reading that article, I am more determined than ever to keep my current automobile. It only has 110,000 km on it. Not much for an 18 year old vehicle.

**Posted by darcyh** Today 11:46 am

I heard these record players existed but have never actually seen much less heard one. I bet they were hard on the records with tracking force and I bet they were expensive.

**Posted by RadioActive** **Online!** Today 12:25 pm

This is what I always thought they would look like!

https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxhQkDywbzayekgM6kTu9GC7Kex7BPiIE1?feature=shared

**Posted by Paul Jeffries** Today 1:17 pm

darcyh wrote:
I heard these record players existed but have never actually seen much less heard one. I bet they were hard on the records with tracking force and I bet they were expensive.

And I would assume the records probably got warped over time sitting in a hot car during the summertime.

PJ

**Posted by LOSat** Today 1:36 pm

I would have assumed this would be used only when the car was stationary. Camping, picnics, tailgating for example.

**Posted by RadioActive** **Online!** Today 1:48 pm

The pics in this story show how ridiculous this has gotten.

Seems like the only knobs left in the car radio industry are the people in charge of design.

Bigger Screens and Even Fewer Knobs

**Posted by Skywave** Today 1:53 pm

Philips made an after-market 45 rpm player to mount under the dash, and connect into the car radio. You can buy one at the link below.
The pickup cartridge was tracking at several grams to overcome the road bumps, so needless to say the grooves wore down at an alarming rate.

https://www.ebay.ca/itm/405271317086?_skw=philips+car+record+player&itmmeta=01JDJ6WER3XREYV8B2HXYQHNF0&hash=item5e5c0d8a5e:g:~9IAAOSw5U5nA9Yl&itmprp=enc%3AAQAJAAABAHoV3kP08IDx%2BKZ9MfhVJKlujbhiCo1g2dyoNAhTNQjyBTmZd2H%2BJOpicl8pLat4xz%2BNmwkNrWyyUvPuvIZb0lGpePDSPpjukv7kHPWfHEAj%2BIBo46j2F51xdlTELcXUa4E2pN8DPfrl%2BYibpjnp93JIxp6fMSjiDFx0Chp4fA0Xg5slP--Tna6RDU4cRb%2BlSuUU2xoSbnoFX03dOU%2FUl1O0H6aOrFLESnswmy8yNop1Mf19DecxSRAaHlNQUHob0A0DoKVT50Y0G3US7V3Uw8uBrvlnLRJvo3xpBsSlFTGvdrdY%2BZaOvXmuo6%2BtqShQk6OVctMDavS%2BWlSwsZZBX9M%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR5Ls8cbsZA

**Posted by RadioActive** **Online!** Today 2:18 pm

YouTube has a video with one of these in action. Hard to believe they thought this would catch on, let alone work in traffic. With 45s, no less!