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A Compact Disc player (often written as compact disc player), or CD player, is an electronic device which plays audio Compact Discs. CD players are often installed into home stereo systems, car audio systems, and personal computers. more...

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They are also manufactured as portable devices. Modern units support other formats in addition to CDs; such as DVDs, CD-ROMs with audio files and video CDs. DJs often use players with adjustable playback sampling rate to alter the pitch of the music programme. Many modern CD players also include the capability to play MP3 CD's. CD playback functionality is also available on all modern CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive equipped computers as well as on DVD players and CD-ROM/DVD-ROM based game consoles.

Physical description

Most home CD players are contained in a plastic casing, which also houses the electrical system and the user interface. CD players designed for car audio systems or computers generally have a front casing and exposed sides and back, as these parts will be covered by the car or computer.

The housing of a portable CD player also contains ports used to connect the player to a powered or unpowered speaker, headphones and/or a power system (see electrical wiring in the United States or in the UK). A portable CD player generally contains an internal power source in the form of batteries.

The housing of a stand-alone CD player contains speakers and perhaps a radio and/or tape deck. CD players used in component audio systems contain a power source, the user interface, and numerous ports to connect the player to the various parts of an audio system.

Tray Design Evolution

Tray Loading

Sony released the world's first CD Player called the CDP-101 in 1982 utilising a slide-out tray design for the CD. As it was easy to use and manufacture, most CD player tray designs had followed this style of tray ever since. However there have been some notable exceptions.

Vertical Loading

During the launch of the first prototype CD player 'Goronta' by Sony at the Japanese Audio Fair in 1981, Sony showcased the vertical loading design of the CD player. Although the prototype's design was never really put into actual production, it was for a time adopted for production by a number of early Japanese CD player manufacturers including Alpine/Luxman, Matsushita under the Technics brand, Kenwood and Toshiba/Aurex. For the early vertical loading players, Alpine sourced their AD-7100 player designs for Luxman, Kenwood and Toshiba (using their Aurex brand). Kenwood added their 'Sigma Drive' outputs to this design as a modification. A picture of this early design can be seen on the Panasonic website.

Read more at Wikipedia.org