The radio is becoming a dying breed. With Spotify, SoundCloud, iTunes Radio and other music streaming tools, the radio is being left behind in the name of convenience. Today’s fast paced and on-the-go society is less focused on tuning into their favorite radio station for a morning talk show and more concerned with listening to their music on their own terms. These streaming tools let anyone choose specific songs, allow them to create playlists to shuffle through or explore any genre. This accessibility makes the auxiliary (aux) cord a much better alternative to listening to music, as opposed to wasting time listening to redundant and overplayed songs on the radio.

The benefits of the aux cord have proven to be invaluable to modern day listeners, especially when it comes to teenagers. The radio is slowly becoming a last resort for people whose phones have died or for those who do not have an auxiliary plug. People nowadays want an immediate satisfaction that can only be achieved through the commanding power of choosing which song to play next, without the annoyance of an interrupting commercial or traffic update. Even though some apps require a monthly fee to be paid in order to continuously play advertisement-free music, it is still a more pleasant way to listen when compared to the radio’s cheesy dialogue-filled ads that play too often for comfort.

On Spotify, there are also ways to dodge ads without paying a fee. The option of watching a 30 second commercial to get 30 minutes of ad free music makes apps like Spotify and Pandora Radio a more flexible and pleasant listening experience.

Although the radio is a reliable source of in-car entertainment, it is not as appealing as the idea of controlling a tailored playlist with the touch of a screen. While there are different stations tailored to certain music genres, such as 102.1 being alternative rock and 106.1 being mostly pop music, there still seems to be an overlap of songs being repeatedly played. This monotony and overplaying of today’s popular hits is what makes the option of the aux cord undeniably appealing.

With the innovation made through various phone applications, the radio is losing its perks. Now there are apps that can continuously update people on traffic, making the once beneficial radio traffic updates practically useless to smartphone users. Smartphones with built in global positioning systems (GPS) can be plugged into an aux cord outlet and direct users while simultaneously playing music, making it a better alternative to the built in car GPS.

The aux cord and other similar tools, such as Bluetooth accessibility, are the future of listening to music in cars, a future that could soon turn the radio into an archaic thing of the past.