What is wrong with auto manufacturers?

It seems like in the good old days you could get a car and if you didn't like the stereo you could swap it. Everything was nice and standard. Now it seems like car makers are putting in their non standard sized stereos which you're stuck with and can't customize.

Take honda for example. They expect soemoen to pay $600 cdn just for MP3 compatability? Normally for $200 or less you could get a good deck and swap that in, but they have some wierd shaped thing which is difficult to replace.

Does anyone else think this is a wierd trend?

its not a wierd trend, its been around for a while. It is also a fairly easy problem to fix. Simply look for an adapter. companies like Metra make them. You can find them online or even places like Autozone. Adapters for DIN and doubleDIN are available. The reason automakers do this is probably to liven up the appearence of the dash, as the majority of consumers probably don't swap out the HU.