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The Evolution of Automotive Music Systems

Audio_Evolution_New.jpg Dmytro Skorobogatov, Ziviani, Pincarel, Rodrusoleg/iStock/Thinkstock; Cars.com graphic by Paul Dolan

CARS.COM — From the days of the 1990s mix tapes to the Spotify and Pandora playlists of today, music long has been important to drivers. We’ve mapped the rise and fall of three popular technologies that help get you the music you want to hear.

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The numbers in the chart represent the percent of vehicles sold in each model year that had that technology available, at least as an option. While the cassette player is surely dead, the CD player has not yet succumbed as many observers thought it might have by now, and Bluetooth is just about everywhere. (Note: Our data provider does not differentiate between Bluetooth for phone and streaming audio, so this chart lumps them together.)

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