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From: Simon.Slavin@998.f998.n3603.z1.fidonet.org (Simon Slavin)
Date: 19 Apr 94 07:05:08 -0500
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Re: CD player --> CD-ROM
Message-ID: <79d_9404200107@mechanic.fidonet.org>
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From: slavins@psy.man.ac.uk (Simon Slavin)
Newsgroups: alt.cd-rom
Subject: Re: CD player --> CD-ROM
Date: 19 Apr 94 12:05:08 GMT
Reply-To: slavins@psy.man.ac.uk

In article 46I@news.ci.ua.pt, et309@ci.ua.pt (Joao Gago) writes:
>
>	Hello, can someone tell me if it's possible to convert a 
>	CD player (Sony) to read CD-ROM controlled by computer?

This has to be a FAQ, so I'll answer it this time.  It's not possible.
Your CD player won't consent to read data CDs.  If it did, it would
output the contents as music, having performed a large amount of
conversion, smoothing, and other manipulation on the source.  This is
not appropriate for CD-ROM players, which should output the source
unchanged.  It outputs the music as an analog signal, which can't be
converted back to a 16-bit digital signal with enough fidelity to make
sure that some bits haven't been corrupted.

To convert an audio player to a CD-ROM player you'd need new ROMs,
a more stable mechanical basis, and a data output port.  The cost of
these is about equal to that of the original drive.

Simon.
---
< "So I told her a couple of white lies, like I have friends and a life ..." >
< - _Cheers_   A sub-Turing machine, and proud of it:  slavins@psy.man.ac.uk >

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