External Optical USB drive with more than 1 bay? Or...

Wondering if there is such a thing—external optical (CD/DVD) drive with more than 1-disc ability that could function as a CD changer. I've not seen any such thing. Second-best would a compact standalone CDC that's not part of a mini-system.

 

Just get two (or more) drives. iTunes will allow you to queue up and mingle tracks from either.

 

Notice they have volume controls because they also have analog out. Live "CD Ripping" to play digital audio via the OS wasn't a thing yet.

A discontinued RATOC USB to SCSI converter cable will cost you hundreds on eBay though.

 

The internal bay ones were also with EIDE interface. IIRC, Panasonic as 3-disc, Nec at 4, Mitsubushi at 5 discs.
The only caveat is that none of these does works correctly as a changer from Windows Vista and later.

 

Some examples... you can look for more.

 

Another option would be to rip all your CDs using a dedicated automated ripping station after which you could have much better control over the content and even do cross-album playlists, etc.

Those devices tend to cost about $500 after which you could resell it. Just throwing that out there.

 

Think there's one in the back of my neighbor's Shogun!

 

So if I had two drives (like my LG M-Disc and another LG drive, for example) and available USB ports, then iTunes will see them both concurrently? If so, then I might have to make a playlist, but that's NBD. I should be able to test this on my PC. It would be an interesting solution if it works. And optical USB drives aren't expensive. It looks like the multi-drives are either SCSI or part of mini-systems.

 

Yes, it will work fine. And two optical drives will be a lot cheaper than a multi-disc unit, assuming you could even find one. More flexible also - you could rip two discs at the same time, if that’s your thing.