Car toys and their evolution

They were so cool when they first arrived! A CD player in your car. My 2004 Murano (God rest its totaled soul) had a six-CD player in it and I loved it. And while I do own an iPod, I long for a six-CD player in the new car - it has room for one CD at a time. And a jack for an iPod with infinite choices.

Something about the tactile nature of each CD and my ability to precisely select what I want to hear appeals to me from my Murano days. But soon, all cars may be manufactured without any CD player ( see story ).

Sometimes infinite choice actually takes away direct control.

(S-R archives photo: Pieter Kramer poses for photographers in Eindhoven, Netherlands in 2007. Kramer was a leading engineer on the team that developed the CD.)