I've got an AppleCD 300e Plus, and it works pretty well. I know you aren't really supposed to expect them to read CD-Rs, but this one does, albeit not very well.
Interestingly, it often reads them only when "cold" - if I have a CD-R that won't read, I'll switch off the power to the drive, wait twenty minutes and try again, and it works. Is this a known failure mode of a specific component like a capacitor? I don't believe it's the power supply as I've run the drive outside the enclosure, using a different supply, and it behaved the same way.
Also, I've heard that older drives may be able to read CD-Rs (and CDs in general) better if you boost the laser's current slightly (possibly there's a trimmer on the head assembly) - does anyone have experience with that on this or similar drives?
Interestingly, it often reads them only when "cold" - if I have a CD-R that won't read, I'll switch off the power to the drive, wait twenty minutes and try again, and it works. Is this a known failure mode of a specific component like a capacitor? I don't believe it's the power supply as I've run the drive outside the enclosure, using a different supply, and it behaved the same way.
Also, I've heard that older drives may be able to read CD-Rs (and CDs in general) better if you boost the laser's current slightly (possibly there's a trimmer on the head assembly) - does anyone have experience with that on this or similar drives?