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CD-ROM Drives that Can Be Used as Standalone Players?
An anonymous reader asks: "I am using an older, standalone CD-ROM drive as my audio CD player in my sound system. It is a NEC 4X SCSI in a small case with power supply. The case outputs very clean analog audio, great headphone output and a SPDIF coax link which plugs directly into my receiver. It works great standalone, it has a complete front panel, ie backlit LCD display, stop, play, pause, next and previous track buttons. But it doesn't read CD-RW, it uses a caddy and it heats up the CDs quite a bit. I know that all recent CD-ROM drives have only the eject button, not all of them output SPDIF (and with DRM who knows what the future holds) and who knows if they will work with only the power connected? Which CD-ROM drives, old or new, support being used standalone, have a decent set of front panel controls (at least a play and a skip button) and output SPDIF?" Generally for this type of purpose, I'd use a regular old portable CD player, but these generally do not output to SPDIF, either. Has anyone managed to find decent examples of either piece of hardware?
Get a CD Component piece for you system or at least look at some models of players, I know my Sony CD player had an optical output and that model was a few years old.
Hello slashdot. I have a great vcr that takes beta tapes. It has Beta I-III speeds and works great. The problem is it doesn't play dvd's. I've looked and looked but can't find a beta player that plays dvd's. Does anyone know where I can get a beta vcr that plays dvds?
Ok well there must be some reason you want to go with a CD-ROM instead of just a normal stand alone Cd Player. So uh, tell us, what exactly is your reasoning?
I've got this great little thngy I use to play my CDs. The case outputs very clean analog audio, great headphone output and a SPDIF coax link which plugs directly into my receiver. It works great standalone, it has a complete front panel, ie backlit LCD display, stop, play, pause, next and previous track buttons. It has a cabeled remote, plays CD-RWs wonderfully, and dosen't heat up. It can run directly with only a power supply, and can even run without the power supply if needed!
Know what? It's a Sony D-EJ815 Discman.
Cue The Sun...
the old portable 'clam-shell' has all you want for the audio end but spdif out, right?
if you could find a used (ebay, maybe) radio shack cd3400 portable you might be happy. the line outs were supposed to be some wicked clean and accurate signal. and it had a 1/8" mono jack for coax spdif out.
we (dat-heads, back in 1994 era) loved this deck, except for its clicking in the phones out. if you don't insist on perfect phones out and really care more about the line out and the spdif out, this is your deck.
google cache search result
now go hunt one down.
--
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
Seeing as every other response to this question is satirical or doubtful, I'll try to go against the grain. =p While I've yet to own a drive with SPDIF, I can assure you that the CD-ROMs with only an eject button aren't the only thing on the market. My current ASUS 32x12x40x cd-burner has a play/next track button, and a stop/eject button on the face plate.. It also has a volume knob and a 1/8" jack. And, these features are the exact same on my parent's recently purchased cheapo CD-ROM. Also, they don't require anything but the power connector to work; I've checked them both.
Of course, both of these drives lack SPDIF, and neither have the LCD screen. But then again, I didn't even try looking for 'em. o.O
This statement is false.
I had a cheapo "52x" (it was about the only marking on the drive) IDE CD-ROM that had both a play+pause, and prev/next keys right on the front. I don't know if the drive would work without being connected to a PC *at all*, but it certainly had no trouble playing discs by itself, even if I were sitting in the BIOS.
It didn't have any special software, and if you accessed the drive in any way from the PC, it would reset if you had used the drive's keys to play a CD.
It had SPDIF outputs, but I don't know how "clean" the audio was (audio playing was not its primary purpose)
I believe I had originally picked up the drive at a local best buy for $30 or so.. this was 3-4 years back...
CD plays you!
I've seen a setup where they took a Creative Labs Infra CD-ROM drive (It includes a remote control) It was hooked to a 12V supply and they took the digital audio out and they plugged it directly into a sound receiver. I don't remembrer more details, sorry.
please excuse my apathy
Does anyone know where I can get a beta vcr that plays dvds?
I don't know if anybody makes a Betamax/DVD combo deck, but I do know where you can get some VHS decks that play DVD Video discs.
Will I retire or break 10K?
Not a question for Slashdot... One wonders about the editors of these submissions!
Dude buy a highend single disc DVD player with optical or coaxial output. Shop around many support multiple disc types. A quick search at Crutchfield (not the cheapest but a nice selection):
Sony CDP-XE270 Single-CD Player $119.99
Audio Redbook CD's, CD-R's, CD-RW, optical digital out 1-bit D/A converters, signal to noise 102 dB.
Home audio CD recorders can be had for a little more than twice the price of a single disc player. Support writing to CD-R/CD-RW.
Heck you can get a JVC 200 CD Changer for just $179.99 and I am sure you can find it cheaper. (yup it's got optical digital output).
SPDIF is nothing but a smaller connector for Fiber Optic or a Shielded Coax connection. Just about all DVD/CD players have it now. Quality Monster (brandname) patch cables for FiberOptic or Coax go for around $50.00,
http://www.xenatera.com/bunnie/proj/cdhack/cdhack. html
But looks fun nonetheless.
But something I've been lusting after since I found out about them last year or so: an Apple PowerCD. I don't have any idea if it would be useful at all to you, but hey, I'm still geeked I moved up from a Quadra 840AV to a PowerMac 7600/132 (look 'em up on Apple History if you want links) :)
Actually, I've never owned a CD-ROM that *didn't* output SDPIF (sp?). The Creative 12x DVD and AOpen 20x10x40 both have it on my computer, the dead CDROM in my tiny server has it ... no, wait, I have a crazy old Panasonic drive that doesn't have it, but it doesn't support IDE either. It's one of dem crazy weird buses.
ANYWAY, my point is that most CDROMs have a two pin "digital output" on the far left side, and that is a SDPIF output. With a little creative wiring, you should be able to hook it into a stereo. And I believe most IDE CDROMs work with only power. Of course, I'm talking internal drives here but you should be able to hammer something together.
Worst.
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Ever.
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"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
I guess it's finally my turn to feel the thrill of seeing my 'ask slashdot' question posted, and feel the wrath of the kiddies slamming me! Yay! I feel like I'm part of the gang now! :) ) , as quiet as I'd want, really, and the coax SPDIF output went straight into the previously unused coax input on my receiver. /. the hacker mentality would prevail. I thought people would be happy that I'm recycling a useful, if old, CD-ROM player as a standalone CD player.
OK, let me clarify. I used to have a decent A/V system years ago, consisting of a stereo VCR, Laserdisc player with optical SPDIF, carousel CD player and Minidisc recorder. I got most of it stolen 6 years ago, leaving me with only CDs and my Minidisc recorder (MZ-1).
This left me somewhat bitter and paranoid. Eventually I bought a Sony portable CD player with optical SPDIF output, the D-E805.
It's a piece of crap, it skips randomly on my CDs, which all look like masters, ie there's not a scratch or speck of dust on them, and this even on a stable surface with the AC adapter. And we all know about how wall warts take up too much space on a power bar, right?
One day I'm at a used computer store and spot a nice NEC external CD ROM case with internal power supply. I figure for 30$ canadian I can do something with this, thinking the 4X SCSI CD ROM is going to fly in the garbage. At home, I realize the headphone output on it sounds better than most Walkmans I've had, the analog line outs are dead quiet (except for the music, of course
Plus the CD ROM itself is unusual for the complete control panel and LCD display on it. Like I said, most CD-ROMS have an eject button, if that.
All in all, I was so impressed with this thing, it became my main CD player. The fact that it's only 7 inches wide by 12 inches deep was pretty cool too. It's also a neat conversation piece as I discovered.
I don't want a standard 19 inch wide CD player. Those things are flimsy, empty boxes. I don't see why this size still exists.
I'd have thought that at
The fact that it's smaller, uses a standard 120V power connection and only needs one cable to connect to the receiver are the reasons why I like it.
It raises the question why CD-ROMs don't play back MP3's natively, most DVD players seem to do it. That would be even cooler.
So no, I don't want to connect a portable CD player to my receiver. BTDT. I don't watch enough movies to justify a DVD player (another 19 inch empty box). I like the small form factor, OK? I want a newer CD-ROM that plays CD-RW and has enough buttons for standalone use, OK?
Yes I called all the local big boys in Montreal for computer crap, there simply are NO CD-ROMs with anything more than an eject button, OK?
And yes, I use my computer for ripping and playing MP3s and the occasional DVD, I just don't want to have to turn on the damn machine (at 200+ watts and fans) just to listen to some music. The NEC is quiet and fast.
That's all I want for crying out loud. I just want CD-RW read capability with buttons... Waahhh!!!
Oh and yes, I used to use my Hi-Fi stereo VCR to record 6 hours of music at a time, have you seen the specs of these machines lately?
Thanks to isorox and malraid for some of the only relevant posts so far!
How do you play a 16-bit PCM stream with a 1-bit DAC? It's not like SACD where you have a ~2.5MHz 1-bit stream. So what exactly does it mean to have a 1-bit DAC?
Additionally, there is absolutely NO reason to ever buy anything but the cheapest digital audio cable. Why? It's DIGITAL! If there's degradation of any kind, you'd hear it extremly well. There aren't multiple levels degredation. It's either total signal loss/corruption, or perfect signal. Just buy the cheapest cable you can find that works. Heck, for coax digital, even a cheap composite video cable would work. An audio cable might work, but it might not have enough bandwidth. A composite video signal needs about the same bandwidth as a digital audio signal. For optical cables, you'll want to find something that isn't going to snap if you drop it while you're installing it. There's a new method for making plastic optical conduits, that have a smaller minimum bend radius than the current cables.
A solution to the problem with music today
What the hell is this "SDPIF" that you keep going on about?
I've heard of SPDIF - Sony Philips Digital Interface - but I can't find any info online on this new-fangled interface that you've got on your Creative and AOpen drives.
Could you please elaborate with some detailed technical information for the less enlightened amongst us?
"Accept that some days you are the pigeon, and some days you are the statue." - David Brent, Wernham Hogg
Another guy wants to recycle a CDROM player in his audio set. Seen on the debian-user list : http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2003/debian-us er-200301/msg00942.html
Better get yourself a used CD player on Ebay !
The problem with computer CD drives is that they won't work with the current copy control methods, like Midbar (=desert in Hebrew) or Sony's vicious key2audio - unless someone writes a firmware upgrade for them.
The upgrade should be very simple, and will consist of the following pseudo-code:
IF (cd is printed) AND (cd has audio tracks) THEN read_only_the_first_session
Slashdot community, please notice: I am looking for a girlfriend.
Nave H. Weiss
Kids these days...
You fucking retard!
I have tested many joe CD-ROM drives by just putting in an audio CD-R, power suply and listening thru SPDIF. I havent seen many drives without an SPDIF out and I believe about 90% will play audio off CDRs with no major problems.
Now they should REALLY make CDROM drives with build in MP3 and Ogg decompression. These modular drives could then be inserted into car and home theatre players with no problems. I certainly wouldnt mind paying extra to have mp3 processing off my processor.
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
Have a sense of humor. Please!
It's obvious that this is meant to be ironic, so why mod it down as flamebait?
i have an old NEC 3x cd rom drive that works good as a standalone, it has RCA out and headfone out, it also uses the ghetto caddys, wether it plays CD-RWs, i don't know b/c i have a real cd player that incidently dosen't play cd rws
From what I've seen CDROM drives with a full control panel are as rare as rocking horse droppings, so I have an alternative suggestion. One of the earlier posts has shown us how to get at the digital audio out so all we need is someone far better at logic than me to design a control panel for the CDROM which connects to the IDE interface.
If we have a control panel with display and an IDE interface then users can make use of either the digital out or audio out and make their own CD players.
Anybody out there with PIC programing knowledge care to take this on ?
They make these things called audio CD players.. you can hook one of those up to most stereos. I know it sounds hard to believe, but they really do exist. I've seen them!
You could always just buy a cd player. If you want the nice hook ups you could buy one of the $39 DVD players. Things like this were intended to be plugged into stereos.
-It writes, rates, creates, even telecommunicates. Costs less, does more the Commodore 64. Compute's Gazette
someone please mod the parent up, as it provides more background for the original question. (assuming anyone would care to actually respond to this guy instead of flaming him...)
Clean analog from a CDROM drive. That seems unlikely. That's where stereo manufacturers spend most of their money to get you good signal.
Original poster here again. Take a look at these eBay auctions to see what my drives look like.
Not used so much
This is the one I use.
As you can see, they go for like 10$. Trust me, the 4X machine is built better than any of the crap standalone "Made in China" specials people have recommended so far. The 3X is too flaky, it's built in a strange way, but lots of fun to look at inside.
The 4X has analog and SPDIF out, the 3X only SPDIF.