My Nokia N900 had one and I've missed it ever since - it could even display text via RDS!
You know, that's an amazingly depressing thought: how many other dead-simple technologies have we been prevented from using because of ingrained interests?
OTOH, Bluetooth is certainly a better idea for personal telephone calls.
I drive rentals a lot. Like, a lot. Across dozens of brands and models, it's never taken me more than a minute to pair my phone.
Also, the 3.5mm aux plug is even easier to use than tuning a radio to any frequency, and the quality is vastly better. It's a long time since I've seen a car without it.
I agree, I really like cars with the 3.5mm aux plug but the two cars I have most experience with (Hyundai i20 and a 2010 Falcon AU) don't have them.
Turns out they're heavily regulated by the FCC. It all boils down to the requirement that you can't interfere with anyone else's reception. Any transmission strength that gives acceptable quality would do that. So they are artificially stunted.
It's possible that your N900 is exceeding legal signal strengths.
SiriusXM satellite radio is the same way as FM broadcast radio with all the commercials. I pay an outrageous amount to them every month for service -- for my truck, car, motorcycle, and the Internet streaming "add-on" (I have a tabletop radio on a nightstand next to my bed) -- and get so annoyed by all the commercials.
I'm not sure how much they make off of me, as an individual subscriber, per month, from the advertisers but I would happily pay much more every month (probably another 50% or so) for a 100% commercial-free option -- and I'm sure that's gotta be way more than what they're getting from the advertisers for me.
I mostly drive my truck, which I just bought in August 2015. SiriusXM was free for 90 days. Before it expired, I received a "promo" deal in the mail and paid for a year or service at that time.
Likewise, I bought my car in June 2014. SiriusXM was free for 90 days and then I signed up for, I believe, a quarterly package. I, personally, have only driven my car twice in the last six months or so -- probably less than five times since I bought the truck. My girlfriend has a Jeep but she drives my car most of the time, so I keep that subscription active because she prefers the satellite radio over FM, Pandora/iTunes/etc. Otherwise, I would cancel service in the car.
I also have a package and receiver on my Harley. Due to the weather, I get to ride it perhaps half of the year. It's an inconvenience to call up and add it to my account in the spring and then remember to remove it as winter nears and the bike goes into the garage for months. Besides, we occasionally have nice days in the winter when I can ride and I want it to "just work".
Then, there's the Internet streaming service. I have the SiriusXM app on my iPhone (so I can play it via Bluetooth when in someone else's vehicle, etc.) and Roku and we have a "tabletop" receiver next to the bed. We often turn it on when going to bed, the girlfriend will listen to it while getting ready for work, etc.
In short, I do like the service. I'm probably paying them more than I should but I likely won't cancel it anytime soon. As I said above, though, I'd gladly pay them more for an "{ad|commercial}-free" version.