Yeah this "people just gotta adjust" argument doesn't hold water at all. Just chest thumping, "I know the latest" talk, or manufacturer's employees promoting their product. The proof is, music CDs are on sale pretty much everywhere. Today. Anyone who doesn't believe that, check the links;
What percentage of upcoming Civic buyers know how to convert their future CD purchases and all their past CDs to a USB stick? What's the cost for that (equipment + their time)? Horribly inefficient, little net gain. Why some Civic buyers, maybe lots, don't even have a computer capable of doing it, or at the very least, know how to use it. Some people just have smart phones, some don't even have those. The only purpose for USB stick music for a car is narrowing the songs to the ones the person really likes, as well as converting video music to play in the car.
No, what we have here folks is a Manufacturer trying to save $ 15.00 in equipment and electronics costs and streamline interior design at the same time. What do you want to bet there will be an expensive dealer add on "option" (for added new profit margins) where before it was standard equipment - I call it sleazy marketing 101.
Unfortunately this kind of greed sometimes bites back. People may actually realize that its their money and they aren't a slave of the manufacturer. What a concept! So, lost sales and market share result when they go elsewhere.
anyone with a Windows operating system (not familiar with Apple so can't comment on that system) on a computer, laptop or tablet can convert to mp3 (no additional software is required as its built-in to the operating system) with a few easy steps and it only takes about 1-2 minutes per CD to physically do it.
The KIA Soul has not had a CD player in it since it came out with the generation 2 in 2014, it appears to have had no impact on their sales (heading for record sales of that model in Canada), but maybe on a small scale but that could apply on
any feature on any vehicle as to why someone may not purchase it. Overall I don't think not having CD player will put many buyers off the vehicle simply based on that feature alone.
I have a 2012 Soul which has a CD player, but very rarely use it as all my music is stored on micro flash drive (my 8gb has nearly 2900 tracks on it) or the internal storage of the UVO unit. Having no CD player would not effect me in any way.
KIA has never brought out a dealer option to replace it. Anyone who absolutely really needed one always found a work around.
Actually without CD's it makes operating the vehicle a little safer as they don't have to be constantly changing the CD and also you don't have to worry about storing all the CD's in the vehicle which can take up a lot of space.