Send an email to or talk to us on Twitter and Facebook. The Wirecutter’s editors answer reader questions all the time (much more than once a week). So if you want that, you’ll need a replacement radio (such as the Pioneer DEH-X7800BHS), or you could use an HD Radio app on your phone and stream the music via Bluetooth to your car stereo. Unfortunately, at this time you won't find any add-on devices that enable HD Radio. Car stereos can be fussy about this arrangement, though, and you may be able to pick up tips on what works best by looking at forums for your car model, such as this one for Honda Accords. You could also rip your CDs onto a flash drive and plug that into your car’s USB port (if it has one). We’re working on a guide to double-DIN (7-by-4-inch) radios, so we should have a recommendation for that category soon.

In our Bluetooth car stereo guide, we recommend the Pioneer DEH-X6900BT for cars that can take a single-DIN (7-by-2-inch) head unit. If you want to power the device from the car, rather than rely on the unit’s AA batteries, pick up a 12 V DC adapter that fits the player.Ī better, although pricier option is to replace your car’s stereo with one that has a built-in CD player. The least expensive way is to use a portable CD player and do exactly what you suggest: Just plug one end of an aux cord into the player’s headphone jack and the other end into the car’s aux input. Unfortunately, the decreasing demand also means you have fewer good options for adding a CD player to your car. Car designers are happy to embrace this trend, because CD players take up precious in-dash real estate and add mechanical complexity that can cause problems. (And we’re hearing about more people who didn’t discover this until after they’d bought their car.) It’s not surprising: As more convenient options become available for playing music in a car, people have less interest in toting around discs. I’d also be interested in adding an HD tuner as well, if possible.Ī: As with your Honda, more new cars are coming sans a CD player. Is there some sort of accessory that would allow me to play CDs though my car stereo? Perhaps something that draws power from the 'cigarette lighter' power outlet and feeds the music output into the aux-in USB-type input.

Q: My new Honda does not come with any sort of CD player option, and it isn’t available as an add-on.

Best portable cd player for car use