The new player is, without doubt, very well designed and – besides the removed caps – the main attraction of this update. In addition, however, Pandora also simplified station creation with enhanced auto-complete choices and better personalized suggestions. The player now also highlights more information about artists and gives more prominence to the service’s built-in and third-party social features.

While this is a major update, my own usage of Pandora has been pretty minimal over the last year or so. While Pandora’s radio model is definitely interesting for a large number of users, I prefer services like MOG and Spotify. Those let me pick the songs I want to hear and still offer some of the radio-like features that make Pandora such a great service. Both MOG and Spotify offer (limited) free services as well as paid tiers.

CDs, of course, have not exactly been big sellers over the last few years, as more and more consumers have shifted to MP3s, so phasing out in-car CD players only makes sense in the long run. Ford’s Connelly believes her company will continue to offer CD players in markets where there is demand, but as her colleague Ralf Brosig also told AM Online, Ford expects to see all-digital in-car entertainment systems in the near future.

Next Wave: Cloud-Connected Cars

Ford has been among the leaders when it comes to bringing digital entertainment options to cars, and has added USB connectivity and SD card ports to its latest MyFord Touch systems.

Some of Ford’s in-car entertainment systems are also connected to the cloud (though drivers have to bring their own connectivity in the form of a smartphone to their Fords) and allow users to play music through Pandora or Stitcher. More of this connectivity will likely come to more cars in the near future and will maybe even one day make USB and AUX ports obsolete, too.