While I have no problem with mp3 and have been using a USB stick for a lot of my music lately, the lack of a CD player in the 2017 was a big reason I decided not to wait and go with the 2016 CX-5. Caught a bit of flack for it here, but mostly on the Honda CRV forum, where some there ridiculed my desire for a CD player in my car. Yeah, I know how to rip discs, but I'm a music junkie with several thousand CDs at home and really love the format (and the superior sound). As features go, a CD is something that I use nearly every day in my car, which makes it far more important a feature to me than a heated steering wheel or power rear hatch.
There are higher quality audio formats than just MP3 FWIW. Several thousand CD's would be pretty hard to cart around in the CX5 but you could fit a ton of them on an external or thumb drive.
I have my entire music collection ripped to lossless FLAC format at home and those to OGG Vorbis for mobile use which appears to be compatible with Mazda's infotainment system according to this link:
http://infotainment.mazdahandsfree.com/entertainment-usb?language=en-NA
Playable data includes: MP3/WMA/AAC/OGG files.
Have a look at the wiki on the format for more information, it might just open up a brave new world for you
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogg
Otherwise I have to somewhat agree with Werechull, even in the now quieter 2017 CX5 with wind, motor, tire etc noise and using a higher quality music format, you'd have a hard time convincing me you could hear a difference between an OGG file and CD. The noise floor just isn't there to hear the difference when driving.
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