CD Player: Components and Parts

One of the essential mechanisms of a CD player is the mechanics which facilitate the insertion of a CD into the player. The most common type of insertion technique is a slide-out tray. Sony were the first manufacturer to develop this mechanism, and, by and large, it's been used by most manufacturers.

Slot loading is another loading mechanism, an example of which is integrated into the Sony Playstation 3. This mechanism is integrated into a large selection of car CD players. With slot loading mechanisms, a motor assists a user to insert and remove a CD, but, without the requirement of a CD tray.

Lets move onto the components. A drive motor is needed to rotate / spin the disc. A CD is spun faster than a traditional LP vinyl record. A CD spins between 250 and 450 revolutions for every minute of play. A lens system uses a laser and sensor to read data from the compact disc.

Another mechanism is required to place the lens at the correct focus length. This placement mechanism uses either a rail with a swing arm, like on a turntable, or uses a rail with a radial design. While the swing arm technique is more reliable, it's also more expensive, therefore, not as popular.

Most CD players incorporate a small LCD interface display. The LCD interface will display the track number and time, and sometimes the composer of the music. The control interface should include a small panel of buttons, play, stop, pause, spin forward, spin rewind, track forward, and track rewind being standard functions.

CD changers are an additional mechanism integrated into CD players. They work by using a cartridge which can hold and load between three to twelve discs. The CD player can then select which disc to load, play or remove. The role of the mechanism is to save a user the effort of continually changing CDs.

The internal cartridge system is the most widely integrated CD changer technique - largely due to it's space saving - and offers the most disc storage. However, carousel changers do exist, usually integrated within large midi hifi systems. The carousal usually holds three, five or seven discs. However, Juke Boxes are an example of a large scale carousal changing system.