Dear Wirecutter: Can I Add a CD Player to a Car Stereo?

Q: My new Honda does not come with any sort of CD player option, and it isn’t available as an add-on. 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. I’d also be interested in adding an HD tuner as well, if possible.

A: As with your Honda, more new cars are coming sans a CD player. (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. 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.

Unfortunately, the decreasing demand also means you have fewer good options for adding a CD player to your car. 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. 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.

Insignia Portable CD Player

Portable CD player

Although we haven’t tested it ourselves, this Insignia model is inexpensive and has decent reviews online. Plus, it has skip protection, which is important if you’re using it in a car.

Buying Options

$90 from Amazon

We don’t have a recommendation for a specific portable CD player, and availability is limited on many models. (Sony doesn’t show them at all on its website anymore.) But the Insignia Portable CD Player looks like a good option. It’s inexpensive, it has skip protection, and currently it has decent ratings on Best Buy and Amazon. Plus, it’s compatible with the UpBright DC adapter, so you don’t have to keep batteries on hand.

Pioneer DEH-X6900BT

The best Bluetooth car stereo

This digital media receiver has a simple interface, the best Bluetooth support, and one of the easiest setups we’ve found.

Buying Options

$149 from Amazon

A better, although pricier option is to replace your car’s stereo with one that has a built-in CD player. 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. We’re working on a guide to double-DIN (7-by-4-inch) radios, so we should have a recommendation for that category soon.

You could also rip your CDs onto a flash drive and plug that into your car’s USB port (if it has one). 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.

Unfortunately, at this time you won't find any add-on devices that enable HD Radio. 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.

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