Car CDs offer music for mobile generation

By T. Uncle

THE advent of the compact disc in the 1980s was a big breakthrough for recorded music. Perhaps one of the biggest since the first windup gramophones squawked into existence in the last century.

Here was a medium that not only allowed the reproduction of crisp, clear sound with absolutely no background noise, but also promised virtual indestructibility.

Music played on a compact disc (CD) was unfettered by the subtle rumblings and scratching that characterized even the best- quality vinyl records, and had none of the background hiss that was an inescapable side-effect of compact cassettes.

The CD is a remarkable piece of technology.

The digital information stored in the fast-spinning metal disc is deciphered by a thin beam of laser light and processed electronically to accurately reproduce the original recorded sounds.

Because it only reads the engraved digital information, there is no extraneous data being picked up as in the case of a vinyl recorded with a needle tracing, and gouging into, its surface.

The deep silence between album tracks on a CD is testament to this.

The extremely thin metal disc is protected by a strong vinyl sheathing, which means the CD is nowhere near as prone to damage as a conventional record.

Early expectations were that CDs could be stomped on, used as Frisbees or beer coasters without losing their ability to play high-quality sounds.

And because the digital information was read by a laser beam, there was every chance it would never wear out.

Today, that's proved to be not quite the case.

CDs can be damaged, in much the same way as a vinyl recording -- a small scratch in the hardened plastic surface can be enough to scatter the laser light so only garbled information comes through.

The big difference is CDs are more difficult to damage in the first place and, to a certain extent, are often repairable.

Various products are available that can polish out the offending scratches and return the original sound clarity.

The CD was also a significant advance for in-car audio systems.

The previously accepted medium was the compact cassette, which in itself had marked a big advance in car audio systems when it was adopted in the 1970s.

However, the compact cassette, even in its most advanced form, could not manage the same frequency response as a vinyl record and was afflicted by ever-present background hiss that even the ingenious Dolby system was incapable of erasing completely.

For car audio, the compact disc meant that for the first time, a playback medium was available that offered exactly the same sound reproduction capabilities as a home audio system.

And like most high technology, economies of scale have meant that car CD players are far from being confined to the top end of the market.

Even though the first people to experience the uncanny clarity and quality of CD technology in motor vehicles were those who could afford a BMW or Mercedes, today, the in-car CD player has become almost as common as a cassette player.

In some cases carmakers are fitting single-disc CD players in place of the familiar cassette tape deck.

Without the inherent shortcomings of cassette tapes, in-car audio designers have been able to stretch themselves to new limits in sound reproduction quality.

Today, if you want good in-car sound, the CD is the only way to go. Audio manufacturers are providing various ways of building CDs into in-car sound systems, including the stacker devices usually mounted in the boot that may contain 10 CDs.

The only downside is that having the disc storage in the boot means it is not quite as convenient to slip a new CD in.

The single-disc players offer the same in-car convenience as a cassette player, but they also require that the rest of your collection be stored somewhere in the cabin.

Some carmakers are now incorporating CD stackers into the car's interior for even more convenience.

Another big advantage of CDs over tapes is their random-access capability.

Dashboard controls allow instant selection of particular tracks, or a personalized playing order.

It is even possible in most cases to let the system decide itself the order in which the tracks are played.

The only significant shortcoming of in-car CD players is their tendency to "skip" on rough roads.

However as audio manufacturers become more skilled in the art of CD-player design, this is becoming less of a problem.

CDs are not particularly prone to misbehaving if dirty, but can still be affected if there's enough soiling to deflect the laser (the way to quickly clean a CD is to use a clean cloth and polish out radially, from the center. Don't run the cloth around the circumference as it is this type of scratch that usually interferes with the laser).

There's no question the compact disc has had a big impact on in-car sound.

Its convenience, toughness, and sound quality are well beyond anything that went before.

The only question that remains is what is likely to eventually supplant the CD.

Already there is talk of solid-state systems the size of a matchbox that will slot into the dashboard console and play pure, distortion-free music without having so much as one moving part...