Is this possible and why?

I'm pretty sure this a stunt photo, but if it isn't, I gotta whole bunch of CD ROM's with a new lease on life

I'm pretty sure that the Headphone out on CD-ROMs are simply pass through cables.

You would need to have a computer running behind that, that would pass the sound to the CD-ROM.

Seems pretty pointless though, maybe someone wanted it on a budget.

I'm pretty sure the CD-ROM would not play CDs on its own.

The headphone cables date from the days when PCs didn't have the power to decode cdrom music in realtime, it's built into the drive, or at least it used to be.
I'll give it a whirl today sometime and see if it works without a data connection.

Yeah, all older CD-ROM drives will work as CD players without being connected to a computer, you can either use the headphone jack or the 4-pin analog output on the back. Just run that to the auxiliary input on the head unit, or through an FM transmitter or something if the radio doesn't have an input. I'm not sure if newer drives have the necessary circuitry... most of 'em now lack the headphone connection, and more frequently I'm seeing drives that lack the analog output on the back as well.

The bigger problem is that the drives need 12V and 5V, while the electrical system in a car is ~13.5V. You'd have to find a way to adapt the power to work.

USB charger for cigar lighters gives you 5v, 12v you'd need a regulator of some sort as once the engine is running you've got 13.8 to 14.7 volts, probably more then an cdrom wants to see.
Could always just go to radioshack and buy a couple regs though, simple wiring and cdrom drives don't need a lot of power.

Thanks for the answers guys... I was more technically curios than planning on actually executing this madness. In this age of ipods, the CD is kinda out'a style anyway.

Yeah, really. And anyway, if you needed a CD player, you may as well just hook up a regular portable CD player and have the advantage of a track number display and antiskip and such.

jhanby said:

I'm pretty sure that the Headphone out on CD-ROMs are simply pass through cables.

You would need to have a computer running behind that, that would pass the sound to the CD-ROM.

Seems pretty pointless though, maybe someone wanted it on a budget.

I'm pretty sure the CD-ROM would not play CDs on its own.

Click to expand...

No it will as long as you power it. Especially the older units. First/second/third gen opti drives have play pause/track etc buttons on the bezel and they operate independantly for audio output as long as they are powered.

Doable, but not worth the hassel.
I have that exact same drive sitting in a box next to me, and in that box i have a JVC deck so there is my point in case.

Better to just wire one of these with a External HD, into your dash.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001SE4K3K


Or in my case throw it in your party bus!