Garmin seems to have cut features I like

 

I am on my third Garmin, but it is acting squirrely so I may be looking for the next one. The way I use mine, I put audio books or mp3 songs on it, plug a cord into its headphone jack to pipe the sound through the car's stereo system, and listen to books/songs on the car's speakers while I drive.

The current Garmin's all say they have no mp3 player/audio book player/headphone jack.

Tell me it ain't so! Am I missing something?

Thanks

--
Bobbo and Linda

Nope!

robertliles wrote:

... Tell me it ain't so! Am I missing something?

Your not missing a thing. They stopped supporting MP3s around the 7x5T models. I don't believe any of the 4 digit models have an mp3 player.

--
Harley BOOM GTS, Zumo 665, (2) Nuvi 765Ts, 1450LMT, 1350LM & others | 2019 Harley Ultra Limited Shrine - Peace Officer Dark Blue

Smart phones

Im guessing not many people listen to mp3's on there Garmin now with the advent of smart phones!

--
Nuvi 660. Nuvi 40 Check out. www.houserentalsorlando.com Irish Saying. A man loves his sweetheart the most, his wife the best, but his mother the longest.

the last Garmin that supported MP3's was the 295W

I think the last Garmin available that supported MP3's was the 295W and that was discontinued in February 2011.

I had a 295W but never used it for playing MP3's, I use my smartphone for that duty.

--
Garmin Drive Smart 55 - Samsung Note 10 Smartphone with Google Maps & HERE Apps

Garmin is not unique

A number of long-time TomTom owners have been complaining about similar features being omitted from the latest models. One speculation for the reason is to cut costs because of the downward pressure on sale price created by Smartphones.

With best wishes,
- Tom -

--
XXL540, GO LIVE 1535, GO 620

Never had feature -- would

Never had feature -- would be nice I guess...

--
nuvi 250 --> 1250T --> 265T Lost my 1250T

surprise

It's a GPS, it's doing what a GPS is supposed to do. Nowadays a good share of the newer cars have USB ports or a stereo jack on the radio, or in some cases both.

--
Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there's a 90% probability you'll get it wrong.

yes

I think they do not want to do what smartphone can do, other than navigating, though I really miss this feather I had when I switched to 1490 model.

Not just smart phones

Irish FX4 wrote:

Im guessing not many people listen to mp3's on there Garmin now with the advent of smart phones!

I don't have a smart phone, but my past several cell phones have all had mp3 players in them. I load them up with audiobooks and listen to them in the car or when working out.

--
Garmin Nuvi 2450

Books - Not mp3...

I've used my 760 once in a while to play .mp3 songs - I have a bunch of them on the card - but mostly I use the audio portion to play .aud files from audible.com. I don't know how I'd stay sane on long work trips if I wasn't able to listen to audio books.

I can plug the 760 into the audio input of the new car or I can use the built-in FM transmitter to listen to the books through the stereo of my old car. Since I almost always use the old car for work, this is what I end up doing most of the time.

New units don't even include an audio-out jack to use the navigation through the stereo, let alone include an audio player feature.

I could actually use the audible books on my phone now and it would connect to the new car via audio cable or bluetooth but, since I do use the old car almost exclusively for my work trips (don't want to put the crazy mileage on the new car) that won't usually work for me as the old car doesn't have those features.

I replaced my old 760 with another 760 in order to retain the feature.

--
GPSMAP 76CSx - nüvi 760 - nüvi 200 - GPSMAP 78S

You can say the same about GPS navigation ^_^

Irish FX4 wrote:

Im guessing not many people listen to mp3's on there Garmin now with the advent of smart phones!

You can say the same about GPS navigation ^_^

MP3s

I listen to mp3s all the time from the SD card in my Nuvi. That is why I've kept my old 660. Even replaced the battery when the original wore out and had the touchscreen replaced when it went bad.

I want my mp3 exclaim grin wink

--
Tampa, FL - Garmin nüvi 660 (Software Ver 4.90), 2021.20 CN NA NT maps | Magellan Meridian Gold

Better to have than not!

cool

Let's remember that many accidents are caused from changing out music and cell use. I have a 16gb sd card in my 765t and can listen to books or music over 48 hours without touching my stereo system or cell, therefore it is better to have this feature as a matter of SAFETY than not! To bad Garmin fail to see it as safety rather than cost reduction.

A TRUE hands free system will allow for navigation, music or books and cell use to be placed thru one system. The 765t is one of the last units by Garmin to do so. Turning down the music or the nav when a cell call comes in is not hands free! (or Vise Versa)

When driving, safety should be your top concern!
Especially if you have seen What I have seen. leave the nav, cell, and stereo system alone. it really can wait!

--
"Destination Eternity" Garmin 765T, & Samsung Galaxy Note Edge

Why Use a Smartphone?

I used to listen to music and audio books loaded onto SD cards with my 660. I had five or six cards with different types of music and different books - and always had trouble selecting the right card. The 660 had a terrible speaker, so I connected it to the car sound system.

But then I got an MP3 player and loaded everything onto an 8 Gb player, and then a 60 GB player and finally a 160 Gb player. Now I have more music and audiobooks loaded on the player than I can listen on almost any trip.

I realize smartphones can do multiple things, but I prefer to use it as a phone when I'm driving - and use my 3790 with Bluetooth for handsfree calling smile

Life is full of changes.

Life is full of changes. Changes will always occur, and not always for the better.

Yes, the MP3 player capability is gone and I do not make much sense of it.

But there are also new capabilities like junction-view which need loads more space on the GPS. I've lived fine without junction-view, but I've read that people really like it and were in an uproar when an update did not come with all the junction views.

My old 750 nuvi still gets the job done and has MP3 player.

Howard

It seems...

...that all of the manufacturers are cutting features. Must be the competition from the smart phones.

--
With God, all things are possible. ——State motto of the Great State of Ohio

Nurse the 780 along

Another reason to keep the old 780 going....I am still listening to my first book I loaded. I figure it will take me another 3-4 years grin

cost cutting.

cost cutting.

--
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/21626 - red light cameras do not work

Trapster on Smartphone

maddog67 wrote:

...that all of the manufacturers are cutting features. Must be the competition from the smart phones.

The free app Trapster comes pretty darn close, but not there quite yet.