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Submitted By: Vincent B
Favorite Comment: Fixer wideaperture says, “It’s not a sound system, it’s a court-ordered sobriety test—like a breathalyzer ignition lockout, only for geeks. “Please enter your 13-digit Starcraft CD key to start the car.”
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Hey, that’s just like my Camry. I don’t quite get how you’d hook up the CD-ROM though…maybe some Toyotas have SATA?
Only power (12 V and 5 V) is needed, since this drive has a button to play/skip songs, and the audio is fed through a cassette adapter. Ive tried this myself a few years ago, but not in a car.
But it probaly won’t work well when driving unless the drive has some kind of anti-shake protection which mine didn’t have..
I also believe this is FAIL for buffer, NO Cache on this desktop cd-player )-:
Hey, would this actually work? I ask because a friend of mine …
It seems quite a good fix, IMHO!
That’s a pretty elegant solution. I approve.
You don’t need data connection for CDROM to work, give it +12V power line and it will play music CDs. However such drives are getting rare.
@K
he uses this to plug it in the tape/amp unit:
http://www.microsoft.com/library/media/1033/windowsxp/images/using/mobility/expert/cassette-adapter-small.jpg
no Sata involved, the cd player is just used to play the audio
Some CD drives have player controls on them, you can just apply proper power. I had one like that once, but I never thought about doing anything like this.
What, they couldn’t be bothered to use the back faceplate? Or even spray paint this faceplate black? Sheesh.
…or duct tape colored with a black sharpie.
genius
great fix, I have a CD player like this right here
works like a charm
@SCAScot
Interchangeable covers didn’t make it big until 2003 or so, snob.
Retro! =P
A black reader could be better…
@K It looks like there is a cassette adapter in the original radio/tape player (connected to the audio out of the CDROM drive of course)
I would choose a DVD/RW, but hey, now i know how to solve the problem about my old ford having no audio at all!! hehe
It’s not a sound system, it’s a court-ordered sobriety test—like a breathalyzer ignition lockout, only for geeks. “Please enter your 13-digit Starcraft CD key to start the car.”
Ah HA!! Wik, gim, gimma *hic*……gimme, the keygen!
wow!! this is actually ingenious!! hope they hooked up dvd sys too.
Genius. 12VDC in the back. Good times out the front.
If you like this you should see the tape deck in his Hewlett Packard.
It’s not an HP, but I DO have a tape deck in my Dell. I used it to rip some cassette tapes for conversion to mp3/cd audio. Though I suppose I could listen to tapes as well….
I think this is awesome! Although the no cache would be a problem, but other than that.
I’d say this is the result of a cash problem.
They misinterpreted a CD drive… I guess it does have Drive in it… now I fear their interpretation of RAM.
This is actually pretty clever. As long as the CD-ROM drive was mounted with some sort of cushioning to prevent skipping, it would work really well. The sound quality wouldn’t be the greatest ever, but it sure beats having a portable CD player sitting around somewhere!
The nice clean installation is pretty impressive too, and I think this deserves a “use what you have” tag.
Cool, people are still using that hack… you get a 7805 regulator for the +5 and hook it to their auxiliar jack…
Nowadays cd and dvd players, as well as car players that use SD cards and pendrives as storage to play mp3 are more ubiquitous and this mod is left to the true master cheapskates.
And, it has a built in security system… No one wants to steal it!
If I install Linux, does this mean I won’t crash?
Yes, but you’ll only be allowed to drive on Linux compatible roads.
All roads are compatible with linux – you just have to insmod the right driver. Don’t even have to reboot B-)
He is using a cassette adapter from the audio out. That drive looks to have a play button on it and should work fine. The odd drive even came with a remote, I think…
You are indeed correct. I had one 12x Creative CDROM that not only had the play button on front (i used it a LOT) but also had a I/R remote. It was a sweet piece of kit indeed…
And a drink holder!
You know, this is actually a pretty damn ingenious way to get a CD player into your car without spending money, even though the shock protection would be rubbish. I have to give epic props for thinking of this, that’s just grand.
I’m going to have to say that this is a WIN.
Even K.I.T.T. has to cope with the recession
Imagine how badly kludged K.A.R.R. and Goliath must be by now
Retractable cupholder, awesome!
@Rcgd
DDR SDRAM would translate to “Drunk Driving Recommended… Safe Destruction…”?
It’s pretty obvious that this this guy’s problem was no cache. Probably no credit either.
It doubles as a cup holder when he is listening to FM stations.
All that trouble and he could got a cheap cd player on ebay.
my dad still (unbelievably) has an old PC with a tape drive…
Contrasting color to enhance its visability… almost begging to be noticed. I wonder if it gets stolen will it be claimed as a car stero with CD player??? This is a smart MOFO
@dono- “It’s pretty obvious that this this guy’s problem was no cache. Probably no credit either”
As always, you win this time. Someday dono, somday…
Nah, you don’t even need a black faceplate or paint, one strip of gaff tape, cut to fit, would make it complete!
Better not be using Vista.
Quite Honestly, I’m impressed with this ingenuity. I’m sure it was quite a heck of a lot cheaper than a Toyota part. The local dealership lists the AM/FM cassette & CD player for the generation Camry pictured here at a mind-blowing $2,510.37 MSRP. Even going to Best Buy you’re going to blow $150-200 at a bare minimum. You could probably get a drive like this for $0-$10 easy nowadays…. Not as pretty as the cheapo Best Buy system, but hey…
Hi, i’m the one who submitted it. It’s my “DIY” uncle who made it!
Let’s clarify : I also thought about the skipping issue, and he assured me that even with some pretty good road bump, there was no a skip!(I don’t know why lol)
He had some issue dealing with the power source, a question of volts.
I heard the thing playing, and the only inconvenience is the habitual noise of the cassette player.
He sure will be surprised to know that is fix is on the interwebs!
No skip = oversampling. Basically, the reader reads “ahead” before the bump so that if it does hit a bump and the ‘head’ skips, it will just use the stuff it sampled prior to the pot-hole.
This is why on the old CD players (circa 1980), you always saw a number like “1x” (mine had, meaning “none”), or “4x”, which referred to the amount of “oversampling”. Today those “X” numbers refer to read and write speeds.
So you can think of “4x” as meaning it will look 4 “grooves” in a record ahead.
What? You don’t know what a record is?! “You dam kids with your rock and your roll! (waves both fists in air just above head after pulling pants up to chest issuing a menacing groan)”…
pat
Kudos to Uncle… Getting 12vdc was easy, 5vdc from 12vdc took a little ingenuity.
Now if he’d put 5 more in and called it a “6 disc changer”, I’d be impressed big time!
pat
Gotta give them props for ingenuity.
It also serves as an extra cup holder to!
I think this has a nice geek charm. The white is reminiscent of the old days where white was THE color for peripherals. And to the dude who said SATA… does that look like a SATA drive to you? Must be a newbie.
@Shimmer
too late. Installed Vista, totalled the Toyota.
Its possible, my teacher did it too in his car.
OK, so it a bodge like this possible with a USB thumb-drive adapter?
I’m not even going to TRY to top that!
@Paddy – agreed. Just sit back and enjoy.
I’ve actually done the same thing, used an old cd-rom drive. I grabbed some parts from Radio Shack to convert the 12 volts in the car to the needed 5 volts for the drive. Worked quite well; except minimal shock protection, skipped everytime I hit a bump.
All that work and it still won’t play MP3′s.
The best part is the patch into the existing audio system. You should be able to plug any MP3 player you have into that. Then, you can forget the CD Rom drive. A gaping hole in the dash is an even better theft deterrent than a kludged CD player.
What the photo doesn’t show is the web cam and 17″ monitor mounted to the dash and being used in place of a rear view mirror.
My civic looks just like that! This solution is the best because you don’t have to constantly mess with the radio to use an iPod or satellite radio. I made a box out of foam core that fits where that cd player is to hold all the cords… Makes me sympathize with some of the fixes on this site:)
hey when i worked at a computer shop i used a setup like this, old cd drive with play and stop buttons, old at power supply to feed it and some crappy speakers. good job!
Nobody seems to have noticed the custom made bezal around the cdrom. If you look on the right side you will see it is not straight. If it is a case & packed with foam that might help with the bump & skip problem. Gives me an idea of how to replace my 8 track tape player in my old truck.
Thanks,
TIFI
this works! jeepneys in the philippines make use this solution using cannibalized cd-rom drives. it may look out of place, but it works.
Even nowadays I can remenber these CD drives… I’d say this is a real good fix as it’s
a) simple engineering (need I say more?!)
b) good for the enviroment (recycling at it’s best!).
Even the Nobel committee would be impressed !!
It’s very elegant. The foam around is quite a cheaper solution than the bump tolerance of modern players. It would be even greater if the player was of a dark color.
Did something like this with a PlayStation 2 in a friends Suburban. he made a custom cage to keep it from being bounced around. Movies & Video Games on a road trip? Awesome.
they’ve been doing this in egyptian taxis for AT LEAST the last decade.
I see absolutely nothing wrong with this if we have dvd players and mini TVs in our car, why the hell not have a built in computer in as well?
Epic elegant fix. Unfortunately, he won’t be skipping tracks on demand.
Heh, looks like a pretty good idea actually. Would be better if it actually used the CD Audio out pins on the back. Wonder what method of powering it was used.
Hey…. I did this with my home stereo. ‘Cept I used the audio connection in the back.
In case of no CD, it can double as an extra cupholder.
So… When you go to sell this thing, you say something like:
“Well, she’s got a quad core carburetor with dual display shifter. The mouse is in the glove, and there’s enough RAM to get from 0 to 60 in less time that your desktop can boot. Of course it comes with windows-just look at them all! Some even roll down!”
pat
i mounted one in the car. for amplifiing the sound i used some speekers…my fist stereo spekers …i cut out 220v part that transformed the power from 220v to 12v and provided power to amplifier from the car’s 12v. and now i have a cd player in my car (sorry for my english)
Favorite comment! My life is now complete. =)
Who plays CDs nowadays anyway
This setup is common in Philippine “Jeepneys”. and yes, it’s stable. =)
I just noticed the cassette adapter. That is close to perfect… Perfection would have been directly wiring in line level inputs!
Perhaps the precursor to the now common “CarPC“!
pat
: )
My mate had similar soundsystem in his car when we were in high school + computer speakers
How to improve this mod:
1. Remove the front bezel.
2. Buy some fine wet/dry sandpaper and sand off the exesting lettering.
3. Buy a spray can of black vinyl dye and apply 4-5 thin coats (allow each coat to dry first). Vinyl dye will seep into the plastic and look natural – pait will eventually flake/chip off.
Yep awesome, and really why would you colour the cd-rom, leave it white. it ads to the ghetto look. It makes you wonder what other fixes he could come up with. lol
If this actually worked…I don’t think it deserves any mockery, lol
When does the NoCD crack come out for the car?
What? I did it too … :-L
Great idea – but am I the only person who realises it would never work – try reading a CD in your PC while shaking the PC violently if you’re unsure why :/
No, and you’re not the only person that didn’t bother to read the other comments either.
Awww crap…my windshield just got the blue screen of death….
In my world, the CD only spins as fast as the wheels turn.
It also makes for a great cruise control, because the ‘disc drives’.
Somehow I am not surprised.
Is this a concept car for the ALL REEL drive
I think I will need to do this sometime in the future…
I would like to do this with an old HDD. Load it up with all my fave tunes (C-mas ones too! Trans-Siberian Orchestra, anyone?) and plug it in! Switch to the C-mas partition during the holidays. It won’t be written on in the car, so Fragmentation While Driving will be a nonissue.
Give it a musical Splat!
Epic WIN!