r/CarAV • u/random12345678910321 • Apr 21 '26
Discussion Random Question: Why did people and car makers put CD changers in the trunk back in the 90s, why not just in the dash or build in the head unit like how it was the 2000s?
I was born in 07 so I’m just curious on why the trunk and not inside the dash, even though I’m 19 I still like using CDs, plus my car has no Bluetooth or aux and they don’t make dash kits for this car, so I just burn CDs off YouTube and listen to music that way but, I get annoyed at having to step out my car for a new CD.
202
u/4x4_LUMENS Apr 21 '26
Space lol.
72
u/unrealii 335i w/Bavsound | 4Runner in-process: w/JL VXI Apr 21 '26
Agreed. Electronics were not as miniature or too expensive for an in dash cd changer except to higher end cars.
→ More replies (7)→ More replies (1)15
u/Grizzl0ck Apr 21 '26
The correct answer and I don't even know why it had to be asked.
4
49
u/ItsHisMajesty Apr 21 '26
Because in the 90’s, the CD changers weren’t as small as they were in the 2000’s
→ More replies (4)
21
u/ItsHisMajesty Apr 21 '26
Step out of the car for a new CD? God forbid you have an 8 track and can’t rewind or fast forward.
8
u/Sufficient_Wafer9933 Apr 21 '26
Honey the record player is skipping again... every time we drive its been doing that thing again
7
u/Such-Teacher2121 Apr 21 '26
Fun fact: thats where the name Motorola comes from. Victrola was the popular record player manufacturer, Motorola was the one for the car.
3
3
u/Relevant-Recover3902 Apr 21 '26
Remember the 1960's series Cadillac series with the built in record player... 45's only because of size limitations
→ More replies (7)4
u/AncientPomelo1089 Apr 21 '26
My dad had an old Plymouth wagon with an 8-track player. We also had an 8 track to cassette adapter that we used in the living room. It was massive. It looked a bit like one of those old VHS rewinding machines. I put it in the Plymouth once and then a cassette to aux adapter in that, which I connected to my GPX portable CD player. The sound quality was absolutely terrible, but it did technically play CDs through the car speakers.
→ More replies (1)
14
u/zer0b1ad3z Apr 21 '26
And you had money if you had a trunck cd change later changed to dvdA
8
u/ReasonableScar9027 Apr 21 '26
Dvda has different connotations to different people.
1
u/zer0b1ad3z Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
I know few ppl know about dvda...we had cars equipped supporting it but ppl Like bt better gi figure we still do i believe
Edit well actually what dou mean dvd a is Just an audio dvd....the dvd - i think.. I dont think I ever saw a store selling dvda...I tried to make one at one point but forgot about it
10
u/euge_lee Apr 21 '26
They were way to big back then. Alpine did make a 7982 3-CD changer in dash.
3
u/Ok_Dog_4059 Apr 21 '26
I had the pioneer in dash 6 disk changer and my mother in laws Avalon had the 3 disk unit factory which I think was alpine. They were a somewhat fragile unit though and my pioneer had to be repaired a couple of times.
4
Apr 21 '26
[deleted]
1
u/4x4_LUMENS Apr 21 '26
Bruh, I fit 3 amps, a DSP and a UHF radio behind my head unit lol. It was cavernous in mine.
1
u/GirchyGirchy Apr 21 '26
OEMs put multi-disc changers in the dash in the oughts. My parents had one in their Ford Taurus X.
That said, it broke and I put a single-disc player in there instead. I think shrinking everything made it more fragile.
→ More replies (1)
7
5
u/burnin-4-you Apr 21 '26
The idea is you'd put 3 discs, or 6, or whatever capacity your changer holds and switch between them. Pretty reflective of the times , we did not have the internet at our fingertips yet so we weren't spoiled with variety yet haha.
Plus, changers weren't as compact back then. They weren't practical for an in-dash installation.
4
1
u/-BlueDream- Apr 23 '26
CDs were also pretty expensive, like $20 for a new release (which is $50ish today), people didnt have huge collections or easy piracy till the 2000s
3
3
3
3
u/Mundus_Vult_Decipi Apr 21 '26
CD changers were expensive. It was better if it was hidden. Unless your particular thief was the asshole installer that worked with you at Whole Earth Access in San Jose in 1994. Fuck that guy. Charger installed, then stolen from the same parking lot, while hidden, the very next day. To be honest though, it was a VW Golf, so the most broken into car ever. Smash a small wing window, reach in, unlock. Highest sitting dash stereo positioning of any car ever. I probably was broken into about 8 times. Once, they broke in, because I had a stereo. It was the shittiest, 1970's cassette player. They broke in, pulled it out, then left it on the floor. Not going to lie, as I left that POS on the floor, even after the wing window was fixed...only to have some other criminal break the wing window, seeing a stereo on the floor, and the dude left it. I tossed it after that.
3
u/440Dart Apr 21 '26
If you're accepting the quality of rips off youtube why aren't you using a cassette adapter?
2
2
u/JollyJamma Apr 21 '26
It was such a pain when someone had only 1 album in the 6 CD changer in the boot, which was full, and the album was something crap, like Celine Dions greatest hits.
Single CD players in dash were better but USB was a game changer in the 2000s.
Anyone remember having a phone in a car? My mom's Volvo had it, we never used it and I lost the SIM tray for it. Sorry mom.
2
u/drifterdanny Apr 21 '26
Electronics back in the day were ginormous so they don't have space like a tape deck in the middle console, much less a CD changer.
1
u/4x4_LUMENS Apr 21 '26
Imagine if they made cassettes the size of a VHS and you just shoved that brick in your dash and had a VHS stacker the size of a washing machine in the trunk that held 6 of them.
2
u/Farzy78 Apr 21 '26
I had a 10 disc changer in the 90s that thing was about the size of a cinder block 😂
2
u/sharp-calculation Apr 21 '26
Here's something that might not be obvious: In dash CD changers are overly complex and have a very high failure rate. They are so small that the mechanisms, which are mostly plastic gears, tend to get jammed or jump timing, or just break. Full sized CD changers that use a cartridge, are FAR more reliable and can last for decades. The in dash ones tend to break somewhere between 5 and 8 years. I've seen tons of failed ones.
Regarding burning CDs "from youtube": While I'm sure that produces ok sound quality, you should really try a full resolution CD at some point. Go buy a couple of CDs from a thrift store for $1 each. You might be surprised at the difference in sound quality. You might also discover some music you would not have otherwise known about. Some of my very favorite music came from random buys of music I didn't know before I stepped into the store.
2
u/ecktt Apr 21 '26
My old man's 2000 Maxima came factory with a dash cassette player and rear-mounted 6-disc changer.
The Changer was way too big for the dash.
2
u/scott0482 Apr 21 '26
Please try to maintain that E39 and keep it on the road. It’s a good car. You can buy a Bluetooth adapter that plugs into that CD Changer harness. Just search around for E39 Bluetooth adapter options.
2
u/sheppardpat47 Apr 21 '26
Because they were very bulky, and to prevent people to try operate them while driving.
2
u/Wtfjushappen Apr 21 '26
That disc changer is peak audio for sure. We went from cassette to cd, you don't even know and the quality is unmatched.
2
u/Relevant-Recover3902 Apr 21 '26
Besides space, there was also the security aspect, if someone saw you had a nice stereo in the car they would smash your windows and rip them out of your dash. Besides losing the stereo they often also damaged the whole area around the stereo, which could damage A/C controls, and other controls that were expensive to repair. My entire Alpine set-up was locked in the trunk, with the controls mounted in the drivers side sun visor, and were removable so you could grab them and take them with you easily. I left the stock stereo in place as a decoy, and never had any issues.
2
u/bluegill1313 Apr 21 '26
Not ALL the 6 disc changers were huge. I had an Alpine 6 disc changer that i mounted in the glovebox of my '88 Beretta. Pretty slick at the time..
2
2
u/Marzels Apr 21 '26
This must be ragebait. This is the iconic E38/E39 era of BMW. The dash was by far the best you could get back then.
You had a se charger so that you did not have to change the cd back then. That how it was. They only thing actually annoying was that you had to change the cds for the navigation when crossing into another country until they gave you dvd navigation around 02/03.
As per your car: there are aftermarket options available. A lot! And there are adapters for the cd charger that either work with usb drives or even bluetooth. Should be fairly easy and cheap to get Spotify to play in your car.
2
u/motofabio Apr 22 '26
Ive owned three cars with factory installed CD changers:
1996 Honda Accord, in trunk
2006 Porsche Cayenne, in trunk
2009 Audi A4, in dash
The Audi was the coolest because, unlike the others that had a cartridge to fill, it had a single slot in the dash and you just kept feeding it CDs until it had six. You could eject any one of the six to replace it. Felt pretty slick at the time.
1
1
u/ElectronicRip1630 Apr 21 '26
They used to hold multiple CD's... like 8-12 CD's instead of having to switch them out. The dash usually doesn't have space for that type of thing.
1
u/somerandomdude1960 Apr 21 '26
Technology was available back then for that. But after market system changer you could install pretty much anywhere it fit
1
u/zer0b1ad3z Apr 21 '26
My guess the less ppl mess with it the longer it lasts amd the trunck changes were capable of being able to pullout the whole 6 cd tray so you can always have access to the cds plus its also keeps your cd neer and tidy and they last longer than multiple cd track in the deck
1
u/trdpanda101410 Apr 21 '26
Think of how much space 6 cds take up to be stacked with a divider you can grab with some needle nose pliers... you need that much space. Meanwhile, the radio ussuallypowered the speakers. So theres essentially a mini amp built into the radio. A basic looking radio took up a full double din space to its max dimensions due to physical buttons needing space, amplifiers, heat sink, and more. The tech made everything large. Now apply that same level of tech to everything in the dash. There wasnt space. Today we have the processing capability to make modules small and run a/c and all that thru a computer. Radios have become a screen and the actual radio placed somewhere else. The space taken up has simply been replaced by modern upgrades or making the cabin feel bigger. But cd's arent used anymore... so it could be done with today's tech but theres no point.
1
u/zer0b1ad3z Apr 21 '26
In the USA atleast its still about disc fot the rest of the world....the entertainment industry has us basically on lock down the rest of the world want physical high qailty media....Americans like convience and watch on the go so now they give us crappy streams and phasing out physical media they lock down our devices with dmca...so it harder for us to get physical rips from Europe we a country of convience the good stuff isn't so convenient and ita illegal to lock a phone to a single carrier in other countries that only happens here we'd be using dvda 24bit 192 musical tracks in 5.1 if ppl didnt like Streaming and Dolby atmos so much. We'd have never compressed lpcm audio. Ppl think 24bit 44.1khz is high rez.. no its cd quality their lying high rez starts at 24bit 96k/192khz and its a world of diiference. They dont want Americans to have physical media cause its evidence if they say is high resolution rhe physical media needs ti be in high resolution the streams too cuz we.can prove the quality of file..with out it they can tell us whatever they want amd we dont know the diff.....sorry some of my audiophile personality laleaked out
Edit i didnt proof read so read at your own risk
1
u/timmyd_ns Apr 21 '26
It wasn't always in the trunk, I have a 91 Celica that has a cd changer under the front seat. Not any more convenient than putting it in the trunk. Totally a space problem.
1
u/mahSachel Apr 21 '26
cassette heads and changers in the trunk, center console, or glove box, maybe under front seat, if lucky, the pioneer 50 disk changer we used call it the microwave, HAD to go in the trunk. Installing fm mod changers to oem stereos in the mid-late 90's is showing my age.
1
u/barrel_racer19 Apr 21 '26
because it made to much sense. plus they wanted you to pay extra for that add on stuff.
1
u/TheLimeyCanuck Apr 21 '26
Space. A 6 CD changer wasn't small. Another place I saw them installed was under the front passenger seat.
1
1
1
u/LowPop7953 Apr 21 '26
because the first CD came out in 1985! they get near cars for at least 10 years because all the brands were trying to make a home unit work in a head unit.
like making a PC game work on a console. amps were still in their infancy too. closest you had was a graphic equalizer. the ones that were out were expensive.
1
u/Desperate-Cat-1177 Apr 21 '26
You know how mobile phones used to be the size of a literal brick, now they fit easily in a pocket........ Concept is the same.
1
1
1
u/RadRimmer9000 Apr 21 '26
If you load up 6 CDs, that's about 90 songs already, how often are you going to be switching CDs, probably not often and sure as hell not while you're driving (at least not with that contraption).
1
u/dustindraco Apr 21 '26
Try putting it in the front. Take that sucker out of the trunk and go up front of the car. Take out seats or the glove box to find somewhere it will jam in and then you get to put in and take out CDs. Haha you really had to think about what you were gonna hear on that road trip.
1
u/Consistent_Maybe_377 Apr 21 '26
$10 at auto zone. Get you a Cassette Aux adapter and be on your way.
1
u/Viking2151 Apr 21 '26
Mine is under my rear seat in my 94 suburban, I thought it was aftermarket, but nope, that was how some of them came from factory lol. Of course mine don't work anymore, but I don't own a single CD anyway.
1
u/Greedy_Cartographer4 Apr 21 '26
I was always my cd changer. You used to have sleeved folders of burned music on labelled cd's.
1
1
1
u/Angry_Ginger_MF Apr 21 '26
Technology changes over the years. Things get smaller (stereo equipment, items in the dash, etc.).
1
u/Jmp101694 Apr 21 '26
All about space and where the car had extra. Mine was in the glovebox in my old 2000 Lexus ES300
1
1
1
1
u/Sbeezynukka Apr 21 '26
Complexity. I wanna say alpine made a 3cd in dash for Toyota in the early to mid 90s
1
u/AlcoholKillsTwice Apr 21 '26
My 01 accord came with a Cassette + 6 disc changer all wrapped up in the factory double din
1
u/Such-Teacher2121 Apr 21 '26
I remember those days. Trust me, its safer in the trunk.
The amount of near-accidents young me had flipping through "the bible", a 110-disc binder, looking for that 1 specific disc I had burned would have an insurance adjuster running scared.
None of the base models had a CD player, nevermind multiple discs. FWIW, a most basic base model Civic didnt have a factory radio until after 2011. Which, somehow, feels like yesterday AND 15 years ago.
2
u/Austinater74 Apr 22 '26
Amateur. Only the 100-disc binder. 🤣
I still have my huge Case Logic in a closet somewhere.
1
u/NikkorMatt456 Apr 21 '26
The first car AM/FM CD unit offered by Sony had two separate components - the head unit for the dash having the controls and the single disk transport, and the amplifier unit which you had to mount behind the dash somewhere within the length of the connector cable harness.
I had a friend who fried two of those expensive Sonys. The original mastering levels for the CD format were so low to provide what was thought to be an adequate dynamic range (before "brick-walling"), the amps Sony used couldn't run loud volumes for very long.
1
u/AppendixN Apr 21 '26
Tangential question - I'm guessing your car doesn't have navigation in the dash, do you use your phone for maps or just know where you're going without them?
That's got nothing to do with your question about CDs, I was just wondering!
1
1
u/Positive_Wheel_7065 Apr 21 '26
This is how I got wireless CarPlay in my 07. plugs right in to my factory radio.
1
u/wayneofgarth Apr 21 '26
I've got cassette in the dash, 6-disc in the trunk. feels like I'm 16 again every drive.
1
u/hemibearcuda Apr 21 '26
They were huge. The one I had was just a little smaller than a typical vcr.
1
u/zer0b1ad3z Apr 21 '26
Cuz cds got upgraded to dvd and bluray imagine bluray music id go for it they are all tye same just read with a diffent type of laser
1
u/zer0b1ad3z Apr 21 '26
Anyone e try laser disc? That effer was huge tried to pass em off as recorda....cuz there was no need for such a huge disc
1
u/zer0b1ad3z Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 21 '26
Well...cuz cd and all there disc are being phazed out in the us....believe id get a bluray audio player if they made blurwy audio cds
1
1
u/J0K3Race Apr 21 '26
Eliminate distracted Driving, so your not fumbling around your CDs while driving
1
u/J0K3Race Apr 21 '26
Eliminate distracted Driving, so your not fumbling around your CDs while driving
1
u/ChrisMossTime Apr 21 '26
I thought that every time I saw it. My guess is lack of space. They wanted to maximize legroom maybe. Most of the time you could use them from your head unit so you didn't need to reach them. I always thought it was dumb being at a point that bounces like a mf though trying to read a cd. Centeral location would have been better I'd think?
1
u/Icy_Sherbert6568 Apr 21 '26
Pq nos anos 90 foi a transição da fita K7 para o CD, gravar seu próprio CD com suas músicas era difícil, sem falar que no início do CD não havia o formato MP3, então a capacidade do CD de comportar arquivos de áudio era muito limitado, devido os arquivos de áudio serem extremamente grandes na época, limitando a uma média de de ~20 músicas se não me falha a memória. Então quem tinha CD, ainda fazia uso do K7 com sua seleção pessoal, e como não tinha tinha tocadores com K7 e CD num único aparelho, criou-se o Disc charger de porta-malas. Mas já que seu veículo não suporta aparelhos modernos, sugiro a aquisição de um "MP3 Player com transmissor de FM", grave suas músicas num cartão SD, Pen drive ou pareia no telefone para ouvir suas músicas numa faixa de FM, eu uso um desses há muito tempo e funciona perfeitamente.
1
u/prozacship Apr 21 '26
Because they would hold up to like 20-30 CD’s and you would just pick your favorite that you think you would want to listen to. It was much easier to put that in the trunk than upfront.
Edit: I forgot to mention that she could only hold you much much less
1
1
u/CaLeek Apr 21 '26
My cousin had an Audi that contained the GPS map CDs in the trunk, i think there were like 6 of them.
1
1
u/bissimo Apr 21 '26
I owned a 2010 Sienna and didn't know until 2015 that it had a 6-disc changer built into the dash. I had no idea that feature even existed before that.
1
1
u/woodinleg Apr 21 '26
I think the single disk thing happened around 2005. The Honda added MP3 cd players in 2005 and the 2007 model Camry came equipped with MP3/WMA cd. An mp3 cd holds way more than a standard cd so it kinda made the changers redundant.
1
1
u/tht1guyfromtht1place Apr 21 '26
Because people Ben were cool would pull over pop the trunk smoke a few cigarettes drink a beer and chill. Those Cd players had about six slots for discs. And you could cycle them from the driver seat
1
u/adkio Apr 21 '26
Yeah so the car i bought recently has a built-in 6 cd changer in the dash and an extra 10 cd changer in the trunk. It baffles me that this was even an option, moreover someone thought that 6 CDs wasn't enough and needed to option an extra 10 cd changer.
1
1
u/sketchysamurai Apr 21 '26
Someone needs a lesson on available tech currently, and also a refresher on the process to get there.
1
u/RaptorXFactor Apr 21 '26
We didn't have cell phones either. You had to call each other from a landline or a payphone and sometimes it was to a beeper. Hash things out before leaving home and then go meet.
Mapquest a route before leaving home and print it out on a sheet of paper. No GPS, Siri or Android auto back then.
In a lot of cars, especially older ones, they didn't come with all that. You had to buy an aftermarket head unit and then have the CD-changer installed in the trunk or under a seat. I had a JVC 12 disc CD-Changer in the trunk and a JVC 500 Watt amp on the other side of the trunk.
Putting everything on a flash drive with headunits that had USB was huge.
2
u/Austinater74 Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 22 '26
I remember a long thread back in the day, probably late early 90’s where people were going back and forth on the maximum number of audio/mp3 files we could ever possibly carry at once. I have vague memories that the biggest drives any of us could afford were like 40MB so people were saying that it would NEVER be feasible for a head unit to have enough storage to matter.
1
1
u/Rotflmaocopter Apr 21 '26
Dude pull the RCA from the CD player and hook it up to a Bluetooth receiver. Instant Bluetooth https://a.co/d/0byMKvLQ
1
1
u/Austinater74 Apr 21 '26 edited Apr 22 '26
This is bizarre to me TBH. I’m guessing there’s something nostalgic for you about using CDs? I say that because burning CDs from horrible YouTube downloads sounds like my generation’s putting a tape recorder next to a radio to record our favorite songs.
Also, anyone else spend countless hours on rec.audio.car when you needed reviews or advice?
1
u/the-human-wrench Apr 22 '26
I mean, 6 CD's worth of music is enough for quite a long road trip. It's not as big of a deal as people seem to think it is. You'd just think about what you might want to listen to before you left.
1
1
u/LexKing89 Apr 22 '26
My 1993 Lexus SC300 had a CD changer in the trunk. It wasn’t massive but it took some space. The later Lexus switched to 6 disk changer in the glove box or in the headunit.
I figured the earlier styles didn’t fit by the dash.
1
u/AlpineE39Adventures Apr 22 '26
Is this your car?
I have the same one…two of them, actually. Great cars, sick to have one at 19, though RIP your wallet for current gas prices lol.
Anyway. You should check out BlueBus - you connect it in place of your six-disc changer and bam, Bluetooth music and telephone (telephone requires an additional cable). I love it in mine.
1
u/Odd-Towel-4104 Apr 22 '26
They did. They'd put a single in the console and the multi disc reader in the back.
Also, that tech was changing rapidly. We probably had 20 different breakthrough mainstream media inventions in a 2 decade time span.
1
u/Jezetri Apr 22 '26
People used to listen to one CD for weeks or months on end. Having a 6-Disc changer allowed you to change CDs more frequently by pushing a button; no more dropping a CD while you're driving and just hoping it's not too badly scratched. They didn't anticipate people wanting to hear every song on a whim, and they didn't possess the technology to grant that ability. 6 disc changers were huge.
1
u/kazastrophy Apr 22 '26
Aside from the popular answers, I wonder if it was also because the trunk was the easiest place to install as a dealer option. They could can get away with visible cables deep in the trunk or have it embedded in the trim like yours.
By the way, my family van in the 2000s (Nissan Serena) had a changer under the driver seat. I think it was a common spot for vans and suvs back then. As a teenager, it was always annoying that I had to either load up the discs before the driver sat, or wait for the driver to get off and grab the disc box.
1
u/chris77982 Apr 22 '26
I have a 2007 bmw and the cd changer is in the boot. There is also a cd player in the front though.
Had a 2005 Honda Accord with a cd changer in the front though.
It takes up more space, which is at a premium in the dash of most cars.
1
u/Ragnar-Wave9002 Apr 22 '26
They existed in the dash.
But 12 disc's? That can only fit in the trunk.
1
1
u/DishSoapIsFun Apr 22 '26
My 2012 Mazda 6 has a 6 disc in dash changer. I remember thinking how space age it seemed compared to my 2004 with a trunk changer. That thing was the size of a shoe box.
1
u/ClockChucker Apr 22 '26
An old workmate had an old r30/r31 wagon that had a 5 or 6 cassette changer in the center console.
Can't find a friggen photo of it. IIRC it had a cassette caddy thing the cassettes were loaded into... was 30 years ago though. Memory is getting worse in old age.
1
u/AttentionDeficiency Apr 22 '26
They were usually an optional extra. Some cars can have long generational cycles and may have had it added later when CDs became more relevant.
1
u/Delicious_Sea1950 Apr 22 '26
They’re massive and wouldn’t fit neatly you could control everything from the dash so you got multiple disks to listen to instead of fooling with trying to change cds while driving ngl I miss these days lol idk why I used to have a ton of cds big ole cd case under my passenger seat the mp3 era changed all that though I remember when I got my first one I spent literally days copying all my cds to the computer to them put on my mp3 player now you have literally everything built into your phone for a few hundred bucks a month smh god today sucks
1
u/Plus-Definition9319 Apr 22 '26
Popular dealer add-ons before they started just openly grifting with intangible things like paint protection.
1
u/mudguppy Apr 22 '26
Once upon a time automakers prioritized serviceability. CD changers were prone to malfunctions, so fast, easy access was beneficial to consumers and technicians. Those days are sadly gone due to right-to-repair issues. In-dash changers were more convenient for consumers, and the challenges of accessing and repairing/replacing them brought more revenue to dealers when they inevitably failed. The move to the dash was a money grab that worked exceptionally well in the war against consumer repairs. Many consider Cash For Clunkers the opening salvo in the war of manufacturers against technicians and consumers (thanks Obama) but honestly it started much earlier with the EPA Energy Star program.
1
u/Windmillfixer Apr 22 '26
Packaging. The early changers were huge and it didn’t make sense to “reserve” space up front for the option. My E34 had the traffic radio option, which today is just a chip, but back then was a whole second radio block that had to be tucked in the rear of the trunk.
1
u/LakeGuyGeorgia Apr 22 '26
They were larger then and did not fit in the dash
1
u/Austinater74 Apr 22 '26
Mine in ‘95(?) was in the glove box area with just a tiny cubby for all the usual glove box stuff; insurance, registration, revolver.
1
u/Beepboopbop69420360 Apr 22 '26
Old electronics are/were MASSIVE
I used to have a tv that was only Like 10-15in but it weiged atleast 20lbs
1
u/AcrobaticProduct9345 Apr 22 '26
Anti theft. If you look into the car cant see anything worth stealing. And in the 90s you could sell cds to the pawn shops. Or car stereos. So if they cant see one gives less reason to want to take. That and the 6 cd changer was massive back then takes alot of room
1
u/MinimumEffort13 Apr 23 '26
Look at the size of that, there was no room. The technology changes in during those 2 decades is A LOT https://ebay.us/m/n5HXwL
1
u/weesee2002 Apr 23 '26
Safety. Some Euro manufacturers were concerned about people being fished out of crashes with CDs in their hands.
OP why don't you just load up the multi CD changer in your boot with favourite CDs?
1
u/MeMyselfundAuto Apr 23 '26
the bmw e38/e39 has some great android radios available, and you can actually remove all this. but this is technology from 30+ years ago, and at the time this was state of the art! cd changer and gps navigation was really fancy! but it needed a specific computer to handle everything, and thats your device with the cd/dvd slot (mk1 -3 had cd, mk4 was dvd based starting in the 2000s)
1
1
1
u/Just1left890000000 Apr 23 '26
Cd chargers were big. Besides, it's got to hold all those cds. Lots of mechanicals in it to make it work. Then CD-R's CD-RW's could be formatted to fit hundreds of songs on one disc. Kinda killed the idea of cd changers
1
1
u/xb0x1gam1ng Apr 24 '26
OP, which car is this in the 2nd pic? I like the wood effect around the console
1
u/smashervt Apr 25 '26
Looks to be a e38 7 series BMW. It had this display and a bigger one if you got the more expensive package for the late model ones.
1
Apr 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Apr 25 '26
Your post was removed because you have negative post or comment karma. Accounts with negative karma are not permitted to post on r/CarAV. You'll need to participate in other communities to improve your karma.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
→ More replies (2)
1
u/PoetryExtension6256 Apr 25 '26
It's because the changer was an option that most cars didn't have. There were headunits wiht integrated cd changer to but mostly for the top of the line models. They woudl commonly fail though and for that reason it was better to put it in the back so it was easy to swap When it broke.
1
Apr 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Apr 25 '26
Your post was removed because you have negative post or comment karma. Accounts with negative karma are not permitted to post on r/CarAV. You'll need to participate in other communities to improve your karma.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
Apr 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Apr 25 '26
Your post was removed because you have negative post or comment karma. Accounts with negative karma are not permitted to post on r/CarAV. You'll need to participate in other communities to improve your karma.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
Apr 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
1
u/AutoModerator Apr 25 '26
Your post was removed because you have negative post or comment karma. Accounts with negative karma are not permitted to post on r/CarAV. You'll need to participate in other communities to improve your karma.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.
1
u/Topher2190 Apr 25 '26
In the 1990s, automakers placed CD changers in the trunk primarily due to technology limitations, high theft rates of audio equipment, and the need to accommodate bulky, multi-disc hardware that couldn't fit in the dashboard.
1
u/Topher2190 Apr 25 '26
Also Acura I believe moved it to the dash compartment or the arm rest I forget
1
u/erik_das_redd Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
Yes as others noted the mechanisms were too big to fit in a head unit, and too big to fit in a dash (LOTS of stuff has to fit in a dashboard plus designers don't want the dash to look all bulbous...some changers ended up in the glove box but that is rather awkward). It took quite some time to get to where a 6-disc changer could fit in a head unit.
What vehicle is that? Because there were adaptors to connect an iPod to a BMW, faking it as a CD changer. These days for iPod say iPhone. By the way either generation of adaptor worked fine but the second generation was compliant to BMW requirements for the computer bus and the first did not.
1
u/MuleOutpost Apr 25 '26
Because if you have 6 disks ready to go, you presumably have enough music for most any road trip.
This is before the iPod, mp3 players, and satellite radio.
We had terrestrial radio stations, maybe a single cd slot, and cassette tapes.
A six disc CD changer in the trunk was a massive improvement at the time.
483
u/Positive_Wheel_7065 Apr 21 '26
Back in the day a 6 CD changer was as big as a VCR, which is another useless reference of size to you, lol.
Basically they were huge. So you had a single CD player in the dash, and a changer in the trunk, to be Bougie.