I have no aversion to CD players (attacking my view will not change the facts - I am fine with any other opinions and could care less). My only point relates to the reality that CD sales vs. digital downloads and streaming services have not been doing well. Auto manufacturers are already getting rid of CD players which can only mean that that the demand for discs vs. those other forms of music will decline more rapidly. As the demand for CD discs decline, this can lead to other actions from record labels. For those that think there will be no changes (which is the point of the survey), it is not going to happen that way. High end stand alone CD players have already been disappearing brand by brand for that reason. Over time this likely will continue.
Yeah, good observation with regards to automobile CD players, although I wouldn't really qualify audio in a car as critical listening
I actually just bought a new 2014 vehicle last week with an upgraded factory sound system, and it still has a CD player. But as you pointed out, it also has Bluetooth streaming capability and several USB inputs available. I certainly transferred my latest CD-r disks to the new car, but haven't used them yet as it's hard to compete with my 32 Gig USB stick that has over 1000 songs of Lossless WMA on it that I can access on the car's 7" entertainment screen (along with the album and artist name and cover art displayed). The digital capability makes it fairly hard to imagine I'll ever use the CD player in that car.
But, in my home, where I have a ~$2500 CD player and the ability to do critical listening, I think CD players still have a place. In ten years, I don't know, but today, I think a high end CD player is worthwhile. I just don't know the economics of a company deciding today to create one and expect a profit.
brucek